The MA South East and Pacific Asian Studies programme provides exceptional opportunities for advanced study of one of the world’s most diverse and important regions, and students gain competency in language skills, intercultural awareness and understanding.

Students on this programme come from a wide range of backgrounds. Some join after having acquired an interest in South East Asia during their undergraduate career, or as a result of travelling in the region. 

This South East and Pacific Asian Studies MA programme also attracts mature students: some take the MA degree as a partial preparation for employment in the region; others, having lived in South East and Pacific Asia for a number of years, seek to place their experience and impressions into a more structured, analytical framework.

Knowledge of a South East or Pacific Asian language is not a pre-requisite for admission to this programme. However, all students on this programme are required to take a South East or Pacific Asian language as one their modules.

Graduates of the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics leave SOAS not only with linguistic and cultural expertise, but also with skills in written and oral communication, analysis and problem solving.

Recent School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics graduates have been hired by:

• Africa Matters
• Amnesty International
• Arab British Chamber of Commerce
• BBC World Service
• British High Commission
• Council for British Research in the Levant
• Department for International Development
• Edelman
• Embassy of Jordan
• Ernst & Young
• Foreign & Commonwealth Office
• Google
• Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies
• Middle East Eye
• Saïd Foundation
• TalkAbout Speech Therapy
• The Black Curriculum
• The Telegraph
• United Nations Development Programme
• UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
• Wall Street Journal