The Faculty of Slavic Studies was established in 1888, with the foundation of the Higher Pedagogical Courses and the introduction of philological courses. The next year Slavic Philology was studied as a Major at the newly founded Faculty of History and Philology.

Until 1946 the main degree programmes were in Bulgarian and Russian Philology. The first degree course in Slavic Studies was introduced in 1953.

History and Slavic Studies became separate faculties in 1950. Since 1965 there have been two separate philological faculties at Sofia University – the Faculty of Slavic Studies and the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology.

In 1997 a new curriculum was introduced at the Faculty of Slavic Studies, to meet the requirements for acquiring Bachelor's and Master's of Art degrees. Slavic Philology and Balkan Studies offers five-year course of tuition, which leads to a Master's of Art degree .

In 2003 a new syllabus complying with ESTF was introduced and actualized for all subjects at the faculty.