Institute of English Studies

The Institute of English Studies of Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary is part of the Faculty of Humanities. It is situated in the heart of Budapest, in the neighborhood of Hungarian cultural institutions and the largest public library of the capital. The Institute was established in 1993 as the Department of English of the newly established University and Faculty; its founding father was the well-known lexicographer Dr. Tamás Magay. Due to the growing number of students and the expanding faculty, two departments were established in 2000: the Department of Literary and Cultural Studies of English and the Department of English Linguistics.

The Institute of English Studies coordinates courses and research within these two departments. There are 34 full-time faculty members in the Institute: among them three full professors, numerous associate professors, and a number of younger colleagues who earned their PhDs within the past few years. Altogether, there are approximately 900 students in the BA programme in English and American Studies, the MA programme in English Studies, and the one-cycle and short-cycle English Teacher Training Programmes.

The Institute conducts research and offers courses in a wide variety of fields. As for linguistics, significant multidisciplinary research is carried out in discourse by colleagues, who work alongside with colleagues from other institutes of the Faculty, the University of Warwick (UK) and Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium). The research focus of the Department of English Linguistics also extends to Lexicography, Lexicology and Translation Studies. The institute has very successful Ireland- and Canada-related courses: our Department of Linguistics is one of the two places in Hungary where the Irish language is taught at a university level, and the Institute also boasts one of the nine Hungarian Canada Centers.

The institute is also committed to research in fields related to Protestant values: it hosts the Center for Hermeneutical Research, as well as the Jonathan Edwards Center – Hungary; the former specializes in the study of the Bible and literature, and the latter is part of a world-wide network whose work is coordinated by the Jonathan Edwards Center of Yale University in the United States. Members of the Department of Literary and Cultural Studies in English are involved in research on Shakespeare and Milton, both at a national and international level. Interdisciplinary literary-cultural research is carried out by the Cosmopolitan Ethics and the Modern City research group of the institute.

Our colleagues have published extensively in various fields. Detailed information on these publications can be found on our website under the names of the individual members of the institute. The list of recent national and international conferences organized or co-organised by the Institute of English Studies can be found here.

Our students have opportunities to study abroad in 34 universities in 17 European countries (Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Roumania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, The Netherlands, Turkey, and the UK) within the Erasmus + KA 103 program. In addition, they can apply for scholarships to study at Calvin University, Michigan, USA within a special program our University has been running for almost twenty years just as they can participate in an exchange programme with our other American, Canadian, Russian, Georgian and Korean partner universities.
 
BA in English and American Studies

The program in English and American Studies was founded at our university in 1993.

The primary goal of our BA program in English and American Studies is to offer our students practical knowledge and skills that will enable them to pursue careers in a competitive global market. A strong knowledge of the English language and global English-language culture is an essential foundation for continued studies and training in an increasingly wide array of fields.

Programme Structure

Our program places strong emphasis on language development with carefully designed courses which help students acquire a high degree of proficiency in English, both written and spoken, but we also offer an engaging array of courses in linguistics and English-language cultures, literatures, and history (with a focus first and foremost on the United Kingdom, Ireland and North America).

In addition to courses which have become a traditional part of English and American studies (e.g. English literature since the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, phonetics and phonology, descriptive grammar, etc.), our program also gives students a chance to take courses which are rarely offered at other institutions. These courses include, for instance, seminars on the relationship between literature and Christianity, the history of Christianity in Great Britain and North America, the Irish language, Canadian history and culture, and courses on the Middle Ages from the perspectives of literature, history, culture, and linguistics. Students can choose between two tracks (literature-culture or linguistics) and also have to take a specialization either in North American Studies or in Translation Studies. These programs of study provide students with a thorough knowledge of the subjects in question and the skills to pursue further studies and compete in their fields.

After having completed a BA in English and American Studies, students can pursue their English studies at MA level.

MA In English Studies
The objective of the two-year program is to acquaint students with a broadly defined concept of English literary culture, including its history, major trends, critical schools and, of course, its most representative works and authors.

Programme Structure
While holding a BA in English Studies and completing yet further foundational courses in the initial phases of the program are essential, students and instructors no longer just survey a given field, but undertake an in-depth exploration of it. Therefore, detailed textual analysis with its associated historical dimension constitutes the core activity in class. Our choice of readings has been partly determined by the academic profile of the department and the religious mission of the University. As a result, the program places particular emphasis on Biblical and Christian traditions and explores, among other issues, the complex and continuing presence of the Bible within English literature. The foundation courses of the program also include linguistics, history, culture and language use. During the 2016/17 curricular revision, a practical skills module has been added to the program, in response to the needs and challenges of the changing world.

Duration of study: 4 semesters
Specialisation: English literature
Schedule: full-time

Main subject areas
• English language and literature
• English linguistics
• British history, society and culture
• Post-colonial literature and culture
• Different periods in English literary history
• English literature and Christianity
• Practical skills (advanced writing, academic presentation, editing skills, conference and workshop experience, research methodology, digital skills)

For information on our Programmes please contact Dr. Erzsébet Stróbl [BA Programme] (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Dr. Judit Nagy [MA Programme] (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). You can also send your enquiries to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For administrative issues, please, contact our administrators, Mrs. Réka Bauerné Kiss (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Ms. Krisztina Szilvássy (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
For further information (list of courses, application form), please, navigate to  https://english.kre.hu/index.php/study-programmes-in-foreign-languages/ba-in-english-and-american-studies.html (BA in English and American Studies) and https://english.kre.hu/index.php/study-programmes-in-foreign-languages/ma-in-english-studies.html (MA in English Studies).