Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies [Oxford]

'The Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (formerly Oriental Studies) is home to a range of languages and subjects that cover an enormous geographical area, from Morocco in the west to Japan in the east, and a long time span from the earliest civilizations, c. 3500 BCE, to the present day. Twenty-five languages are currently taught in this Faculty, both classical and modern, and at undergraduate and postgraduate levels ... For many people in the "West", these perhaps sound like “exotic” subjects to study. In real-world demographic terms, however, the areas taught and studied in this Faculty represent well over half of the world’s current population, as well as covering some of the world’s major civilizations. The subjects taught in this Faculty are therefore far from being marginal; they are at the heart of the modern globalised world.'