 Welcome everyone and good morning or good afternoon or good evening, depending on where you are right now, and welcome to this Open Day event, which is very open in format. My name is Filippo Cervelli, I am the convener of the MA programs of the Station Languages and Cultures Department. Together today with me is Dr. Siong Lu, who teaches with us and researches in contemporary Chinese studies and then she will be able to tell you more about what we do. I will just receive the, unfortunately, the apologies of Dr. Vicente Scarsh, our head of department, who unfortunately could not be present today because of some health issues that so hopefully are resolved soon. So, I will also talk you briefly through what she's, what she had prepared for today and refer you to her for all further more specific questions that you might have. Dr. Daphit Fowler also joined us at a later point during the presentation to give you more information and answer to your questions on specifically the MA in Taiwanese studies. So I think we can start. We have a short presentation to give you the basics. So, yeah, can you all see that? Can you write or just answer or write? Yes, we can see it. Thank you because last time I did that there were some issues with the format being shared but I'm happy to know that this is working well. So, again, welcome to this post-graduate Open Day presentation for our department, Station Languages and Cultures and today I will walk you through the main degree offer that we have at the post-graduate level. So, first of all, this is our meme. I know it's very famous and you can make your own choices about who represents which language, which regional expertise. My best bet is from left to right to have Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Taiwan, but I'm sure my colleagues and other students have their own pick and also studying with us, it will make your own ideas about that. So this is that very brief overview of the, the schematics of what we offer in the post-credit taught domain in our department. So, as you can see from a glimpse in our department, we teach languages and cultures from around the Chinese, Chinese and Inner Asia, Japan, Korea, and also the Taiwan studies is affiliated with us. So, the MA programs in Chinese, Japanese and Korean studies, the one year programs, they are convenient by me and you can find my email address here. So any questions related to the study side in there can be addressed to me. Then we have the MA in combination with the language or other programs that can be combined and the intensive language program, which is a longer program and you will, we will have a slide later on with the different beginners and contact details for each language there. And then the MA in Taiwan studies and as I mentioned, Dr. Fell will join us later to talk more about that. So, why come to study at SOAS, right? This is a, this is a great question. There are programs sometimes can hear that if you want to learn 11th century Japanese then go to Oxford, however, at SOAS we have a really wide offer and expertise on a very wide range of subjects that make unique combinations. If you want to know more about modern and contemporary size and different interdisciplinary aspects that relate to a particular area of interest, but or even transnational, transcultural aspects on stage. So we are very strong at that and we have great colleagues and members in the teams that whose expertise is very interdisciplinary and focused. So SOAS is in ranking steadily in the top 10 for modern languages. We have most comprehensive programs in Europe because you're not only do you focus on one region, but you also get a wide, you can tap into a wide pool of expertise in different disciplines related to China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and you also have the chance to integrate them with the study of other courses across the school, which you know is very strong in the areas of Asia, the Middle East and Africa. So you can have a focus on East Asia and also have knowledge in other areas too. We have largest concentrations of specialists outside of the region of belonging, as for example I am in the Japanese section, we have expertise in literature, history, pre-modern and modern literature, theater, linguistics, cinema, same for Chinese and across other departments, also sociology, anthropology, history of art, and so on and so forth and politics. So this speaks to our very interdisciplinary approach and which I think it's a unique combination and also one important thing is that you also get to study London, which is a thriving city with lots of cultural events from all over the world. So that is also a good environment to pair up with the more, let's say, formal study that you do at uni. So very briefly, in terms of the MAs in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, these are one-year programs, which are for which you, that can also be taken part-time spread across two or three years depending on your necessities. The general structure for all these programs is to complete total 180 credits, of which 60 credits are spent for the dissertation. So as you know, this is a research project of 10,000 words that you can, that you select based on one of loosely, more or less loosely based on one of the modules that you take, and then you can develop your own research project, and we have a wide array of experts that can follow you in that project. So the other unmoving part is the 15 credits of the core module. This is called Connections and Intersections. It's a module that master students usually take in the first term of study. And this is a module that I am convening currently, and it looks at area studies and different aspects intersecting