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19 August 1997
Degrees Offered
Master of Arts (in Asian Studies)
Master of Arts (in Asian Cultures and Languages)
Doctor of Philosophy (in Asian Cultures and Languages)
The Center for Asian Studies administers the master's degree program in Asian studies. The Department of Asian Studies administers the master's and doctoral degree programs in Asian cultures and languages.
The Perry-Castaneda Library contains more than 180,000 volumes of Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Pali, Prakrit, Sanskrit, and Urdu material related chiefly to the history, cultures, languages, and literatures of South and East Asia. The Undergraduate Library also has thousands of volumes in this area. In addition, the Benson Latin American Collection contains large holdings on the Japanese in Latin America; the Wasserman Public Affairs Library and the Population Research Center library also have significant holdings pertaining to Asia. The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center has an extensive collection of works dealing with Asia. It also holds rare manuscripts and photographs. The Center for Asian Studies, in conjunction with the Department of Art and Art History, maintains a large and expanding slide collection for faculty and student use.
The Center for Asian Studies offers the Master of Arts with a major in Asian studies, an interdisciplinary professional degree with a regional concentration on Asia. The degree is intended primarily for those preparing for a career in business, communications, government, law, library science, the military, or junior college teaching. There is considerable flexibility in meeting degree requirements. Each student, in consultation with the graduate adviser, designs an individual program within the framework described in the section Degree Requirements below.
The Department of Asian Studies offers the Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees with a major in Asian cultures and languages. For these degrees students concentrate in Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Malayalam, or Sanskrit.
With the approval of the graduate adviser and the graduate dean, students may design special programs that include courses outside the Department of Asian Studies that are related to the major area of study.
Graduate courses are offered regularly in Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Malayalam, Sanskrit, and Urdu languages and literatures, and occasionally in Bengali and other Indo-Aryan languages and Tibetan. The study of these languages and literatures may also be included in programs leading to master's or doctoral degrees in other fields.
Master of Arts with a Major in Asian Studies
Students who plan to specialize in the study of China or Japan must have completed at least a year of college-level Chinese or Japanese with a grade of at least B, or must demonstrate equivalent competence, before admission to the program. Second-year college-level language coursework may be taken after admission but will not be counted toward the master's degree.
Students who plan to specialize in the study of South Asia are strongly encouraged but not required to have studied Hindi, Malayalam, Sanskrit, or another South Asian language before applying for admission. First- and second-year college-level language coursework may be taken after admission but will not be counted toward the master's degree.
Applicants with insufficient coursework on Asia may be required to take up to fifteen semester hours of prescribed undergraduate coursework before beginning graduate study. The amount of such coursework, if any, is determined by the graduate adviser before the student is admitted to the program.
Master of Arts with a Major in Asian Cultures and Languages
This program is designed for students whose career objective is college or university teaching. Students who wish to specialize in China or Japan must normally have a Bachelor of Arts in Chinese or Japanese language and literature or an area studies degree with a concentration in China or Japan. The applicant must also have demonstrated third-year-level language ability in Chinese or Japanese.
Students who wish to concentrate on South Asia should normally have a Bachelor of Arts in area studies with a concentration on South Asia that includes significant language work in Hindi, Malayalam, or Sanskrit. Applicants with bachelor's degrees in religious studies with a concentration in South Asia that includes significant language work have also been accepted into the program.
Master of Arts with a Major in Asian Studies
It is important to note that the principal language of a student's program may not be his or her native language.
Students may choose either the report option or the thesis option. The report option consists of at least thirty-three semester hours of work, including the report course, a three-hour, one-semester project in which the student writes a report on a given topic or body of material that he or she has researched. The thesis option consists of at least thirty semester hours of work, including the thesis course, a six-hour, two-semester project in which the student analyzes or interprets a body of material. Core courses required of all students in the program are six semester hours of upper-division or graduate coursework in history and six semester hours of upper-division or graduate coursework in a language of the area of specialization, normally Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Japanese, Malayalam, or Sanskrit. Another Asian language may be substituted with the approval of the graduate adviser. Students are expected to complete three years of language study or pass a proficiency examination in the Asian language of their choice to complete the degree program.
Students who have fulfilled the core requirements in history and language before admission to the program must substitute twelve additional hours of Asian studies coursework: the required subject matter is waived but not the hours. Up to nine hours of upper-division coursework, including no more than six hours in language, may be counted toward the degree.
Students who choose the thesis option must take at least twelve hours of designated electives related to the area of specialization, with no more than six hours in any one discipline. Students who choose the report option must take at least eighteen hours of such electives, with no more than nine hours in any one discipline. The minor of six hours normally consists of the required language courses. Students fluent in an Asian language upon admission may designate another six hours of supporting coursework for the minor.
