Romanian Lectorate at University of Cambridge offers open courses and cultural events

The University of Cambridge has established a new Romanian Lectorate within its Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics (MMLL), according to the official announcement. Fully funded by the Romanian government through the Institutul Limbii Române (ILR), it will offer open courses in Romanian language and a series of cultural events accessible to all members of the university.

The initiative makes Cambridge the second UK university to host an ILR-supported Romanian lectorate, following Oxford, which inaugurated its program in 2012.

Romania’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Laura Popescu, visited Cambridge in October 2025 to meet with MMLL Co-Chair Professor John David Rhodes and Professor Ioanna Sitaridou, expressing the embassy’s strong support for the project.

“Her Excellency expressed the Embassy’s strong support for the initiative and conveyed her gratitude to the University of Cambridge for agreeing to implement this proposed project in MMLL,” the university said in the statement.

Romanian has been taught at Cambridge in the past, notably during the 1960s when it was taught in the Department of Other Languages. Since then, there has been no continuous, faculty-led teaching of Romanian. Unlike previous initiatives, the new Lectorate expands beyond language instruction to cover Romanian culture, literature, film, and the arts.

Dr. Ștefania Costea, who completed her MPhil and PhD at Cambridge under Professor Adam Ledgeway, has been appointed as the new Lector. Her research focuses on the syntax of Daco-Romanian and language contact. In 2023, she received the Cambridge Student-Led Teaching Award for Small-Group Teaching in Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

“The Lectorate aims to give Cambridge students and staff the chance to learn Romanian and to encounter Romania’s culture, art, literature, and cinema,” said Costea.

The program will offer beginner and intermediate open courses in Romanian during the Michaelmas and Lent terms, alongside seminars on Romanian language, film, literature, and contemporary arts. Moreover, a weekly “Romanian Movie Night” will showcase films reflecting the country’s evolving society and culture.

Timetables and registration details will be published on the MMLL website in the coming weeks.

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