MA Taiwan Studies
London, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
GBP 25,320 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for overseas student fees | home student fees: GBP 12,220 per year
Key Summary
Introduction
The MA Taiwan Studies programme is the first and only postgraduate degree focussing on contemporary Taiwan in the English-speaking world. It provides an unrivalled programme of advanced interdisciplinary courses on Taiwan’s politics, society and culture, cinema, political economy, and international relations.
SOAS is the world’s leading centre for Taiwan Studies teaching, academic events and publications. Each year the Centre of Taiwan Studies runs a very vibrant series of academic events, film screenings, workshops and conferences that are designed to create a unique environment for the study of Taiwan.
Why Study Taiwan Studies at SOAS?
- We are ranked 15th in the UK for Arts and Humanities (QS World University Rankings 2023)
- We are ranked 12th in the UK for Modern Languages (QS World University Rankings 2023)
- SOAS offers the most extensive Taiwan Studies teaching programme of any European or American university.
- The SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies is the most active Taiwan Studies programme in the world, holding a rich programme of Taiwan-related events. These include the popular Taiwan Summer School, film screening programmes, annual Taiwan Lectures, as well as student dialogue events with cultural and political practitioners. Over the year students will get the chance to meet many of the key figures on their Taiwan class reading lists on our events programme.
- SOAS is also the world’s leading centre for Taiwan Studies publications, hosting the Routledge Research on Taiwan book series and the International Journal of Taiwan Studies. Therefore, each year students will be able to join a number of Taiwan book launch events.
Gallery
Admissions
Curriculum
Students take 180 credits, 60 of which are a dissertation and 120 from taught modules.
Students will take 60 credits of core modules from List A. A further 60 credits can be selected from List B (with a maximum of 30 credits in language) or from the postgraduate open options list.
All modules are subject to availability.
Guided options - List C
- Chinese 3 (PG)
- Chinese 2 (PG)
- Chinese 4 (PG)
- Classical and Literary Chinese 1 (PG)
- Japanese 4 (PG)
- Japanese 1A (PG)
Guided options - List A
- New Taiwan Cinema and Beyond (PG)
- Culture and Society of Taiwan (PG)
- Guided options - List B
- Literature, Politics and National Identity in Modern China (PG)
- Contemporary Chinese Society (PG)
- Economic development in the Asia Pacific region
- Nationhood and Competing Identities in Modern China
- Modernity, Nation and Identity in Japanese History (1853-1945) (PG)
- New Visions of Japan in Modern Literature and Popular Culture (PG)
- Fieldwork methods in language and culture (PG)
- Myths, Legends and Folkways of East Asia (PG)
- Japanese Cinema (PG)
- International Security Politics in East Asia
- Politics of Inequality in Northeast Asia: Japan, Korea and Taiwan
Teaching and Learning
All Masters programmes consist of 180 credits, made up of taught modules of 30 or 15 credits, taught over 10 or 20 weeks, and a dissertation of 60 credits. The programme structure shows which modules are compulsory and which are optional.
Program Outcome
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge
- Students will learn how to assess data and evidence critically from manuscripts and digital sources, solve problems of conflicting sources and conflicting interpretations, locate materials, and use research sources(particularly research library catalogues)and other relevant traditional sources
- Students will be knowledgeable in Aspects of Taiwan’s history, economics, politics, education and legal systems, literature, visual and popular culture, and anthropology
Intellectual (thinking) Skills
- Students should become precise cautious and critical in their assessment of evidence
- Students should question interpretations, however authoritative, and reassess evidence for themselves
- Apply language learning skills to new situations to work out meanings in new oral or written texts
Subject-Based Practical Skills
The programme aims to help students with the following practical skills:
- Communicate effectively in writing
- Retrieve, sift and select information from a variety of sources
- Present seminar papers
- Listen and discuss ideas introduced during seminars
- To work effectively within time restraints
- Practice research techniques in a variety of specialized research libraries and institutes
Transferable Skills
The programme will encourage students to:
- Write good essays and dissertations
- Structure and communicate ideas effectively both orally and in writing
- Understand unconventional ideas
- Study a variety of written and digital materials, in libraries and research institutes of a kind they will not have used as undergraduates
- Present (non-assessed) material orally.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Graduates from the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures develop competencies in intercultural awareness, analysis and communication. Demand for specialists with advanced proficiency in the languages of China, Japan and Korea has significantly increased in recent years, and graduates with these skills are highly sought after by employers.
Recent graduates have been hired by organisations including:
- Accenture
- Amazon
- Bloomberg LP
- Department for Work and Pensions
- European Alliance for Human Rights in North Korea
- European Commission
- ITN
- Japanese Government
- Korea Trade Centre (KOTRA)
- KPMG
- Mizuho Bank
- Nagahama Board of Education
- Nanjing Museum
- Pinsent Masons LLP
- PwC
- Seoul Metropolitan Government
- ShelterBox
- UNDP