Southeast European Studies in Bulgaria

CENTRES OF SOUTHEAST EUROPEAN STUDIES
(RESEARCH AND LEARNING)
Posted on behalf of Vasilka Aleksova, Chair
Department of General, Indo-European and Balkan Linguistics
Sofia University “St. Climent Oxridski”
At the time of writing there are in Bulgaria five universities at which one can get a degree in Southeast European Studies:

Sofia University “St. Climent Oxridski”

• A combined BA & MA degree in Balkan languages and cultures is offered since 1994 by the Faculty of Slavic Philologies. The program takes 10 semesters to accomplish and includes the in-depth study of the South Slavic languages, Greek, Romanian and Albanian as well as linguistics, literature and history of the Balkans. The program has an elective course in Balkan Romani dialects which is open not only to majors in Balkan languages and cultures. For a detailed program with numbers of contact hours per course click here. The Faculty of Slavic Philologies also has BA, MA and PhD programs in Bulgarian Philology and a BA program in Serbian and Croatian Philology with a concentration in Slovene. Other universities across the country also offer Slavic Studies in various combinations of the studied Slavic languages with a special attention to Bulgarian studies.
• Since 2006 the Faculty of History offers a BA in the past and present of Southeastern Europe. It is an eight-semester program with a focus on history and political science. Students must choose two out of the following three languages: Romanian, Modern Greek and Turkish. For a description of the program click here. The Faculty of History also has several MA programs with various Southeast European foci, for instance Christianity and Islam in the Balkans, Ethnicity and International Relations in Southeastern Europe (taught in English), Power, Authority and Culture in Southeastern Europe and The Southeast of Europe. The MA programs have durations from two to five semesters.
• The Faculty of Classical and New Philologies offers BA programs in Modern Greek Philology, Romanian Philology and Turkology, MA programs in Mediterranean and Balkan Anthropological Studies: Italy - Bulgaria and Ottoman Studies and BA, MA and PhD programs in Classical Philology.

Veliko Turnovo University “St.St. Cyril and Methodius”

• The Veliko Turnovo University has its own Educational and Cultural Centre “Balkans” which interacts with Southeast European academic units and provides resources to researchers and students in the area of Southeast European Studies. The Faculty of Philology has a BA program in Balkan studies in which students can choose between a concentration in the languages and cultures or the history of the Southeast European nations. This oldest university program in Southeast European studies in Bulgaria initially had a focus on history and was hosted by the Faculty of History. The Veliko Turnovo University also has MA programs in Southeast European studies.

Plovdiv University “Paisij Xilendarski”

• The five-year combined BA & MA in Balkan languages and cultures of the Faculty of Philology offers courses in Modern Greek, Serbian, Albanian and Romanian languages and literatures. The focus is on Modern Greek.

Southwestern University “Neofit Rilski”

• In 2008 the Faculty of Philology of the Southwestern University “Neofit Rilski” started admitting students to their new combined ten-semester BA & MA program which includes language courses with emphasis on Greek and electives Serbian, Romanian and Albanian, courses in Balkan literatures and folklore as well as political, social, economic and cultural history of the Southeast European nations.

PhD programs with a specialization in Southeast European studies are offered by the Faculty of Slavic Philologies of the Sofia University, by the Institute of Bulgarian language and the Institute of Balkan Studies of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The latter are also the research centres of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences specializing in Southeast European Studies. They publish the journals Balkansko ezikoznanie / Linguistique balkanique and Études balkaniques. Occasional dissertations with topics in the area of Southeast European Studies have been defended in other institutes of the Bulgarian Academy of sciences (such as the Institute of History, the Institute of Folklore Studies and the Ethnographic Institute and Museum).