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The 'School of Oriental and African Studies' ('SOAS') is a constituent of the
University of London specializing in the arts and humanities, languages and cultures, and the law and social sciences concerning
Asia,
Africa, and the
Middle East.
Background
Russell Square campus
SOAS was founded in 1916 as the School of Oriental Studies at 2, Finsbury Circus,
London,
England, the then premises of the London Institution. The School received its Royal Charter on June 5, 1916; admitted its first batch of students on January 18; and was formally inaugurated by the King Emperor
George V in the presence of
Lord Curzon among other cabinet officials just a month later on February 23, 1917. Africa was added to the school's name and remit in 1938 and the school permanently shifted to Thornhaugh Street, which runs between Malet Street and
Russell Square.
For sometime in the mid-1930s, the School was located at Vandon House, Vandon Street, London SW1. However, its move was held up by delays in construction and the half-completed bulding took a hit during the
Blitz in September 1940. The School had, on Government's advice, evacuated to
Cambridge and returned to London to resume work in July 1940. Most colleges of the
University of London were evacuated from London in 1939 and billeted on universities all over the provinces. SOAS was transferred, but without its library, to
Christ's College, Cambridge. When it became apparent that a return to London was possible, the School returned to the city and was temporarily housed for some months in 1940-41 in eleven rooms at Broadway Court, 8
Broadway, London SW1.
The institution's founding mission was primarily to train British administrators for overseas postings across the empire. Since then the school has grown into the world's foremost centre for the exclusive study of Asia and Africa. A college of the
University of London, SOAS fields include
Law, Social Sciences, Humanities and Languages with special reference to
Asia and
Africa. SOAS consistently ranks among the top twenty universities in the
UK league tables and in 2004 was ranked 44th in the world, 7th in the UK and 11th overall in Europe according to
The Times Higher Education Supplement. The SOAS Library, housed in Philips Building (designed at the beginning of the
1970s by Sir
Denys Lasdun), is the UK's national resource for materials relating to Asia and Africa and is the largest of its kind in Europe.
The School has grown considerably over the past thirty years, from under 1,000 students in the 1970s to over 4,500 students today, nearly half of them postgraduates. SOAS is partnered with the
Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INALCO) which is located in
Paris. INALCO is often considered the French equivalent of SOAS.
Campuses
SOAS is currently split into two campuses within 20 minutes walk of each other. The Russell Square campus is located in Bloomsbury, an area at the corner of the West End known to many tourists for its shops, theaters and nightlife. The main campus was moved there in 1938, and has much expanded since then. The closest
Underground station is
Russell Square Station.
The Vernon Square campus in Islington was opened in 2001. It is closer to the Kings Cross station and is only a few hundred yards from the Dinwiddy House and Paul Robeson House which are exclusive for SOAS students and are owned by Shaftesbury Student Housing.
The school also houses two galleries: the
Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, one of the foremost collections of Chinese ceramics in Europe, and the Brunei Gallery, completed in 1995, which stages temporary exhibitions of both historical and contemporary materials which reflect subjects and regions studied at SOAS. The present library building (by
Sir Denys Lasdun) was added in 1973, the Brunei Gallery in 1995, and an extension to the library building opened in 2004 (the second phase of this expansion is due to be completed in 2006).
Reputation
In 2006, SOAS was in 6th place in the United Kingdom with 76.47 percent.
[ Institution-wide ]
In the Guardian 2006 subject tables, SOAS was placed 3rd for Anthropology, 4th for Economics, 3rd for History and History of Art, 6th for Law, 5th for Music, 3rd for Politics, and 3rd for Theology and Religious Studies. The History Department obtained a rare 6 research rating in the last government assessment, placing it as only one of three departments in the country to achieve such a status.
In 2005 The School of Law was ranked 1st in the UK, however it dropped to 6th place in 2006.
