SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
research university
A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...
in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
, and a
member institution of the federal
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...
. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the
Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions.
Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...
area of central London.
SOAS is one of the world's leading institutions for the study of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. 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 of presenting and promoting 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 the leading law schools in the UK. The university offers around 350
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
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,
diplomat
A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...
s,
central bankers,
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
judges, a
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...
Laureate, and many other notable leaders around the world. SOAS is a member of the
Association of Commonwealth Universities
The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) was established in 1913, and has over 500 member institutions in over 50 countries across the Commonwealth. The ACU is the world's oldest international network of universities. Its mission is t ...
.
History
Origins
The School of Oriental Studies was founded in 1916 at 2
Finsbury Circus
Finsbury Circus is a park in the Coleman Street Ward of the City of London, England. The 2 acre park is the largest public open space within the City's boundaries.
It is not to be confused with Finsbury Square, just north of the City, or Fi ...
, London, the then premises of the
London Institution
The London Institution was an educational institution founded in London in 1806 (not to be confused with the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom founded the previous year, with which it shared some founders). It ...
. The school received its
royal charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...
on 5 June 1916 and admitted its first students on 18 January 1917. The school was formally inaugurated a month later on 23 February 1917 by
George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Q ...
. Among those in attendance were
Earl Curzon of Kedleston
Viscount Scarsdale, of Scarsdale in Derbyshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1911 for the prominent Conservative politician and former Viceroy of India George Curzon, 1st Baron Curzon of Kedleston, who was ...
, formerly
Viceroy of India
The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1 ...
, and other cabinet officials.
The School of Oriental Studies was founded by the British state as an instrument to strengthen Britain's political, commercial, and military presence in Asia and Africa.
It would do so by providing instruction to colonial administrators (
Colonial Service
The Colonial Service, also known as His/Her Majesty's Colonial Service and replaced in 1954 by Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS), was the British government service that administered most of Britain's overseas possessions, under the aut ...
and
Imperial Civil Service),
commercial managers, and military officers, as well as to missionaries, doctors, and teachers, in the language of the part of Asia or Africa to which each was being posted, together with an authoritative introduction to the customs, religions, laws, and history of the people whom they were to govern or among whom they would be working.
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
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
,
Petrograd
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, and
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
. The school immediately became integral to training British administrators, colonial officials, and spies for overseas postings across the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading post ...
. Africa was added to the school's name in 1938.
Second World War
For a period in the mid-1930s, prior to moving to its current location at Thornhaugh Street,
Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions.
Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...
, the school was located at Vandon House, Vandon Street, London SW1, with the library located at
Clarence House
Clarence House is a royal residence on The Mall in the City of Westminster, London. It was built in 1825–1827, adjacent to St James's Palace, for the Duke of Clarence, the future king William IV.
Over the years, it has undergone much exten ...
. Its move to new premises in Bloomsbury was held up by delays in construction and the half-completed building took a hit during the
Blitz in September 1940. With the onset of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, many University of London colleges were evacuated from London in 1939 and billeted on universities in the rest of the country. The School was, on the Government's advice, transferred to
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...
.
In 1940, when it became apparent that a return to London was possible, the school returned to the city and was housed for some months in eleven rooms at Broadway Court, 8
Broadway, London
Broadway is a street in the City of Westminster in London that runs between Petty France, Queen Anne's Gate, Carteret Street and Tothill Street in the north and Victoria Street in the south. It is joined on the west side by St Ermin's Hill and ...
SW1. In 1942, the
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence (MoD ...
joined with the School to create a scheme for State Scholarships to be offered to select grammar and public school boys with linguistic ability to train as military translators and interpreters in Chinese, Japanese,
Persian, and Turkish. Lodged at
Dulwich College
Dulwich College is a 2–19 independent, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose o ...
in south London, the students became affectionately known as ''the Dulwich boys''. One of these students was
Charles Dunn, who became a prominent Japanologist on the faculty of the SOAS and a recipient of the
Order of the Rising Sun
The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...
