The University College Nottingham’s calendar for the academic year 1915-6, showing details of the very first Russian classes, taught by Basil Slepchenko. About 40 students attended the College’s Russian classes in the first year, many of whom were learning Russian for business purposes.
The calendar also details a series of public lectures on Anglo-Russian relations, which were free for students of Russian to attend. The availability of these lectures demonstrates that the college was following a tradition termed ‘”nation-study”, which was established at the University of London by Sir Bernard Pares. It recognised the importance of devoting attention to the history and culture of a country alongside the teaching of its language.