Mission statement

The English Department at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences has a long tradition, stretching over three quarters of a century, in teaching and research in the fields of literatures in English, theoretical and applied linguistics, teaching English as a foreign language and, since the late 1980s, in the fields of Scandinavian languages, in particular Swedish, Scandinavian literature and film.  Around 600 English majors and 120 Swedish majors are currently enrolled in the undergraduate and graduate programmes offered by the Department, one of the largest at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Members of the Department also participate in a range of doctoral programmes offered by the Faculty.  In terms of the variety and quality of our programmes and our research capacities, we are committed to cultivating our position as the leading English department in the country and one of the most prestigious in the region; we also actively seek to increase overall international recognition of the Department. The Scandinavian Section, the only one of its kind in Croatia, endeavours to strengthen the position of Scandinavian studies as a university study program as well as to develop research within the field. The Department has five sections: American Studies Section, English Language Section, English Literature Section, Teaching English as a Foreign Language Section, and Scandinavian Languages and Literatures Section, and a number of strong research groupings in various fields of literary study, contrastive linguistic studies, translation studies, motivation research and second-language acquisition. Our mission is to offer a broad cultural view of the English language and literatures in English, as well as of Scandinavian languages (currently Swedish and Norwegian), film and literature, based on strong theoretical underpinnings and their application. Therefore, we promote research and teaching excellence, critical thinking and analytical skills, communication skills and a mastery of the English (Swedish) language.  In this regard, we welcome international cooperation and exchange involving researchers with a commitment to high standards of teaching and research, as well as exchange of students with a demonstrated record of excellence in their studies.