. Others included
Sir Peter Parker and
Professor Ronald Dore. Subsequently, the School ran a series of courses in Japanese, both for translators and for interpreters.
1945–present
In recognition of SOAS's role during the war, the 1946 Scarborough Commission (officially the "Commission of Enquiry into the Facilities for Oriental, Slavonic, East European and African Studies")
report recommended a major expansion in provision for the study of Asia and the school benefited greatly from the subsequent largesse.
The
SOAS School of Law was established in 1947 with Professor
Seymour Gonne Vesey-FitzGerald as its first head. Growth however was curtailed by following years of economic austerity, and upon Sir
Cyril Philips assuming the directorship in 1956, the school was in a vulnerable state. Over his 20-year stewardship, Phillips transformed the school, raising funds and broadening the school's remit.
A college of the University of London, the School's fields include
Law,
Social Sciences
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the o ...
,
Humanities
Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at th ...
, and
Languages
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
with special reference to Asia and Africa. The SOAS Library, located in the Philips Building, is the UK's national resource for materials relating to Asia and Africa and is the largest of its kind in the world. The school has grown considerably over the past 30 years, from fewer than 1,000 students in the 1970s to more than 6,000 students today, nearly half of them postgraduates. SOAS is partnered with the
Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales
Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales ( en, National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations), abbreviated as INALCO, is a French university specializing in the teaching of languages and cultures from the world. ...
(INALCO) in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
which is often considered the French equivalent of SOAS.
In 2011, the
Privy Council approved changes to the school's charter allowing it to award degrees in its own name, following the trend set by fellow colleges the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 mill ...
,
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
and
King's College London. All new students registered from September 2013 will qualify for a SOAS, University of London, award.
In 2012, a new visual identity for SOAS was launched to be used in print, digital media and around the campus. The SOAS tree symbol, first implemented in 1989, was redrawn and recoloured in gold, with the new symbol incorporating the leaves of ten trees, including the
English Oak representing England; the
Bodhi
The English term enlightenment is the Western translation of various Buddhist terms, most notably bodhi and vimutti. The abstract noun ''bodhi'' (; Sanskrit: बोधि; Pali: ''bodhi''), means the knowledge or wisdom, or awakened intellect, ...
,
Coral Bark Maple,
Teak
Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...
representing Asia; the
Mountain Acacia,
African Pear,
Lasiodiscus representing Africa; and the
Date Palm
''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as date or date palm, is a flowering plant species in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle Ea ...
,
Pomegranate
The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between tall.
The pomegranate was originally described throughout the Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean re ...
and
Ghaf representing the Middle East.
Controversies on campus
Antisemitism
Dating back to at least 2005, SOAS has faced a number of accusations of systemic
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
and
anti-Israel rhetoric by its Student Union and members of its faculty, and for failing to adequately address antisemitism on campus. A report in the
''Jewish Tribune'' titled SOAS as "the School Of Anti-Semitism." In 2015, the SOAS Student Union held a referendum in which its members voted to adopt the
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's obligations ...
agenda and boycott Israel.
In a motion for a "Jewish Equality Act" passed in 2017, the Student Union voted to remove a line stating, "Jewish students should be given the right to self-determination and be able to define what constitutes hatred against their group like all other minority groups."
Jewish students at SOAS have reported feeling unable to express themselves in a Jewish way, and fear hate and retribution if they wear Jewish symbols or speak Hebrew on campus. In their annual "University Extreme Speakers" report, the
Henry Jackson Society claims that SOAS has been responsible for hosting 70 (16%) of the 435 events that featured extremist speakers over the past three years, putting up 43 speakers who have previously made pro-jihadi or antisemitic remarks over the past year.
In December 2020 ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'' reported that SOAS refunded a student £15,000 in fees after he chose to abandon his studies as a result of the "toxic antisemitic environment" he felt had been allowed to develop on campus.
