Persian language and literature at Serbian universities and faculties

This paper will give an overview of teaching of the Persian language and literature at universities and faculties in Serbia. History of Persian literature course was introduced at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy more than ninety years ago, thus paving the way for the opening of the Department of Oriental Philology at this faculty. Despite these merits, philological Iranian studies did not develop further in Serbia but stagnated. This state of affairs has led to the fact that at one time, Iranian studies were completely absent from academic life for more than a decade. Primarily thanks to the efforts of the Cultural Centre of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Persian language was re-introduced at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade in 1999, although only as an elective course. In the past several years, the Persian language was also introduced at some other institutions of higher education in Serbia, mostly as an elective course. However, there are some indications that in the future, the Persian language could become a major course of study at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philology. So far, the University of Prishtina, Faculty of Philology has implemented these intentions the furthest and the Persian language is taught in addition to the Persian literature as an obligatory course for all the students of the Department of Oriental Studies.

Keywords:

Persian language and literature , Serbia , Iranian Studies , faculty , university