Semester in London at the School of Oriental and African Studies
Host Institution
The School of Oriental and African Studies is the only Higher Education institution in Europe specializing in the study of Asia, Africa, and the Near and Middle East. SOAS is a remarkable institution that combines language scholarship, disciplinary expertise and regional focus, with the largest concentration in Europe of academic staff concerned with Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
This means that SOAS scholars deal with pressing issues confronting two-thirds of humankind - democracy, development, human rights, legal systems, poverty, religion, social change - while safeguarding specialized knowledge in languages, periods, and regions unavailable anywhere else in the West. SOAS academic focus on the languages, cultures, and societies of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East makes it an indispensable interpreter in a complex world.
SOAS has more than 5,000 students from 133 countries. In addition, about 3,600 students around the world are taking one of SOAS distance learning programs. The School offers more than 350 undergraduate degree combinations in social sciences, arts, humanities, and languages, all with a distinctive regional focus and global relevance, and over 115 postgraduate programs.
SOAS offers an unparalleled range of non-European languages, all of which may be studied without prior knowledge. The school was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2009 for the excellence, breadth, and depth of its language teaching.
Accreditation
SOAS is accredited by the Quality Assurance Agency, whose standards of quality assurance are recognized internationally.
Teaching Model
SOAS operates on the British teaching model, where students attend classroom modules that combine lectures with a greater amount of independent study than is typically common in the United States. Instruction is in English.