Konstantin Kisin Appearance Clash
In 2018 SOAS made headlines after comedian
Konstantin Kisin
Konstantin Kisin (; born 25 December 1982) is a Russian-British satirist, podcaster, author and political commentator. Kisin has written for a number of publications including ''Quillette'', ''The Spectator'', ''The Daily Telegraph'' and '' Stand ...
refused to sign a "behavioural agreement" form explaining a "no tolerance policy" with regard to racism, sexism, classism, ageism, homophobia, biphobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-religion and anti-atheism when asked to perform at a fundraising gig for
UNICEF
UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid t ...
at the University. The form explained those topics were not banned, but stated the topics should be discussed in a "respectful and non-abusive way" and presented in a way that is "respectful and kind".
After Kisin refused to agree to those terms and chose not to perform, the UNICEF on Campus society at SOAS apologised and clarified they did not wish to "impose that guests would have to agree to anything they do not believe in". The SOAS Students' Union said that it did not require external speakers to sign any contract before appearances, and that the UNICEF on Campus society had been "overzealous" in interpreting the guidelines.
Justifying his actions after it was revealed Kisin had agreed to similar restrictions for a different gig in 2017, he claimed he was "absolutely certain there was nothing about religion, atheism, respect or kindness in the rules
f the 2017 contract Had there been, I would not have agreed."
Campus
The campus is located in the
Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions.
Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...
area of central London, close to
Russell Square
Russell Square is a large garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, built predominantly by the firm of James Burton. It is near the University of London's main buildings and the British Museum. Almost exactly square, to the ...
. It includes College Buildings (the Philips Building and the Old Building), Brunei Gallery building, 53 Gordon Square (which houses the Doctoral School) and, since 2016, the Paul Webley Wing (the North Block of Senate House). The SOAS library designed by
Sir Denys Lasdun in 1973 is located in the Philips Building. The nearest
Underground station is
Russell Square
Russell Square is a large garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, built predominantly by the firm of James Burton. It is near the University of London's main buildings and the British Museum. Almost exactly square, to the ...
.
The school houses the Brunei Gallery, built from an endowment from the
Sultan of Brunei Darussalam, the leader of a country whose human rights abuses are ongoing, and inaugurated by the
Princess Royal
Princess Royal is a style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family. There have been s ...
, as Chancellor of the University of London, on 22 November 1995. Its facilities include exhibition space on three floors, a book shop, a lecture theatre, and conference and teaching facilities. The Brunei Gallery 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.
The Japanese-style roof garden on top of the Brunei Gallery was built during the Japan 2001 celebrations and was opened by the sponsor,
Haruhisa Handa, an Honorary Fellow of the School, on 13 November 2001.
The school hosted the
Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, one of the foremost collections of Chinese ceramics in Europe. The collection has been loaned to the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...
, where it is now on permanent display in Room 95.
The SOAS Centenary Masterplan conceived the development of two new buildings and a substantial remodelling of existing space to realign and develop the entrance and two areas within the Old Building. The cost estimates for the Centenary Masterplan settle at around £73m for the total project. The full implementation of the School's Centenary Masterplan would deliver approximately 30% additional space, approximately 1,000 sq metres.
Organisation and administration
Governance
Presidents
Directors
Since its foundation, the school has had nine directors. The inaugural director was the celebrated linguist Sir
Edward Denison Ross
Sir Edward Denison Ross (6 June 1871 – 20 September 1940) was an orientalist and linguist, specializing in languages of the Middle East, Central and East Asia. He was the first director of the University of London's School of Oriental Studies ...
. Under the stewardship of Sir
Cyril Philips, the school saw considerable growth and modernisation.
Under
Colin Bundy
Colin James Bundy (born 4 October 1944) is a South African historian, former principal of Green Templeton College, Oxford and former director of SOAS University of London. Bundy was an influential member of a generation of historians who substant ...
in the 2000s, the school became one of the top ranked universities both domestically and internationally. In January 2021 Professor
Adam Habib
Adam Mahomed Habib (born 1965) is a South African academic administrator serving as Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London since 1 January 2021. He served as Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the Universit ...
became director of SOAS in place of Baroness
Valerie Amos, who had taken up the position of Master at
University College, Oxford
University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...
