The Department was first founded in 1965 as the “Department of English Philology,” but in later years its name was changed to the “Department of English Language and Literature.” The main objectives of the Department are to enable the students to acquire, through their studies, a specialized knowledge and expertise of British culture, literature, history, and related subjects, enhance their intellectual creativity and critical thinking, develop their research capacity and skills, and upgrade their oral and written fluency in English. In addition to the undergraduate courses, the Department also offers graduate courses, leading to the degrees of MA and PhD in English Literature and British Cultural Studies. The Department’s graduate programme in British Cultural Studies was first launched in 1993 and has since pioneered research and study in this field in Turkey. The undergraduate and graduate programmes not only cover all the periods, genres, movements and developments in English literature and British cultural studies but also extensively focus on literary and cultural theory and criticism as well as on material related to popular culture, gender, media, ethnic minorities, colonialism, post-colonialism, and women’s studies. The courses are conducted through lectures, seminars, class discussions, student presentations, and term papers. Assessment is based on examinations together with coursework and in-class participation. The medium of instruction in all the programmes is English. Moreover, besides their academic studies, the students, especially the undergraduates, are also encouraged to take part in the extra-curricular activities in the Department, which include stage acting, creative writing, debates, and organized tours to historical and cultural sites. The students also have the opportunity to attend lectures by visiting academics, and readings and talks by invited writers and poets.

As for career opportunities, they range from academic careers at universities, and teaching English at public and private schools, for which a separate teaching certificate from a faculty of education is required, to civil service, personnel management, advertising, public relations, tourism, journalism, media, banking, editing and publishing, insurance, marketing, international companies and institutions.