SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies

Since the establishment of the Taiwan Studies Programme in 1999, the School of Oriental and African Studies has become one of the leading centres for Taiwan Studies in the world. We now offer the only MA in Taiwan Studies outside of Taiwan. It provides an unrivalled programme of advanced interdisciplinary courses on Taiwan's society, culture, politics, language and economics. We also run short courses on Taiwan at the Summer School and at other European universities. The School has also become one of the most important centres for Taiwan Studies academic events in the world. During term time we hold regular public seminars, in which scholars working on Taiwan present their research. We founded the annual European Association of Taiwan Studies conference in 2004. This is held at a different European country each year and is the largest such event in Europe. In addition, we host at least one international Taiwan Studies conference a year. We support PhD research on Taiwan supervision in a wide range of disciplines. The Centre’s contribution to the development of European Taiwan Studies was recognised by the award of the French Taiwan Culture Prize in 2008. Furthermore, in October 2012 Professor Robert Ash, Founder of the Centre of Taiwan Studies at SOAS, was awarded the Friendship Medal of Diplomacy by the Government of the Republic of China, Taiwan. The award recognises Professor Ash’s efforts in promoting the academic study of Taiwan in the UK and Europe.