Master of Arts with a Major in Asian Cultures and Languages
This program requires thirty semester hours of coursework, including six hours in the thesis course. Up to nine of the thirty hours may be in upper-division courses. Students must take at least three courses in their area of specialization--in Japanese culture, Indian religion, or Chinese literature, for example. They must also take one graduate-level course that introduces them to research methods of the appropriate discipline--for example, in historiography or literary theory or criticism--and another course on the general historical or cultural background of the major area. The remaining courses must be determined in consultation with the graduate adviser. The student must demonstrate reading proficiency in one modern language of scholarship in the specialization, such as French, German, or Japanese. Students planning doctoral study in Asian cultures and languages should begin the thesis course in their third semester.
Doctor of Philosophy with a Major in Asian Cultures and Languages
At least thirty semester hours of coursework are required beyond
master's-degree work, in addition to six hours in the dissertation courses. The
student must
take courses in three areas. The first is the student's area of specialization;
at least
five courses must be taken in this area. The second area should be in a
discipline
different from that of the student's specialization. Three courses should be
taken in the
second
area. For the third area the student must take two courses in the methodology of
the primary discipline (or disciplines, if recommended by the academic adviser).
Areas must be approved by the adviser. Sample areas are listed in the program
description of each of the three major areas (China, Japan, and South Asia) in
the department.
To be admitted to candidacy for the doctoral degree, the student must take a comprehensive examination covering the three areas in which he or she has done coursework. The examination is usually taken one semester after completion of coursework. The examination committee consists of a chairman and three other members and includes at least one faculty member in each of the student's three areas. The reading list for the examination must include core items assigned by the committee. The comprehensive examination consists of two written and one oral test. Questions on the oral test may be based partially on the student's answers on the written tests.
After passing the comprehensive examination, the student, in consultation with the graduate adviser, selects five faculty members to form a dissertation committee; the chairman of the committee is the student's dissertation supervisor. The student then prepares a dissertation prospectus under the guidance of the chairman for submission to the committee. The committee reviews the prospectus at a prospectus hearing. Suggestions given at the hearing must be incorporated in the student's revision of the prospectus, which is resubmitted to the committee for approval. The student then drafts a shorter dissertation proposal based on the approved prospectus and submits it to the Graduate School as part of the application for admission to candidacy.
Competence is required in at least two foreign languages in addition to the language of the student's specialized area. The first must be a modern foreign language that will be used for research, such as French, German, or Japanese. The second may be either another research language or a second language in the broad area of the student's specialization that is pertinent to the student's professional development, such as classical Chinese for students specializing in modern China or Hindi or Malayalam for students in religious studies whose first major language is Sanskrit. The languages and the required level of proficiency are determined by the faculty in each area.
A student seeking admission to a joint degree program must apply through the Graduate and International Admissions Center. He or she must be accepted by each individual program in order to be admitted to the joint program. Like all other graduate applicants, the student is responsible for submitting any additional information required by the Graduate Studies Committee for each program.
Master of Arts/Master of Public Affairs
The Center for Asian Studies and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs offer a joint degree program leading to the Master of Arts with a major in Asian studies and the Master of Public Affairs. The program combines advanced policy studies with interdisciplinary area studies, responding to an increased need in both the public and the private sector for policy specialists with a thorough understanding of Asian politics and cultures.
Students must complete at least sixty-nine semester hours in public affairs and Asian studies, including a professional report and summer internship. They are expected to show proficiency in an Asian language (Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Malayalam, or, with special approval, another Asian language) equal to that shown by completion of three years of coursework.
Master of Arts/Master of Business Administration
This joint degree program is offered by the Graduate School of Business and the Center for Asian Studies. The program is designed to provide students with the skills and perspective necessary to work effectively in business, particularly in its application to Asia. Students pursue the Master of Business Administration and the Master of Arts with a major in Asian studies.
Students must complete seventy-five to seventy-eight semester hours of coursework in business and Asian studies, including a thesis or professional report. In addition, they are expected to demonstrate proficiency in an Asian language (normally Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, or Malayalam) equal to that shown by completion of three years of coursework.
Campus address: Will C. Hogg Building (WCH) 4.134, Phone (512)
471-5811,
Fax (512) 471-4469
Mailing address: Graduate Program, Asian Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1194
URL: http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/index.html
Chapter Four
Graduate Catalog
Contents
Chapter 1: Graduate Study
Chapter 2: Admission and Registration
Chapter 3: Degree Requirements
Chapter 4: Fields of Study
Chapter 5: Members of Graduate Studies Committees
Appendix: Course Abbreviations
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