Slavonic Studies (Taught)

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2025). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas.

MSt
The Master of Studies in Slavonic Studies is a taught course offering in-depth study of Slavonic languages, literature, culture, and history, tailored to individual interests and preparing students for advanced research.

Good knowledge of Russian or another Slavonic language from your first degree course is expected. Applicants selected for this course will have shown clear evidence of linguistic potential and a serious interest in acquiring new knowledge and skills.

You will take a selection of subject options individually related to your requirements and educational background; these options are organised in a way which encourages study in depth, while maintaining some degree of breadth. A full list of courses can be consulted on the faculty's website.

Because numbers of students are small, teaching can be tailored to the particular choices which you make and is carried out through a mixture of classes and tutorials, requiring meetings with tutors or supervisors, usually on a once a week basis, in addition to weekly language classes. The normal mode of teaching is the one-to-one or paired tutorial, though you will also be encouraged to attend lectures and seminars as appropriate.

You will have a supervisor who advises on and arranges teaching and normally teaches at least one of the options taken. The sub-faculty of Slavonic Languages offers a range of relevant lecture courses for undergraduates and graduates and research seminars which enable graduates to present their own work and discuss that of others.

Academic activities include widespread links with universities in Europe, Africa, and the Americas, and graduate exchange links and host exchanges with lecturers from other universities. The faculty has an active research culture and is committed to integrating graduate students into research seminars. Workshops and conferences with Oxford-based and visiting academics are hosted by the faculty, which bring together students and faculty members in – and between – individual languages and disciplines.

MPhil
The MPhil in Slavonic Studies is a taught course combining language study, philology, literature, and history, with a thesis component, preparing students for advanced research in Slavonic languages and cultures.

This two-year course is normally restricted to candidates who have taken a first degree in a Slavonic language and you are also expected to read secondary literature in at least one European language other than English and the Slavonic languages. If available, you will also be expected to attend lectures on bibliographical, library, and archival resources in the field of Slavonic studies.

Course structure
Generally student numbers in the MPhil are small and this allows the teaching to be tailored to the particular choices students make. Teaching is provided through a mixture of classes and tutorials. The course offers you, in addition to the second language, training in various philological, literary and historical fields and in associated methodologies (comparative philological method, palaeography, textology, literary theory).

Academic activities include widespread links with universities in Europe, Africa, and the Americas, and graduate exchange links and host exchanges with lecturers from other universities. The faculty has an active research culture and is committed to integrating graduate students into research seminars. Workshops and conferences with Oxford-based and visiting academics are hosted by the faculty, which bring together students and faculty members in – and between – individual languages and disciplines.

For the full description, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas