National State University (ZNU) was founded as a full-fledged national university in 1985.

The forefather of the present ZSU was Teacher Training School, which had been set up in 1921 as a response to the needs of the region in professional educators. Later it was transformed into Teacher Training College. Nevertheless the demand for qualified teachers was ever growing and this institution couldn't cope with the task. So, in 1930, to meet the needs of the society, the College was reorganized into the Teacher Training Institute. It began its first academic year with only two faculties: Social Education and Professional Education.

By the end of 1933 the Institute had already trained teachers in history, language and literature, physics and mathematics, biology and chemistry. Over the next years it had built a strong reputation among the higher educational institutions of Ukraine, It had a student body of 4026, and a staff of 86 lecturers and teachers. Up to WW II the Institute had trained about 7.000 teachers.

The afterwar period in the history of the Institute was marked by its rapid growth. The 60ies brought many structural changes: it began training professionals in a number of new subjects, specifically in music, foreign languages, history, physical culture. Over 55 years the Teacher Training Institute has developed into an important center of education and research. It provided a balanced education for students and had a strong effect on the economic and cultural life of Southern Ukraine.

On October 16, 1985 in order to meet the challenges of the time, Zaporizhzhya Teacher Training Institute was reorganized into a national university. During the years of its functioning as a university it has grown substantially: in 1987 Biological faculty was founded; in 1990 the faculty of Physics and Mathematics was split into two; in 1991 the faculty of Economics was established, which was later also divided into two; in 1992 the faculties of Management and Further Education were opened; in 1996 the faculty of Mathematics was reorganized into "Mathematics and Economic Cybernetics faculty".

Today ZNU is the higher institution of learning with 11 faculties, the student body of over 8,000 and a teaching staff of 417.

It is based now on the new legislative and methodological grounds. With the process of integration into the world educational system the University began providing its graduates with corresponding education and qualification levels - bachelor, specialist, master. It also confers such higher degrees as "candidate of sciences" (PhD equivalent), and "doctor of sciences".