Department website: http://liberalarts.utexas.edu/asianstudies/

The Master of Arts degree with a major in Asian cultures and languages is intended for students whose career objective is college or university teaching. For these degrees, students concentrate in Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, or Urdu. 

There is considerable flexibility in meeting degree requirements. Each student, in consultation with the graduate advisor and faculty mentor, designs an individual program within the framework of the requirements.

Graduate courses are offered regularly in the histories, cultures, religions, languages, and literatures of Asia. The study of these languages and cultures may also be included in programs leading to master’s or doctoral degrees in other disciplines.

Graduate Handbook

Graduate handbook information is updated and maintained by each program. Graduate handbooks are available within each program's office and online. Please contact the program with concerns or questions.

Admission

This program is intended for students who wish to obtain a doctorate in order to pursue an academic career in the study of China, Japan, Korea, or South Asia. They may apply to enter the program with a bachelor’s degree in area studies or a related field. Most applicants will have knowledge of an Asian language before applying for admission. Students without this knowledge but with otherwise outstanding applications may also be accepted into the program. Students may complete first- and second-year college-level language coursework after admission, but these courses will not count toward the credit hours required for their master’s and doctoral degrees. Successful applicants holding only a bachelor’s degree will initially be enrolled in the master of arts program, with the expectation that after obtaining the master’s degree they will continue their studies in the doctoral program. Applicants who already hold a master’s degree in a related field may be admitted directly to the doctoral phase of the program. Such applicants normally have an advanced level of proficiency in the language and have completed graduate-level coursework in their area of specialization.

Total Hours Required: 30

Requirements

Students must take at least three courses in their area of specialization—for example, in Japanese culture, Indian religion, or Chinese literature. They must also take one graduate course that introduces them to research methods of the appropriate discipline—for example, in historiography, ethnography, or literary theory/criticism—and another course in history or in the social sciences relating to their regional area of study. Up to nine hours of upper-division undergraduate coursework may be counted toward the master’s degree.

Students must pass a formal review during the second year that determines if the student may advance to the doctoral program. Students are expected to show proficiency in a language offered by the Department of Asian Studies, either by completing six semester hours of advanced language study with a grade of at least B in each course or by passing a proficiency examination. Students must submit a report demonstrating their ability to conduct independent research during the last semester of the program.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
All students must also follow the requirements and policies below:
Graduate Liberal Arts Requirements
Graduate University Requirements

Additional Requirements and Policy

All graduate students in the Department of Asian Studies are required to complete an annual report detailing their progress in the program. Annual reports are reviewed by the Graduate Studies Committee each spring.