English has been taught in Jamia Millia Islamia since its inception in 1920. Syed Raouf Pasha, who taught English language and D. G. Ibsen, who taught Journalism, were Jamia's first English teachers.

The Department has been offering instruction for the award of the degrees of B. A. Honours (since 1975), M. A. (since 1983), M. Phil. (since 1993) and Ph. D (since 1988).  It became a part of the Faculty of Humanities and Languages in 1985. In 1988, the department started teaching Certificate, Diploma, and Advanced Diploma courses in Russian and French. The teaching of Certificate in Italian started in 2001 with the assistance of the Italian Embassy. Undergraduates studying other subjects in the Faculty of Humanities and Languages and the Faculty of Social Sciences for their honours course can study English Literature, Russian language and French language as a subsidiary subject. These three courses are also are also offered as optional subjects for students who wish to enrol for a B.A. course. One of the major responsibilities of the department is the "General English" course. Undergraduate courses in all subjects, whether science, commerce or arts, include two compulsory English papers, one in the first year and the next in the second year of the degree programme.

At present, it is one of the largest departments in the University, with approximately 2300 students enrolled in its various programmes. Students come from all parts of the country, from Kashmir to Kerala. A large number of students come from the north-eastern region of India – there are many students from Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram. We also have a number of foreign students who enrol independently, or are sponsored by Indian Council of Cultural Relations. In the past years there have been students from Thailand, Indonesia, Yemen, Khazakistan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia and Israel. The Department has scholars from different parts and universities of India with specialisation in major areas of literary studies like Postcolonial Literature, Translation Studies, Literary Theory, Renaissance etc. It has native speakers of Assamese, Bangla, Gujarati, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Urdu, who also have expertise in foreign languages like Arabic, French, Persian, Russian, apart from English. The main strength of the department is the bilingual (in some cases multi-lingual) competence of the members of the faculty. Translation include not only English translations of Urdu literature, but also translations into Urdu of English and Hindi textsHindi texts, and English versions of texts originally written in Gujarati, Marathi and Russian. Their translations have been published by leading publishers like Oxford University Press, Penguin India and Katha. In 2004, the department was given DRS (Department of Research Support) status under U.G.C.’s Special Assistance Programme for a project on translating nineteenth and twentieth century texts into English. The focus will be on translating Premchand’s short stories. Commendable progress has been achieved. Two volumes of stories have been translated so far, and Oxford University Press would publish the first volume by the end of 2006.

The Department publishes theme-based volumes under the series “Jamia Studies in Literature and Ideas”. The first volume Translation: Poetics and Practice edited by Professor Anisur Rahman appeared in 2002 and Literary Theory: Perspectives from Asia edited by Professor S.N.H.Jafri in 2004.

The department organises extra-curricular activities, in addition to lectures and interactive sessions with eminent national and international scholars and writers. Through its curricular and extra-curricular activities, the Department has been able to nurture the talents of the students.

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