The British Cultural Studies Centre (BCSC) is an interdisciplinary teaching and research division of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures of the University of Bucharest (UB). It was set up within the UB by the British Council (BC) and is now independent of the BC.
The BCSC came into being in 1994 as part of the Institute of British Studies (founded in 1993, Director Prof. Adrian Nicolescu) and the British Council English Teaching programme. In the first semester of the academic year 1994-1995, a number of colleagues now teaching at the Centre attended a ten-week British Cultural Studies course at the University of Warwick sponsored by the British Council. The included courses were taught, among others, by Prof. Susan Bassnett, Prof. Jim Bulpitt, Dr. Sabina Sharkey and Dr. John Stoke. This laid the foundations of a brand new unit in the UB. The BCSC then offered a package of courses modelled on the British example.
The BCSC was initially run by a Director of Studies appointed by the BC (Dr Eve Patten, currently at Trinity College, Dublin). In 1997-98, the directorship of the Centre was shared by Dr Nigel Townson of the British Council and Dr Mihaela Irimia of the UB, and between 1998 and 2019, Prof. Mihaela Irimia served as sole Director of Studies. Currently, the directorship of the Centre is shared by Prof. Bogdan Ștefănescu, Prof. Sorana Corneanu and Dr. Sabina Draga as members of the Executive Board. Since 2007 the Centre has functioned under the aegis of the Centre of Excellence for the Study of Cultural Identity (CESIC).
British Cultural Studies 