.
Faculties and departments
SOAS, University of London is divided into three faculties. These are further divided into academic departments. SOAS has many Centres and Institutes, each of which is affiliated to a particular faculty.
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
The Faculty of Arts and Humanities houses the departments of Anthropology & Sociology, History of Art & Archaeology, History, Music, Philosophy and Religious Studies and the Centre for Media Studies. It offers courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, with an emphasis on Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. A gift from the
Alphawood Foundation in 2013 created the Hiram W. Woodward Chair in Southeast Asian art, the
David Snellgrove
David Llewellyn Snellgrove, FBA (29 June 192025 March 2016) was a British Tibetologist noted for his pioneering work on Buddhism in Tibet as well as his many travelogues.
Biography
Snellgrove was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and educate ...
Senior Lectureship in Tibetan and Buddhist art, and a Senior Lectureship in Curating and Museology of Asian Art, as well as a number of scholarships for students, making the Department of Art & Archaeology a key institution at a global level in the study of
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
. The university is also a member of the
Screen Studies Group, London
The University of London Screen Studies Group (SSG) is a research consortium in film studies, founded in 2001. Member institutions include Goldsmiths, Birkbeck, University College London, King's College London, Royal Holloway, SOAS, Queen ...
.
Faculty of Languages and Cultures
* Department of Linguistics
The SOAS Department of Linguistics was the first ever linguistics department in the United Kingdom, founded in 1932 as a centre for research and study in Oriental and African languages.
J. R. Firth, known internationally for his work in phonology and semantics, was a Senior Lecturer, Reader and Professor of General Linguistics at the school between 1938 and 1956.
Faculty of Law and Social Sciences
The Faculty of Law and Social Sciences houses the departments of Development Studies, Economics, Financial and Management Studies, Politics and International Studies and the School of Law, as well as the London Asia-Pacific Centre for Social Science, the Centre for Gender Studies, the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy, the Centre of Taiwan Studies and a number of department-specific centres. It offers courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, many with an emphasis on Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
* SOAS School of Law
One of the largest individual departments, the SOAS School of Law is one of Britain's leading law schools and the sole law school in the world focusing on the study of Asian, African and Middle Eastern legal systems. The School of Law has more than 400 students. It offers programmes at the
LL.B.,
LL.M.
A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...
and
MPhil
The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...
/
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
Entertainment
* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic
* Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group
** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
levels.
International students
International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying.
In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...
have been a majority at all levels for many years.
The SOAS School of Law has an unrivaled concentration of expertise in the laws of Asian and African countries,
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
, transnational
commercial law
Commercial law, also known as mercantile law or trade law, is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and business engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales. It is often considered to be a bra ...
,
environmental law
Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the managem ...
, and
comparative law
Comparative law is the study of differences and similarities between the law ( legal systems) of different countries. More specifically, it involves the study of the different legal "systems" (or "families") in existence in the world, including t ...
. The SOAS School of Law was ranked 15th out of all 98 British law schools by ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'' League Table in 2016.
Although many modules at SOAS embody a substantial element of English
common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...
, all modules are taught (as much as possible) in a comparative or international manner with an emphasis on the way in which law functions in society. Thus, law studies at SOAS are broad and comparative in their orientation. All students study a significant amount of non-English law, starting in the first year of the LL.B. course, where "Legal Systems of Asia and Africa" is compulsory. Specialised modules in the laws and legal systems of particular countries and regions are also encouraged, and faculty experts conduct modules in these subjects every year.
Academic profile
SOAS is a centre for the study of subjects concerned with Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
It trains
government officials on
secondment
Secondment is the assignment of a member of one organisation to another organisation for a temporary period.
Job rotation
The employee typically retains their salary and other employment rights from their primary organization but they work close ...
from around the world in Asian, African and Middle Eastern languages and area studies, particularly in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
&
Islamic Studies
Islamic studies refers to the academic study of Islam, and generally to academic multidisciplinary "studies" programs—programs similar to others that focus on the history, texts and theologies of other religious traditions, such as Easter ...
