About the Department of Slavic Studies

Russian language and literature have been disciplines of study at the Faculty of Philosophy since the Department of Eastern and Western Slavic Languages and Literatures was founded in 1961 (Russian as an elective language at the departments for Eastern Slavic languages and Eastern Slavic literature since the Faculty was founded in 1954 and since 1956 as a Seminar for Slavic studies within the Department for Eastern Slavic languages). Over time the department’s name has changed, but its main purpose of educating prospective teachers of Russian Language and Literature has remained constant. Along with the specialised coursework related to Russian language study and related subjects including diachronic disciplines, teaching methodology and Russian literatures, the curriculum includes courses of wider interest to Slavic Studies (obligatory 4-semester courses in other Slavic languages - Polish, Slovak, Ruthenian or Ukrainian, obligatory courses in native languages, Slavic diachronic disciplines), as well as general knowledge courses and Western foreign languages as elective courses. Professors and associates from other departments of the Faculty of Philosophy are engaged in realizing one part of the teaching activities, and recently a number of professors and associates from the Department of Slavic studies of the Faculty of Philology from Belgrade have participated as well.

Starting from the 2006/2007 academic year the teaching process has been conducted according to a reformed curriculum featuring a 4-year Bachelor’s degree programme (with tracks available in teaching methodology or philology) and a 1-year Master’s degree programme.

Along with the current professors and associates, the following people have worked at the Department (in chronological order): Dr Petar Đorđić, professor Đorđe Jazić, language instructor Valentina Dević, Dr Vitomir Vuletić, mr Vjera Vuletić, expert adviser Aleksandar Muzalevski, Dr Predrag Piper, corresponding member of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences, Dr Branimir Čović, Dr Gordana Besarović, senior language instructor Verica Jovin, mr Mirjana Boškov, Dr Jelka Matijašević, librarian-adviser Slavica Nestorović-Petrovski, Dr Bogdan Kosanović. Over the past few decades, the department has employed around 30 foreign language instructors of Russian, mostly from Moscow and Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), and since the 1990s following a cooperation protocol signed between the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad and M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University the instructors have come from Moscow. As another result of this cooperation, Department staff members have also worked as language instructors in Moscow. Additionally, a wide array of notable professors from other university centres worldwide and researchers in Slavic Studies have visited the Department. Members of the Department have taken part in study visits to universities and centres of higher education in Russia and other important centres for Slavic Studies in Slavic and non-Slavic regions and have participated in numerous scientific and research conferences both in Serbia and abroad.

The scientific and expert activity of the Department members takes place individually and within projects in which professors and associates take part. The focus of the research attention is mostly on the contact of Russian and Serbian as well as other Slavic languages, the history of Russian literature and cultural relationships. The department members have taken place in study periods at universities and other academic institutions in Russia and other significant Slavic centres, and within their individual scientific and expert work they take part in many conventions within and outside the country.

The Department has a rich and modern seminar library with around 24 500 books and over 200 periodic publication titles.

Contact Information
E-mail: ruski@ff.uns.ac.rs
Tel: 021/459-627, 485-3867