At the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Debrecen, the Doctoral School of Literature and Cultural Studies (DSLCS) was created by merging four earlier accredited doctoral programmes, namely English and American Studies, Hungarian and Comparative Literary Scholarship, French Literary Scholarship, and German Literary Scholarship. The Literary Studies Doctoral School generated hereby – and since September 2017 known as the Doctoral School of Literature and Cultural Studies – received transitory accreditation status from MAB as of January 1, 2001, which was subsequently followed during the same year by complete accreditation. Initiated by a submission of Debrecen University’s accredited doctoral school, on February 22, 2002, the plenary forum of MAB approved the full status of the formerly partial accreditation process. In view of MAB’s decision (No. 2002/2/III) the University of Debrecen came to be empowered, in the areas of science and scholarship represented by the arts and social sciences, in the fields of literary studies (currently literary and cultural studies) to assume the responsibilities and fulfill the professional obligations of doctoral training, the conferment of doctoral degrees and the operation of the habilitation procedures. The University is further eligible to utilize as doctoral degree the results of scholarship activity pursued and/or completed abroad, provided the requirements of obtaining such a degree in a given foreign country are commensurate with or can be accepted as analogous through the introduction of supplementary criteria.
In view of the differences inherent in the particular languages of instruction and also taking into account still further distinguishing qualities, three programmes consisting of 5 subprogrammes were created:
1. Hungarian and comparative literary scholarship programme
- Hungarian literature subprogramme
- Subprogramme in Slavic studies
- German literature subprogramme
2. English and North-American literary scholarship programme
- English literature subprogramme
- North American literature subprogramme
3. French literary scholarship programme
The current structure of DSLCS (IKDI), UD:
1. Hungarian literary, modern philological and culture study programme
- French literature and culture subprogramme
- Dutch literature and culture subprogramme
- Hungarian literature and culture subprogramme
- Medial cultural studies subprogramme
- German literature and culture subprogramme
- Italian literature and culture subprogramme
- Russian literature and culture subprogramme
2. British and North-American literature and culture study programme
- North-American literature and culture subprogram
- British literature and culture subprogramme