Department of East Asian Studies

Department Overview

The Department of East Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Malaya is the only department in a Malaysian public university that offers multidisciplinary and comprehensive courses on China, Japan and Korea. Initially it started with the establishment of the Japan Studies Program in 1993 and later was upgraded to a department in 1996. Until today, the department has produced hundreds of professionals who serve in the public and private sectors as well as some who are owners of businesses.

The department was established due to the awareness of the importance of the East Asian region politically, economically and socially to Malaysia. In addition, the region is also a centre for dynamic economic development and rapidly growing international trade and commerce. Therefore, the region has the vast potential to create active trade opportunities and international relations with Malaysia. Additionally, the establishment of this department was strategically designed to produce human capital that would contribute expertise related to one of the East Asian countries in particular and the East Asian region in general. From a broader perspective, students produced by the department are expected to have a global mindset and at the same time are still down to the earth.

In line with the goal of producing such human capital, each program at the department offers language courses, as well as courses on contemporary politics, economy, social, cultural, management and international relations. In addition, regional courses that integrate inter-relations of the three countries are also offered as a way to strengthen and enrich students' knowledge and understanding. While in terms of teaching, our staff are experts in their respective fields locally or internationally. Indeed, they also possess in-depth knowledge in conducting research that is able to guide students in line with the status of the Universiti Malaya as a leading research university in Malaysia.

To strengthen student competencies, courses offered at the Department of East Asian Studies are carefully evaluated every five years, taking into account the views of each stakeholder, such as experts from within and outside of Malaysia, employers, alumni, students and lecturers. As a result, courses offered are current, dynamic and competitive, corresponding with a competitive employment market.