The Department of Slavic and Balkan Languages marks its beginnings in 1947 with the opening for the first time of the Department of Russian Language at the two-year Institute. Then, with the establishment of the Higher Pedagogical Institute in 1951, the teaching of the Russian language began to expand even more. In 1955 the Department of Russian Language numbered 20 lecturers as well as a large number of students. With the establishment of the University of Tirana in 1957, the Department of Russian Language was included in the Faculty of History and Philology. With the increase in the number of students at the University of Tirana, the department was divided into two:
a) Department of Russian Language (specialty) for the branch of Russian Language and Literature, which until 1972 prepared Russian and Albanian language teachers for high school. After this year the students graduated only as Russian language teachers.
b) Department of Russian Language (general) for other faculties of the university. In the mid-1980s the two departments merged back into one. In 1995 the Department of Russian Language was reformed into the Department of Slavic and Balkan Languages, which, in addition to Russian, also covers the study of other Slavic and Balkan languages.
