Asia Research Centre - Studying Asia

Due to its proximity to the region and its dense concentration of expertise on Asian issues, Murdoch University is an excellent place in which to study Asia, in a variety of disciplines and at a range of different levels. Within the Asia Research Centre itself, we regularly host up to twenty postgraduate research students . We offer our postgraduate researchers a supportive, collegial and stimulating atmosphere in which to work, and they are a vital part of our research community in the Asia Research Centre.

The Asia Research Centre is located within the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at Murdoch University, and most of the Centre’s research fellows also teach courses and units in the School. Consequently, the School has a range of courses at both undergraduate and taught postgraduate level in which you can focus on the Asia Pacific region, either alone or in comparison with other parts of the world. Some of those courses are listed below, with links to further information.

Postgraduate Coursework degrees are intended to allow you to specialise in a particular aspect of your undergraduate degree, or to give you a new disciplinary focus. Fellows of the Asia Research Centre teach in the degrees listed below, which are part of the Sir Walter Murdoch School of Public Policy and International Affairs. These courses will give you an opportunity either to deepen your understanding of Asia, or to reorient your previous disciplinary studies to a specific focus on the region.

Honours degrees focused on Asia are available in most disciplines, including, but not limited to Asian Studies. The aim of Honours degrees is to extend the student's grasp of the principles and practice of their subject and to develop the ability for independent research. An Honours qualification of 2A is normally required for admission to higher research degree study.

At undergraduate level, our Bachelor of Asian Studies allows you to immerse yourself in the study of the languages, culture and history of the region. However, many other social sciences courses have a wide range of Asia-related units available, allowing you to structure your disciplinary degree around the study of Asia. Below is a list of Bachelor’s degrees which allow you to incorporate a substantial component on Asia, taught by fellows of the Asia Research Centre

For every first year undergraduate at Murdoch, your first experience of university study will be via a foundation unit. Members of the Asia Research Centre have developed the foundation unit FDN110 Australia in Asia which is suitable for new students from any school or discipline interested in finding out more about the region.

The Australian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Studies (ACICIS - pronounced Ah-chee-chis, as an Indonesian would say it) is an innovative, non-profit, national educational consortium that was established in 1994 to develop and coordinate high-quality, semester-long study programs at Indonesian partner universities for Australian university students. Today ACICIS offers both semester-long and 6-week short course options in Indonesia and is also open to non-Australians and private individuals. ACICIS currently has 19 Australian member universities (including nearly all of Australia’s leading institutions in the field of Indonesian studies), two European member universities (SOAS University of London and Leiden University), and the Asia New Zealand Foundation. It is coordinated by a small secretariat based at Murdoch University and governed by a National Reference Group consisting of senior Indonesian Studies academics representing all Australian states.