The Center for Serbian as a Foreign Language was founded in 2023 as a sub-organizational unit of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Banja Luka.
The beginning of teaching Serbian as a foreign language at the University of Banja Luka goes back to the academic year 2000/2001. That year, twenty students from Greece were enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine, who attended the Serbian language course for foreigners at the Faculty of Philosophy, taught by Biljana Babić. Teaching Serbian as a foreign language at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Banja Luka began in the summer semester of 2018, when the first course was organized for exchange students and foreign lecturers at the Faculty of Philology.
Since already in 2018 it has been shown that foreigners who do not study at our university are also interested in learning the Serbian language, the courses are also open to citizens, within the framework of commercial activities.
The Center for the Serbian Language as a Foreign Language, supported by the Department of Serbian Studies, organizes courses in the Serbian language as a foreign language, in which participants learn the Serbian language and learn about Serbian history and culture. For more advanced course participants, the Center for Serbian as a Foreign Language occasionally includes lecturers and researchers from other faculties of the University of Banja Luka in the teaching process who deal with scientific fields such as Serbian history, art among Serbs, and similar.
After completing the plan and program for the appropriate level, participants master the competencies in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, which relate to different segments: reproductive - listening and reading (reading comprehension), and productive - writing, speaking, which enables them or facilitates communication on the territory of the entire Western Balkans and/or in the areas where the Serbian diaspora lives. In addition to organizing appropriate courses in the Serbian language as a foreign language, the Center's activities include standardized knowledge testing with the issuance of appropriate certificates, which are recognized by the official bodies and institutions of the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and abroad.
Head of the Center for the Serbian Language as a Foreign Language: Dr. Mijana Kuburić Macura