The ''
Times Higher Education Supplement'' world rankings place SOAS 44th in the world, 7th in the United Kingdom, and 11th in Europe. SOAS is also regarded for its focus on small group teaching with a student-staff ratio of only 11:1, however with popular electives like chinese the mode of teaching is by lecture with a ratio of 50:1. According to a 2004 survey conducted by a firm SOAS endorses on its website: Endsleigh Insurance(http://www.soas.ac.uk/currentstudents/index.cfm?navid=2118), SOAS graduates had the highest graduate starting salaries in the United Kingdom. Male graduates expected to earn an average of £23,024 (depends on degree class), whereas female graduates earned £21,212 on average.
[2]
After five years as Director and Principal of SOAS (and three years as Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the
University of London),
Colin Bundy has accepted appointment as Warden of
Green College, Oxford.
[ Oxford Blueprint, Vol 6, Issue 11 ]
Professor Bundy's immediate predecessor, Sir Tim Lankester KCB, was Director and Principal 1996-2000 and left the School to become President of
Corpus Christi College, Oxford.
[ About SOAS: Sir Tim Lankester KCB ]
His successor,
Paul Webley, was Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor and Professor of
Economic Psychology in the
University of Exeter.
Department of Linguistics
The SOAS Department of Linguistics was the first ever linguistics department in United Kingdom, founded in 1932 as a centre for research and study in Oriental and African languages.
J. R. Firth, known internationally for his original work in phonology and semantics, was Senior Lecturer, Reader and Professor of General Linguistics at the school between 1938 and 1956.
Faculties at SOAS
Faculty of Law and Social Sciences
The Faculty of Law and Social Sciences consists of five academic departments
★ Department of Economics
★ Department of Development Studies
★ Department for Financial & Management Studies (Called
CeFiMS also offers distance learning courses)
★ Department of Politics and International Studies
★ The School of Law
The Faculty of Arts and Humanities
The Faculty of Arts and Humanities contains five Departments
★ Anthropology and Sociology
★ Art and Archaeology
★ History
★ Music
★ Study of Religions
The Faculty also administers the Centre for Media and Film Studies and MA in Gender Studies
Faculty of Languages and Cultures
The Faculty of Languages and Cultures consists of seven academic departments:
★ Department of Linguistics
★ Department of the Languages and Cultures of Africa
★ Department of the Languages and Cultures of China and Inner Asia
★ Department of the Languages and Cultures of Japan and Korea
★ Department of the Languages and Cultures of the Near and Middle East
★ Department of the Languages and Cultures of South Asia
★ Department of the Languages and Cultures of South East Asia and the Islands
★ The Language Centre
Note: At present, where The Language Centre employs its own staff and administers language only courses, the respective departments manage language acquisition in their courses. In the near future (the date is TBC), all language acquisition will be brought under the remit of the new School of Languages.
IFCELS
IFCELS (International Foundation Courses and English Language Studies), lies outside the university's faculty structure and runs a number of foundation courses for students wishing to enter higher education in the UK.
Located in the Faber building, this department is one of the largest departments in the school with currently over 250 foundation students as well as a large number of pre-sessional and in-sessional students.
Departamental and Other Centers
★ AHRB Centre for Asian and African Literatures
★ AHRB Research Centre In Cross-Cultural Music And Dance Performance
★ Centre for Development Policy and Research (CDPR)
★ Centre for Ethnic Minority Studies
★ Centre for Finance and Management Studies
★ Centre for Gender Studies
★ Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy
★ Centre for Jewish Studies
★ Centre for Law and Conflict
★ Centre for Media and Film Studies
★ Centre for the Study of Japanese Religions
★ Centre of Buddhist Studies
★ Centre of East Asian Law
★ Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law
★ Centre of Islamic Studies
★ Centre of Jaina Studies
★ Centre of Taiwan Studies
★ Centre on International Law and Colonialism
★ Contemporary China Institute
★ Gender and Religion Research Centre
★ International Foundation and English Language Courses
★ Law, Environment and Development Centre (LEDC)
★ Learning and Teaching Unit
★ Poetry Translation Centre
★ Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures
★ The Language Centre
Students' accommodation
Many SOAS students are accommodated in the college's own
halls of residence: Dinwiddy House (located on
Pentonville Road in
Kings Cross and
Paul Robeson House, a block away from Dinwiddy House, on Penton Rise; SOAS students are also eligible to apply for places in the
University of London intercollegiate halls of residence, such as
Connaught Hall.
