In 1943, the Department of Philology, uniting specialists of Russian, Tatar and foreign literature, was established. The Department was headed by PhD in Philology Mahinur Fayzullina, later in 1948 she was replaced by PhD in Philology Kerim Reshidovich Rashidov, a well-known Crimean Tatar poet. In 1956, the Department of Russian and foreign literature was founded. For over 40 years (since 1965) Professor Natalia Verderevskaya was the head of the Department.

At various times, such  talented philologists as L. A. Belyaeva, A. Kh. Valeeva, O. I. Fedotov, M. J. Levyant, M. I. Bent, A. P. Auer, B. A. Mintz, E. P. Baryshnikov, L. P. Krymskaya, V. A. Blagovo, N. D.Tamarchenko, V.M. Golovko, F. I. Urmancheev, T. N. Galiullin, N. M. Valeev worked at the Department. Many of them continued research and teaching in major universities in Russia and abroad, research institutes of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences.

The Department works on three main research topics:

• Obscure Russian writers and literary critics of the past (Razzhivin A. I., I. N. Verevkin, N. N. Shabalina, S. I. Grakhova are the researchers). “The forgotten and lesser-known writers as a phenomenon of Russian culture” of 2009 and subsequent  monographs on the works by A. H. Vostokov, D. I. Staheev, S. T. Romanovsky were published as the results of this work.
• The work of M. I. Tsvetaeva: Tsvetayeva text and context (A. V. Bykov, R. M. Gaisin, G. N. Bozhkova).  6 collections of scientific works on materials of the International Tsvetaeva readings were issued
• Analogy and poetics of Russian prose of the XIX - XXI centuries (A.I. Razzhivin., A.M. Sabitova, S.I. Grakhova., G.N. Bozhkova, G.A. Frolova). A textbook on Russian literature of the 18th century, a number of articles and teaching guides were published.

International Tsvetaeva and Stakheev Readings is an annual conference held by the Department since 2000.

The Department supervises a PhD program in Russian literature.