SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES

SOAS University of London (the School of Oriental and African Studies)is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area of central London. The school’s founding mission was to advance British scholarship, science and commerce in Africa and Asia and to provide London University with a rival to the Oriental schools of Berlin, Petrograd and Paris. Africa was added to the school’s name in 1938.

SOAS is one of the world’s leading institutions for the study of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.^[5] Its library is one of the five national research libraries in the UK. SOAS also houses the Brunei Gallery, which hosts a programme of changing contemporary and historical exhibitions from Asia, Africa and the Middle East with the aim to present and promote cultures from these regions.

SOAS is divided into three faculties: Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Faculty of Languages and Cultures and Faculty of Law and Social Sciences. It is home to the SOAS School of Law which is one of leading law schools in the UK. The university offers around 350 bachelor’s degree combinations, more than 100 one-year master’s degrees and PhD programmes in nearly every department.

The university has a student-staff ratio of 11:1, one of the best in the UK. The university has produced several heads of states, government ministers, diplomats, central bankers, Supreme Court judges, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and many other notable leaders around the world. SOAS is a member of Association of Commonwealth Universities. (credit Wikipedia).