Most students in college or university accommodation are first-year
undergraduates. The majority of second and third-year students and
postgraduates find their own accommodation in the private sector.
Students' Union
Main articles: SOAS Students' Union
SOAS has an active
Students' Union, which is seen among the students' movement to be radically left-wing. In recent years the Students' Union has been incredibly vocal in anti-war protests, and has also hosted talks from the
RESPECT party
MP George Galloway. Recent campaigns by the union have involved campaigning for extended library opening hours, against closure of the
Hindi and
Tibetan courses, and for fairer pay for the SOAS cleaners and staff, to prevent further walk out strike action like the walk out in 2005. Adopted motions are decided upon by vote at a
UGM, usually held at least twice a term.
The union elects 3 full-time co-presidents a year, who have separate responsibilities; and there are many part-time officers working with them who have specific briefs. Since a revision of the Union's constitution it has been possible for a Union General Meeting to elect an honorary president to serve a one-year term. The post has previously been held by
Mayor of London Ken Livingstone whilst the current Hon. President is Burmese political activist and SOAS alumnus
Aung San Suu Kyi.
OpenAir Radio
SOAS runs its own radio station, OpenAir Radio, based on the 5th floor of the Russell Square Building. The initial
Restricted Service Licence ran from November until
16 December 2005, and broadcast on 101.4FM over a three mile radius in the Camden/Central London area. The remit of the station is world music, culture and current affairs, with programmes focusing on Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. OpenAir programmes include everything from local news to international media analysis, and cookery programmes to DJ sets.
OpenAir Radio is currently webcasting service and is applying for a Restricted Service Licence to broadcast on FM in the near future.
[2]
Notable students and alumni
'Politics & Government'
★
Varun Gandhi, politician, Bharatiya Janata Party youth leader
★
Luisa Diogo, politician, current Prime Minister of Mozambique
★
Bülent Ecevit, politician, former Prime Minister of Turkey
★
David Lammy, British politician, Labour Member of Parliament and minister
★
Aaron Mike Oquaye, politician, Minister of Communication in Ghana
★
Enoch Powell, British politician
★
Lord Wilson of Tillyorn, sinologist and diplomat, 27th Governor of Hong Kong
★
François Barras, diplomat, ambassador of Switzerland to Lebanon
★
Walter Rodney, historian and Guyanese political activist
★
Alan Senitt, political activist
★
Aung San Suu Kyi, political activist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and elected Honorary President of the SOAS Students' Union
★
Lord Jay of Ewelme, civil servant
★
Jemima Khan, society figure and campaigner
★
Akbar S. Ahmed, anthropologist, former High Commissioner of Pakistan to the UK
'Media'
★
Mirza Tahir Ahmad, fourth Head of the
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and founder of Muslim TV Ahmadiyya
★
Zeinab Badawi, newsreader
★
Fatima Bhutto, author and journalist
★
James Brandon, newspaper journalist
★
Martin Bright, journalist, Political Editor of the New Statesman
★
Dom Joly, television comedian and journalist
★
Khyentse Norbu, film-maker and Tibetan Buddhist lama
★
Andrew Robinson, author and journalist
★
Saira Shah, journalist and film-maker
★
Emma McCune, an expatriate British foreign aid worker in Sudan who married guerrilla leader Riek Machar.
'Academia'
★
Antony Flew, philosopher
★
Fred Halliday, academic, Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics
★
Robert Graham Irwin, historian and writer on Arabic literature
★
Ibrahim Mogra Islamic theologian, Chair of the Interfaith Relations Committee of the Muslim Council of Britain
★
James R. Russell, academic, Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University
★
Ivan van Sertima, historian and anthropologist, professor of African studies at Rutgers University
★
Patrick Sookhdeo, theologian and Anglican canon
★
Romila Thapar, historian, Professor Emerita of Ancient Indian History at the Jawaharlal Nehru University
★
Thomas Trautmann, historian
★
Konrad Tuchscherer, academic, Associate Professor of History and Director of Africana Studies at St. John's University (New York City)
★
Ehsan Yarshater, academic, Hagop Kevorkian Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Columbia
★
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