Department of Slavic Languages and Cultures
How to contact us?
P.O. Box 716, NL-9700 AS Groningen, The Netherlands
Telephone: + 31 50-363 6061/363 5850
Telefax: + 31 50-363 5821
E-mail: seccet@rug.nl
Address for visitors
Oude Kijk in 't Jatstraat 26, Groningen
(third floor of the Harmoniegebouw building)
Information for foreign students
If you want to obtain admission without a Dutch secondary school certificate you should contact the administration of the Faculty of Arts (contact person: Mrs. Lydia Bruins, tel. +31 50 363 5267; e-mail: e.l.bruins@rug.nl). The success of your request will depend on two things:
- The overall level of your previous education must be equal or superior to that of secondary schools in the Netherlands that give access to higher education. Knowledge of Russian or other Slavic languages is not relevant for admission. In some cases you can be asked to undergo an additional examination.
- Your command of Dutch must be sufficient to participate in educational activities on an academic level in which Dutch is the working language. In order to guarantee this, you will have to pass a test known as "NT2".
- Almost all courses are in Dutch. Knowledge of English and German is also required, since much of the special literature that you will have to read will be in these languages. Your request will be decided upon by the administration of the Faculty of Arts, not by the Slavic Department.
Where to get more information?
For more information we refer you to the Dutch page of this site. The student adviser of the Slavic Department is Dr. H.P. Houtzagers (tel. +31 50 363 6067; e-mail: h.p.houtzagers@rug.nl). For information on the NT2 Dutch test, please follow this link (in various languages).
You can find more general information on our university by clicking here.
The Department and its staff
The Department of Slavic Languages and Cultures forms part of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Groningen. The department chairman is Dr. J.J. van Baak, professor of Slavic languages and literature. The teaching staff of the Department consists of ten persons. In addition there are Ph.D. students, department secretaries and a manager. Only part of the staff is employed on a full-time basis.
Click here for more information about our staff members.
Education
The Department offers a three-year B.A. study program which concentrates on Russian language acquisition but also briefly introduces the students to Slavic linguistics, Russian literature and Central and Eastern European Studies. The principal Slavic language for all students is Russian. Four other languages – Czech, Polish, Serbian/Croatian and Bulgarian – can be studied as secondary subjects.
There is a one-year M.A. study programme during which students can specialize in either Russian literature, Slavic linguistics or Central and Eastern European Studies. The last-mentioned specialization is an interdisciplinary one: it includes courses offered by the staffs of the History Department and the Faculty of Economics. There are approximately 50 students. It is not excluded that for future researchers and teachers a two-year M.A. programme will be created.
Research
Most staff members are appointed not only for teaching but also for research tasks. All research activities of university staff members fall under the jurisdiction of a research institute or a research school. The research of the Department can be roughly divided into two fields: Russian literature and Slavic linguistics (Research Group Language Variation and Language Change of the research institute Center of Language and Cognition Groningen). At the present moment Ph.D. students are employed in each of the two fields mentioned.
