Asian Studies

The Institute for Oriental and Asian Studies (IOA) offers several opportunities to study the diverse Asian and oriental languages, religions and cultures. Students majoring in Asian Studies can choose from twelve different Asia- or Orient-related profiles: Islamic Studies and Arabic Studies, Islamic Studies and Iranian Studies, Islamic Studies and Turkish History and Society, Japanese Studies, Korean Studies, Art History in Asia and the Orient, Mongolian Studies, Chinese Studies, South Asian Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, Tibetan Studies, and Comparative Religious Studies. For all profiles, the goal is to provide students not only with fundamental methodological training in various aspects of academic work, but also with a broad spectrum of discipline-specific knowledge. The theoretical entry points are many, ranging from historical, cultural, and sociological approaches to philological and translational methods. 

The major is complemented by training in one or more of the languages of Asia that match the student’s chosen profile. The required language minor (Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Persian, Tibetan, Turkish or Vietnamese) gives students basic knowledge, which they then expand through the advanced language practice modules provided in the major curriculum. In this manner, students acquire language and linguistic competencies, region-specific specialized knowledge as well as fundamental knowledge of humanistic and sociological methodologies. The program focuses on questions raised by history, cultural studies, economics, the social sciences and international politics.

This subject must be combined with a second subject.  

Possible lines of work:

Intercultural communication, intercultural management, international development cooperation, peace and conflict research, international educational work (adult education, language courses, etc.), politics (policy consulting), culture (conservation/maintenance/management of global cultural heritage, cultural institutions, culture management, museums, etc.), tourism (long-distance, educational and cultural tourism), journalism, academia (teaching/research at universities, research institutions, etc.)