The range and flexibility of the Oxford course provide opportunities for rewarding study which might include, for example, Tolstoy's and Dostoevsky's novels, Pushkin's poetry, or the latest writing from contemporary Russia; the history of the Russian language and its development up to the present day; material from the Russia of Ivan the Terrible or Peter the Great or Stalin; related topics in film, the visual arts and music. The quality and range of research undertaken by the teaching staff at Oxford was recognised in the award of a top-ranking 5* grade in the 2001 Research Assessment...