– which combined with
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
formed the major bulk of classical
Oriental Studies
Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern stud ...
in Europe – and
Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...
. It also acts as a consultant to government departments and to companies such as
Accenture
Accenture plc is an Irish-American professional services company based in Dublin, specializing in information technology (IT) services and consulting. A ''Fortune'' Global 500 company, it reported revenues of $61.6 billion in 2022. Accen ...
and
Deloitte
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...
– when they seek to gain specialist knowledge of the matters concerning Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
The school is made up of nineteen departments across three faculties: Arts and Humanities, Languages and Cultures, and Law and Social Sciences. The school focuses on small group teaching with a student-staff ratio of 11:1, one of the lowest in the UK.
Library
The SOAS library is a library for Asian, African and Middle Eastern studies.
It houses more than 1.2 million volumes and electronic resources for the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East,
and attracts scholars from all over the world. The library was designated by
HEFCE in 2011 as one of the UK's five National Research Libraries.
The library is housed in the Philips Building on the
Russell Square
Russell Square is a large garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, built predominantly by the firm of James Burton. It is near the University of London's main buildings and the British Museum. Almost exactly square, to the ...
campus and was built in 1973. It was designed by architect
Sir Denys Lasdun, who also designed some of Britain's most famous
brutalist
Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the ...
buildings such as the
National Theatre and the
Institute of Education
IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society (IOE) is the education school of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior to ...
.
In 2010/11 the library underwent a £12 million modernisation programme, known as "the Library Transformation Project". The work refurbished the ground floor of the library and created new reception and entrance areas, new music practice rooms, group study rooms and a gallery exhibition space.
SOAS being a constituent college of the University of London, its students also have access to
Senate House Library
Senate House is the administrative centre of the University of London, situated in the heart of Bloomsbury, London, immediately to the north of the British Museum.
The Art Deco building was constructed between 1932 and 1937 as the first phase ...
, shared by other colleges such as
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 mill ...
and
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
, which is located just a short walk from the Russell Square campus.
The library was used as a filming location for some scenes in the 2016 film ''
Criminal
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...
''.
Rankings
The 2022
QS World University Rankings
''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for th ...
placed SOAS 10th in the world for Anthropology and 15th for Politics. The 2022 rankings placed it 2nd globally for Development Studies and 67th for Arts & Humanities. SOAS ranked 21 globally for International Students and 48 for International Faculty in the 2021 QS World University Rankings. It is ranked 391 in QS Global World Rankings 2022.
SOAS's Department of Financial and Management Studies (DeFiMS) is ranked in the top-ten for Business Studies in the 2013
Complete University Guide
Three national rankings of universities in the United Kingdom are published annually – by ''The Complete University Guide'', ''The Guardian'' and jointly by ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times''. Rankings have also been produced in the past ...
's League Table. The research strength of the department has been previously recognised by the 2008
Research Assessment Exercise
The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) was an exercise undertaken approximately every five years on behalf of the four UK higher education funding councils ( HEFCE, SHEFC, HEFCW, DELNI) to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British h ...
(RAE) where 90 per cent was rated as internationally recognised, internationally excellent or world leading quality.
The results of the 2008 United Kingdom RAE took the form of profiles spread across four grade levels. Hence, there are different ways to present them and to rank the departments. In their published tables, the Times Higher and The Guardian Education chose to use an average of the profile or GPA (Grade Point Average); both rankings placed the SOAS Department of Anthropology equal second, ranking just behind Cambridge with LSE. According to the 2008 United Kingdom Research Assessment Exercise, SOAS is the national leader in the study of Asia.
Scholarships, bursaries, and awards
A range of scholarships and awards support SOAS degree programmes, with an application process based either on academic merit or with a focus on supporting students from specific countries or connected with particular areas of study, as well as some bursaries addressing students' financial needs.
Publications
SOAS publishes
academic journal
An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and ...
s such as ''
The China Quarterly
''The China Quarterly'' (CQ) is a British double-blind peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1960 on contemporary China and Taiwan.
