The School of English at the University of Leicester is an internationally recognised centre of excellence in teaching and research across a range of scholarly activities and chronological periods. In the 2014 REF, over 70% of the School’s research outputs were classed as either ‘internationally excellent’ or ‘world leading’, with 33% of them ranked in the highest category as ‘world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour’. The School was voted the top English department in the 2006 National Student Survey and in 2009 was 7th in the Times Good University Guide League Table out of all UK English departments.

The School offers expert research supervision from nationally and internationally known scholars in all areas of English literature from the Anglo-Saxon period to the present day, with areas of expertise in Victorian Studies, modern literature, Old English, Late Medieval, Renaissance culture, American literature, film history, cultural history, literary theory, theatre history, biography, textual editing, material culture, poetics, lexicology, and lexicography.