Asian studies

Including the Bachelor of Arts (Asian Studies) degree

Monash Asia Institute (MAI) was established in 1988 as the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies (ICAS), and was reorganised and renamed in 1991. The institute reflects the belief of Monash University in Asia's significance to Australia. The institute has seven centres which focus on Asia:

Centre of Development Studies ;
Centre of East Asian Studies;
Centre of Japanese Studies;
Centre of Malaysian Studies;
Centre of South Asian Studies;
Centre of Southeast Asian Studies; and the
Asia Pacific Health Centre.

The institute and its centres exemplify the university's commitment to the study of Asian countries, cultures and languages and to the growth of interaction between Asia and Australia in the fields of education, research, business and government. This commitment not only emphasises the burgeoning relationship between Australia and the countries of Asia, but also the continuation of an involvement which is as old as the university itself.

Monash provides more students with access to Asian studies than any other university in Australia, through its Bachelor of Arts (Asian Studies) and by offering within the faculties of Arts, Education, and Business and Economics, a large range of undergraduate courses in Asian studies (Northeast, South and Southeast Asia) and seven Asian languages. The university also offers some hundred and fifty courses at the postgraduate level, within a diploma and Master of Arts in Asian Studies, and provides flexible interdisciplinary studies and Asian content within non-Asian Studies courses.

Students in the Faculty of Arts can pursue their interest in Asian studies in a number of ways. They can undertake a general BA which concentrates on Asian studies by taking appropriate major and minor sequences in Asian languages and studies selected from the subjects listed below or by selecting particular units with Asian content. Alternatively, they can enrol in the specialised Bachelor of Arts (Asian Studies).

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