Russian and Slavonic Studies offers several postgraduate courses: MA, MPhil and PhD. The MA in Russian and Slavonic Studies is an MA by Research, which is a one-year (two-year part-time) programme of research training and directed study leading to a 30,000-40,000-word dissertation under the supervision of a member of staff. The MA by Research in Modern Languages has the same programme structure, but combines two subject areas: Slavonic and French or German or Hispanic Studies. The Master's degree can be free-standing and is also excellent preparation for PhD study. The PhD programme lasts for not less than two but normally at least three years of full-time study (or a minimum of four years for a part-time student). Postgraduate students participate in the staff-postgraduate seminars, to which visiting speakers are invited. The Department has internationally recognised expertise in the following areas: Soviet and post-Soviet cultural studies, Socialist Realism, Russian and Soviet film, early 20th-century literary movements, Russian theatre, Russian humour and satire, Russian poetry, women’s writing, women in the public sphere in 18th-century Russia, literary and cultural theory; and in South East European Studies, in modern Serbian cultural studies, the relationship of literature to culture and ideology in small nations, Serbian and Croatian literature, methodological issues in literary history, literature and exile, and byzantine and early Russian studies.
Among recent significant developments in the School is the participation of Russian and Slavonic Studies as a founder member in the Centre for Russian, Central and East European Studies (CRCEES), which is funded by the Research Councils UK initiative in Language and Area Studies. In conjunction with CRCEES, Russian and Slavonic Studies now runs Postgraduate Diplomas in intensive language training in Serbian/Croatian or Slovene.