with the study of East Asia. So we problematize the categories of East Asia, the study of area studies, and then we have a wide array of lectures given by members in our departments that have a wider scope than just one regional interest or looking at intersecting themes and issues in the study of modern East Asia. So for example, we have this year a lecture on the world of a scientific script of Chinese characters spreading across Asia, shared literary traditions, hybridization and transnationality aspects in popular culture, modern history, Cold War, and so on and so forth. And this is also a module that contains a study and a workshop aspect on MA dissertation. So we aim of the module together with the specific outcomes of it is also to get you started in developing your own research project and think about the dissertation, and we offer guidance and workshop as part of the course. So taking taking the dissertation and the core module credits out, then we have 105 credits that choosing students can choose from a very wide range of modules so I will not go into the specifics now because these can also change but you can choose modules from those that relate to your region of choice so if you choose Japan is modern Japanese literature, pre-modern Japanese literature, cinema, history, if you choose China, it's modern Chinese literature, Chinese society, Chinese cinema, or the same with Korean. Then others can be taken from language courses at all levels that we give in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, and also to a lesser extent from modules that you can choose from the offer of the school of SOA so it could be one module in North African history of art, for example. And so I would like to point out that prior language knowledge of either Korean Japanese or Chinese is not a requirement for us so you're welcome to bring your, if you have certain knowledge of the languages to the table for your studies, for your research project, of course, if you use sources in languages other than English that is also very welcome, but it is not a requirement for attending the classes in the MA, and also at the same time, you can either take a beginner level courses in one language of your choice offered by the department, or study at a more advanced level if you already have prior knowledge so that is quite free and up to you to make up your own structure. I would just like to spend a few words about our research culture. So as I mentioned, we, we have a wide range of academic expertise in our department with experts in Korean Chinese and Japanese, you can study all areas and all pay periods that deal and pertain to the study of these regions. But what is also particular here at SMOS is that we have quite a nice mix of of academics researching and teaching on modern and contemporary aspects of these regions so, for example, myself, I specialized in modern and contemporary Japanese literature and pop culture so together with core modules and study skills modules I teach courses on modern Japanese literature, for example, next turn I'm teaching a course in literature that is focusing on post war from the post war era to the present day and focusing on a writing from minorities in Japan so from socially and ethnically marginalized groups for example, social outcasts or Korean residents in Japan, people from Okinawa that challenge ideas of the homogenous identity of Japan, but also it's very much informed by contemporary studies so I present also less studied authors that are very contemporary the deal in genre such as science fiction and others and fantasy, and also integrating that with notions of popular culture especially cultures of youth, anime and manga because this is what I do for my own research and that also speaks to the general approach that we have in the department of East Asian languages and cultures which is research like teaching so that researchers actually teach things that they are particularly passionate and knowledgeable on while still having the big picture and giving you the framework to grasp and analyze and think particularly about texts and having a wider framework, but I would definitely stress that we have a really wide range of experts in a wide bag of topics and disciplines, literature, culture, cinema, history, language, linguistics and so on and so forth so this also speaks to the general approach in the department that they colonizing the curriculum and buzzword in higher learning now so to dispute and confute the challenge of established norms in cultural aspects so that's also for example the module on minority writing deals with that the idea to debunk assumed notions of what what should be studied what what makes really greatly to turn so on. Then we have a lot of resources such as the research centers they have the China Institute, the Japan Research Center Korean studies and post-colonial studies that are good because they have weekly or bi-weekly seminars where you invite speakers and researchers from all over the world presenting their research and discussing what is going on in in the world of research in these regions and it's good for us and for students to know what is going on because that could also give you a good ideas about what you want to write about things that you are not sure that you wanted to do but you wanted to do and also to it's a possibility to meet other researchers and also we have a great library that is also on site and you can use every day until midnight and has a lot of resources for you to make the most of. So, this is generally what I had to say about our MA programs I would like to call Sioning to possibly talk us more about research culture and her courses and anything else that she deems