The Department of Foreign Language Teaching is a research unit of the School of Language Teaching. Its main task is to provide preparation in English, German, Spanish, French and Russian languages for students from different bachelor degree programmes of St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo.
The Department was founded in 1995 and it was integrated into the structure of the Faculty of Philology. In 2001 lecturers in Library Science, Regional Studies, Book Publishing and Mass Communications joined the Department and it functioned in this composition until the end of 2004 under the name of Department of Library Science, Mass Communications and Foreign Languages. In 2004 the Department of Foreign Language Teaching regained its autonomy, but it became part of the Faculty of Philosophy. Since 2013 the Department is part of the School of Language Teaching.
Heads of the Department since its foundation:
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Chief Assistant Professor Georgi Popov (1995-1999)
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Assoc. Prof. Krasimir Petrov PhD (1999-2000)
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Prof. Marin Kovachev PhD (2000-2001)
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Assoc. Prof. Stefan Kolarov PhD (2001-2004)
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Assoc. Prof. Maria Mazhlekova PhD (2004-2006)
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Assoc. Prof. Svilen Stanchev PhD (2007-2022)
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Assoc. Prof. Vesela Belcheva PhD (since 2023)
The current academic staff of the Department includes lecturers with many years of experience in teaching English, German, Spanish, French and Russian.
The Department of Foreign Language Teaching offers students from different bachelor’s degree programmes of the University of Veliko Tarnovo, as well as lecturers and employees of the university, additional facultative training in modern foreign languages. Through this educational service, the Department satisfies both the needs of students for intensive language learning and the needs of university lecturers and employees to improve their professional qualification. Upon successful completion of the training course trainees are issued a university certificate of foreign language proficiency in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
The Department also trains foreign students under the Erasmus+ Programme and the bilateral contracts of the University of Veliko Tarnovo.
The Department of Foreign Language Teaching provides foreign language training for various faculties of the university without the specialized language programmes of the Faculty of Philology. With an experienced teaching staff built over the years, the Department conducts general language training and specialized foreign language training for various full-time and part-time educational programmes. English, Spanish, German, Russian and French are taught in accordance with the number of academic hours set in the curriculum of each educational programme.