UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies
The University College London School of Slavonic and East European Studies ( SSEES ) is the largest center for studies and research on Central , Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and Russia in the United Kingdom . In addition to a wide range of subjects including history , political science , economics , sociology and literary studies , over a dozen foreign languages from the region are taught at SSEES. SSEES is part of University College London .
History and current direction of the SSEES
SSEES was founded - initially as a department of King's College London - in 1915 by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk , who later became President of Czechoslovakia . After a long time as an independent part of the University of London , the SSEES merged with University College London (UCL) in 1999 . Today almost 900 people study there.
The SSEES enjoys an international reputation as an interdisciplinary research institution and is internationally regarded as the most important center for training the next generation of specialists for the countries of Eastern Europe and Russia . Many students work after their studies for management consultancies , NGOs , governments or the European Commission ; some of the lecturers working at the SSEES also advise the governments of their home countries or the European Commission. The SSEES is also editor of several journals (including the fully designed by Master and PhD students 'Slovo') and regularly organizes seminars, lectures and Policy - briefings .
Library
With over 357,000 books, pamphlets, newspapers and magazines, the library is unique in Europe in terms of the wealth of publicly accessible materials on the subject, but also in the extent of the collection of newspapers from the countries concerned. The library's collections are used by scholars from around the world and have been expanded to include electronic and audio-visual materials in the past.
The library is thus one of the leading research collections in Great Britain for the field of studies of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union . The focus is on the languages, literature, history, politics, economics and geography of Russia, the western republics of the USSR as well as Finland and Poland , Czech Republic, Slovakia, the former Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania. Other areas include art, demography, ethnography, and religion. In addition, materials about the GDR , the history of Germany and Austria, the Sorbs, Ugro-Finnish studies and Slavic studies in general are collected.
Notable (former) employees
- Norman Davies , British historian
- Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk , co-founder of the SSEES and founder and first President of Czechoslovakia
- Jacek Rostowski , Polish Minister of Finance