relevant. Okay, thank you. So, my name is Xiao Ning Lu. I actually received my education in China all the way up to master degree. Then I went on to get my PhD in United States. I joined SOAS in 2010 so have been teaching and researching at SOAS for a really long time and this academic year, I'm convening and teaching a number of modules for MA program. For instance, contemporary Chinese society is the Asian cinema, New Taiwan cinema and beyond. I also contributed to team teaching in other modules, the core modules mentioned by Philippo. So, I want to give you a little bit of view about how our class really work. So, for instance, for my contemporary Chinese society this year I deliver one hour lecture online and the students just tuning in because for this term at least we have a hybrid of blended learning. But for the second hour we have a seminar, so I will meet the students in classroom we have a discussion and group work, etc. In this class I think I introduced various different topics. For instance, I've introduced women and the migration, environmental activism. Last week we talked about the cultural politics of undetermined media in China and next week I'm going to introduce the topic of cyber nationalism in China. So there are a range of fascinating topics which really address the social transformation, social cultural transformations in contemporary China. And in my class, most students are from European countries, but we do have quite a number, quite a few from China and Taiwan. So it really oversees Chinese. Some students actually, they are Chinese American and they came to London to study with us. So, it is really amazing to see students from different backgrounds and bring their knowledge, experience together and to enrich our class discussion. I'm also the director of research in in the department of East Asian languages and cultures. And so now we want to further integrate our research students research activity with staff members. So we will hold, for example, departmental research seminars, we will also open certain research events to interested MA students. I think another thing I want to emphasize is what is what is good great about our programs is its interdisciplinarity. If you study Chinese studies MA Chinese studies. You not only be able to study modules on literature and a culture, you will also have opportunities to learn, for example, gender and the nation in East Asia or gender and the empire in early modern China. We have another module which is quite nice. It's called nationhood and the competing identities in modern China. So if you if you go to our departmental website and check the degree program, you can find either Chinese study degree or Japanese study degree and go to click on the tab and then you will see a complete list of modules. I think I'm going to stop here I'm very happy to maybe answer some questions if you have any feel free either to speak up or type your questions in the chat. Any questions. And in fact I think our students when they started in September they most of them are very enthusiastic, but then now we're halfway through of the first term, and then many students realize the study here is very intensive. So now they're busy. They're busy with writing papers. Yeah, I think we have once one one question. You want to speak up. Hello. Hi. Hi, I just have a question. So I'm interested in taking the MA Japanese translation or Japanese studies. And I wanted to know in terms of interdisciplinary studies would film studies be available as a separate degree option I can take or is that something I couldn't do. Do you mean with the intensive language. Yeah. I think you can choose to film modules, but your degree title will still be Japanese studies. Okay, so the degree title will not be film and the media studies and that's the difference. But of course you can take your modules. Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah it's because so the the MA is right that we talked about they are based in our department so combinations that so those you can take modules you can write the dissertation on film that is perfectly fine. But then the title of the degree would be MA Japanese Chinese or Korean. A different thing which I think also leads into the second part of the presentation is that you can either combined degrees deal with us in terms of the language right so you can do studying the MA in a certain program, and then you have the intensive language part that is administered by us, and these programs are, as you can see from the slide they are spread across two years right. So, and is there a dual degree or is that different. Excuse me. Sorry, is there a dual degree that you can take with language. These are called like this yeah and then you can see that now in the slide I will mention that in a second the dual degree term thusly is another thing that is available between Japan and Sophia University but that is another thing. So I will just mention this and then I will get to Elena's question. I will just briefly go through this, the intensive language program because Dr. Kersh, as I mentioned was is more expert on this so you are welcome to reach out to her after this. So, this is the combined program right with language and another program of study and they have their structure so it offers intensive language training and the post credit level. And with an accredited summer school in China, Japan and Korea which is part of the, which is, which students take between in the summer between year one and year two when that is made up for 45 credits abroad right. It can be combined with the number of MA programs so it can be paired with what we just saw so Japanese studies Korean studies and Chinese studies. So you take that pathway, plus the 45 credits abroad, of course, and language and the dissertation. The same can be done with Korean studies and Chinese studies. You can have also pairings with other degrees that are, for example, not fully in the department, for example, linguistics migration and diaspora studies social anthropology or history. So you have requirements in discipline credits from that side. And then also you do the language training in our department and the summer, the 45 credits abroad. One important thing that I should point out is that I'm rolling on the intensive language programs language wise can only be done at beginners level so you will start from beginner level courses in those languages you cannot start with Japanese for already. Yes, Elena. Hi, can you hear me. Yes. Okay. So, earlier, did I hear you say that the dissertation was 10,000 words. 