Course summary

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2023). 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 MSt in Slavonic Studies is designed to introduce students who already possess a good knowledge of Russian or another Slavonic language to areas of Slavonic studies that were not part of their first degree course. You are able to select from a wide range of philological, literary and historical subjects as a preparation for advanced research in this field. 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. Courses typically available for study include Slavonic Languages, and options in Methodology, Slavonic Philology, History and Structure of Slavonic Languages, Russian Literature, Culture and History, Central European Literature, Culture and History. 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 Russian and other Slavonic Languages offers a range of relevant lecture courses for undergraduates and graduates, and a series of research seminars which enable graduates to present their own work and discuss that of others. The MSt in Slavonic Studies offers you an appropriate introduction to higher research in a DPhil or PhD programme in this area. MPhil The MPhil in Slavonic Studies is designed to help those who already possess a good knowledge of Russian or another Slavonic language to acquire grounding in areas of Slavonic studies which were not part of their first degree course. Students are able to select from a wide range of philological, literary and historical subjects as a preparation for advanced research in this field. 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. 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). The MPhil in Slavonic Studies thus provides an appropriate introduction for you if you are contemplating higher research in a DPhil or PhD programme in this area.