10,000. Yes. 10,000. Not 20,000 like it says online for most MA dissertations. And so as. I haven't seen what it says for so as that's just what it can solve and I can confirm. Okay, thank you. I was like, okay, yeah, it's the right now. And the other thing I wanted to ask is I've seen on the website, there's like suggested reading and then there's core reading. Yeah. So, are you expected to do any of this reading before you start the academic year. So that depends on when your class takes place right so the readings that you find on the website are those for indication of course as you can see courses change courses are updated. And so the, the reading list will be given to you by your module conveners before the module stars. The core reading you're not expected to have read everything before the course starts not at all. The core readings will also be divided by weeks so that each week is on a certain topic and the, the convener and the teacher or teachers the benefits a Kotak module will give you indications in well in advance of what they recommended and what the, the required readings the core readings for that particular topic and we are and those you should prepare in advance because they help you go through the lecture and also the the object often of the following seminar and discussion. The suggested ones are suggested. So these are things that the call the conveners and teachers think that are really helpful and that for for widening your understanding and physical analysis and also cover some of the aspects that you might want to write your term paper on so. Okay, so you will be told when you're expected to read these things as students will be told. Yeah, they come on the common, the common practice is that each course will have a list of core readings divided by topics and weeks. Okay. Yeah, if I may, I can share my screen actually I cannot. I can see you. No, I want to share the screen. Okay, let me, I can share, maybe I can share and share mine. I can share one of the module on the Moodle. They will see the structure. So normally, the core that required readings for my module I would always advise students to completely required readings before attending a class. For the suggested reading, you know, you can read them if you want to write an essay on that topic. You can order your understanding but otherwise, actually, as I mentioned the study here is very intensive you were funded too much reading it's really hard to go in the end. Yeah, so yeah, my question was, are students expected to read the core and suggested stuff before the course starts, but if you're telling me, you'll be told when to read it and just be prepared for the class. I understand. Yes. Thank you. So, before I get to the next questions, we'll just share this important slides with where you have all the specific contacts of the module of the program conveners for the intensive language so for intensive language and Chinese. You can contact like send for Japanese. There is Chris and this cash, our head of department until the end of the year. And then Barbara, but it's the only from January. And similarly for Korean underscore son, and then Grace co. Okay, so if you have specific questions about these programs, I would encourage you to get in touch with them. Yeah, Emma. I was wondering because you said that or maybe I misunderstood that. If you take like both the, for example, I'm interested in the Chinese study master. So if you take that and the intensive language program, you start from the basics, or in language yes in language yes for the intensive language programs, the language part can be done only at beginner level. But like in the course like the Chinese master, there's already like part the advanced Chinese. Yeah. And I was wondering if maybe you knew like, at what level, it usually starts like the, I don't know, HSK or something like to, you know, where you start. So I'm not an expert on the equivalence of the Chinese standards. Maybe then sounding knows more about that, or, or otherwise. Yeah. I think now most of all Jews are in inclusive, because we, we have students from other programs, for instance from Japanese program, they are also taking my contemporary Chinese society module or cinema module. So, most of the readings are in English, and even the films have English subtitles. So, but of course you if you want to work on Chinese primary sources, you can, you should have a certain level of Chinese proficiency. Otherwise, don't don't worry you can you still can take the modules. Yeah, and I don't really know the HSK level because my colleague wouldn't know better. Yeah, so yeah, do do get it touch with like, for this matter. Thank you, because I was actually interesting like my ideal career path would be like teaching Chinese to other students, both Chinese like the language and like contemporary society. And I was wondering whether like this course is like the path I should be taking because I don't want to start from a basic level, because I already graduated. Yes. Do get in touch with Nick, my colleague, and she is teaching all different Chinese language modules. So she is really the expert. Yeah. Okay, thank you very much. I think we have a chain. Yeah. Thanks both for Sorry, of my throat. Yeah, I've got a question about I'm quite interested in Japanese food with Japanese language. And I want to apply for the part time MA of anthropological food with intensive Japanese language. Um, but I want to know if I'm working at the moment full time. Can I do it in the evening for the part time course or how will it, if I'm going to apply for the part time study for this MA, how will the schedule be over the four years. So schedule wise then, of course, there is a degree of adapting to write with how the world is, especially now we have a lot of lectures online. And so also, so many courses are in the afternoon and evening so it also depends on that. Yeah, I think on the website it might say that if you take it part time it's during daytime but it means I think it's quite flexible there. Normally, and normally part time students will spend a double time full time master students usually one and a half a year to complete the degree. Yeah, and then by the full time two to three years, and I have students working but they don't. So they have to adjust to their work schedule. Some modules, for example, East Asian cinema is in the morning so that you have to attend lecture, if it's in person you have to, you have to come to the campus to attend lecture in person. Okay, do you have any courses over the weekend. Yeah, that's fine. Another question relevant to anthropology food with this language courses. I know there will be like if I'm going because I'm quite interested in the food will this course if I choose Japanese as an intensive language with a food study also focused on Japanese food or it will be a general food study. Well, that, that depends on the structure of the program, mostly because that the anthropology of food, the part of the anthropology of food is not organized by us so. Yeah, I think it's general it's not going to focus on Japanese food only anthropology department course. So, introduce methodology and cover different topics. You can write on Japan, of course. That can be a dissertation topic. Yeah, yeah, that's like something I'm thinking about. And also a relevant to the summer school because I know there will be summer schools with this intensive language courses. If I apply for the part time and to do it, will I be able to schedule for example one summer to do it or do you know how will it schedule then. I think it's usually one summer but please do check with the computer. Okay, yeah. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, that's my question. Thank you so much. Thank you. Elena. Hi, yeah. Just to let the other girl that talked about doing Chinese. I spoke to will like I emailed one of the other teachers and they said that there is a test that can be taken when you get there and then that can determine which class you should take from there. Just if that girl's still listening. And thank you so much. I wanted to ask so how many will if you if you know roughly how many hours a week will be in lectures on campus and how many hours a week will be online. Well, that is, that is not easy to predict, because things change and you have to adapt to write government and standards and things like that. Well, how many hours is it all together that that. I mean, usually, usually the discipline modules in our department are 15 credits. So, I'm talking a discipline right so not not language specifically those you have a lecture, and then usually one hour seminar so it's two hours per week at the moment. So we're delivering lectures online as Sioning was so said and the seminars are on campus. So how many modules. So if you are taking four modules in your first year of in the first term. That's normally out. So you have a four hours online for lecture and a four hours on campus for seminar. And if the current arrangement continues, but maybe you should all come back to campus we don't know. Okay, so it's like rough. It's eight hours a week, a combination of campus and online. For example, in the MA Chinese studies as we saw it's 180 credits so you take 60 out for the dissertation. So you have 120 and you divided by 15 and then you have roughly a number of unless you. Yeah, because 30 credit modules run for the whole year so then you have a rough number. Eight times 15 it's 120. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Change is that an old hand or you have another question. No, I don't have any more questions. Thank you so much. No problem. Laura is David here to talk about the will have another question from online. Okay. Sorry for interrupt. I would like to because I'm interested in the Chinese, in the Chinese program and actually I live in Hong Kong and I raised in Hong Kong and study in Hong Kong as well. So, I would like to know for the term Chinese is it because I write traditional Chinese instead of the more popular in the five Chinese. I am a native candidate speaker instead of speaker. So is, I would like to know is the traditional Chinese writing and writing and the Cantonese is also acceptable under the Chinese. Okay, so for the disappearing modules, all our assignments need to be written in English. For the assets you need to write it in English. Of course you can use primary sources Chinese primary sources but you should also be able to translate that into English as well. We have some pre modern Chinese module for example, legend for close and those deal with the pre modern text. So, yeah, I hope that answers your question. If I'm talking about like the language intensive course, like for the people like me as a native speaker. Would it be, would I be eligible to take those courses or yeah. Oh, actually, you need to email Lik Xuan. I have no idea. Sorry. Sorry. Okay. I would just like to have a brief mention about the Taiwanese study so stuff in here now. No, I don't think that is here. Okay, then I'll, he provided us with a video and I'll just play that for the students. So I tell the studies program was established in the late 1990s. And over the last two decades we've developed into by far the world's leading center for terrible studies in terms of teaching publication. We've got the only MA in Taiwan studies in the English speaking world, and we have the widest range of tell studies courses postgraduate. We do have some undergraduate courses, for example, year on course in Taiwan politics and international relations. Again, it's the only such course in the world. What I love about teaching at so it's in the time program is the fact that I can teach what I research, I'm a specialist on terms elections and party politics, and I can use what I research and bring it into the classroom. So I studied Chinese for one year. And so I knew that I wanted to continue studying China and Chinese. And so I looked at looked at sauce and as it turned out so I also offered courses on Taiwan. In the end, the reason that came to us was precisely because of the courses on Taiwan that they offered. The first motive that I came to service is because of my career because I was an educator back in Singapore. I have been working for three years. So I think it's kind of weird to learn so that I chose so as I think what is really significant is in the Taiwanese politics class because we have students from Hong Kong, Singapore, China, and UK itself. So it's like whenever we share our perspectives, we learn from each other. It really like open my eyes at how to view politics in different ways. When students first arrive at silence, what we'll tell them is that over this year you're going to meet a number of the key figures in the Taiwan Studies academic field. You're going to be meeting people on your readings. The kind of things that we'll cover in the events will be linked to what we're covering courses. This is not an ordinary academic institution. This is a center that really draw talents into it. And many, many scholars from the world, when they come to visit Europe, they really love to come to London because they want to come to sell us. For example, last year we have gone 46 public events. This really provides a certain kind of stage for Taiwan and Taiwanese related scholars. In June 2015, we held the second World Congress of Taiwan Studies and so was. It was a fantastic event and we attracted more than 80 scholars from all over the world. And I think a student really took away with them from this particular event some research ideas, some academic contacts and even scholarship opportunities. So the Center of Taiwan Studies organizes a whole range of events throughout the year. These include movie screenings, academic talks and perhaps most memorable sessions with high-ranking Taiwanese politicians. So in my final year at SOAS, we had the chance to attend a talk by former Taiwanese Premier, Frank Siew, and at the end of the talk he stayed on for about half an hour and a student had the opportunity to talk to him immediately directly. It was an amazing opportunity. We had the atmosphere and this kind of excitement that people want to share their ideas and their research with our students and academics here. Once you are here, you sense the energy. This is the place to be. Okay, so you had an overview there. Information about, there is some information here about the Taiwan Studies program. Unfortunately, it seems like that Dr. Fell had some technical problems logging in so I'm glad that you could see this brief overview. So here's some information. There's a leading center for Taiwanese studies and academic events and then you have a wide range of Taiwanese studies modules, there's Taiwanese cinema and other bits. For any questions on this, so please do write to do get in touch with Dr. Fell, df2atsoas.ac.uk. I mean, that's about it with our main offer. Here you have an overview of some of the careers that our recent graduates have undertaken, see advances proficiency in the languages of China, Japan and Korea. The demand for that has greatly increased in recent years, especially looking for people with competencies in cultural mediation, knowing and cultural awareness about dealing with different cultures and regions. And so, with our degrees, not only do you get a specific education in aspects of your choice but you also get transferable skills that work outside of the single modules, and enable you to be either a translator working in communication, working in different kinds of relations with these regions in East Asia and here's a list of some of the career paths that our students have taken. So I would stop here, and so do we have one question or is that an old hand? Maybe it's an old hand. Okay, that's sorry. Okay. Okay, thank you. Yeah, so that's all from us. Thank you for your attention. Thank you for all who participated academic staff, support staff and students. And please, if you have any questions on our programs, do get in touch with the different conveners, or even module teachers have a look at the modules and structures look at what might interest you. I hope to see many of you at SOAS. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being here today. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. Thank you so much. Thank you.