It is considered the most important research journal about China in the world and is published by the Ca ...
,'
Bulletin of the School of Oriental & African Studies'' and ''
SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research.''
Student life
In , there were undergraduate students
In 2012, 41% of students were over 21 and 60% were female.
According to the QS World University Rankings, SOAS hosts international students from 140 countries.
SOAS is renowned for its political scene and radical socialist politics, and was voted the most politically active university in the
UK in the Which?University 2012. Recent campaigns include students for social change, women's liberty and justice for cleaners. The SOAS Marxist Society holds frequent events and encourages student voter registration.
Located in the heart of Bloomsbury, many University of London schools and institutes are close by, including
Birkbeck, the
Institute of Education
IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society (IOE) is the education school of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior to ...
,
London Business School
London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degrees in management and finance, MBA and PhD). Its motto is " ...
, the
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public university, public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London that specialises in public h ...
, the
Royal Veterinary College
, mottoeng = Confront disease at onset
, established = (became a constituent part of University of London in 1949)
, endowment = £10.5 million (2021)
, budget = £106.0 million (20 ...
, the
School of Advanced Study
The School of Advanced Study (SAS), a postgraduate institution of the University of London, is the UK's national centre for the promotion and facilitation of research in the humanities and social sciences. It was established in 1994 and is ba ...
,
Senate House Library
Senate House is the administrative centre of the University of London, situated in the heart of Bloomsbury, London, immediately to the north of the British Museum.
The Art Deco building was constructed between 1932 and 1937 as the first phase ...
and
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
.
Sports
SOAS has multiple smaller sports teams competing in a variety of local and national leagues, as well as occasional international tournaments. SOAS clubs compete in inter-university fixtures in the
British Universities and Colleges Sport
British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) is the governing body for higher education sport in the United Kingdom. BUCS was formed in June 2008 following a merger of British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) and University College Sport ...
(BUCS) competition in a range of sports, including basketball, football, hockey, netball, rugby union and tennis. SOAS also participates in an annual North London Varsity tournament against
London Metropolitan University
London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public research university in London, England. The University of North London (formerly the Polytechnic of North London) and London Guildhall University (formerly the City ...
.
Student housing
SOAS operates two halls of residence in central London, both owned by Sanctuary Student Housing.
The primary accommodation for undergraduates is Dinwiddy House, which is located on
Pentonville Road
Pentonville Road is a road in Central London that runs west to east from Kings Cross to City Road at The Angel, Islington. The road is part of the London Inner Ring Road and part of the boundary of the London congestion charge zone.
The ro ...
. This contains 510 single en-suite rooms arranged in small cluster flats of around six rooms each. The halls are located within minutes of
King's Cross St Pancras tube station and the Vernon Square campus.
A few minutes walk from Dinwiddy House and also on the Pentonville Road is Paul Robeson House, the second hall of residence. This was opened in 1998, and is named after the African-American musician
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his ...
who studied at SOAS in the 1930s. This accommodation is occupied by postgraduate students, and those attending the international SOAS Summer schools.
SOAS students are eligible to apply for places in the University of London intercollegiate halls of residence. The majority of these are based in Bloomsbury such as Canterbury Hall, Commonwealth Hall, College Hall,
Connaught Hall,
Hughes Parry Hall
Hughes Parry Hall was one of eight intercollegiate halls of the University of London. The Hall was part of the Garden Halls grouping administered by the bursarial team also responsible for Canterbury Hall and Commonwealth Hall.
At the time o ...
,
International Hall
International Hall is a Hall of Residence owned by the University of London and situated on Brunswick Square and Lansdowne Terrace in the Bloomsbury district of London. It is an intercollegiate hall, and as such provides accommodation for fu ...
and
International Students House, while further afield are
Nutford House
Nutford House is a university hall of residence in London, located on the corner of Nutford Place and Brown Street, near Marble Arch in the City of Westminster.
It was built in 1916 and was acquired by the University of London in 1949, after w ...
in
Marble Arch
The Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London, England. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the cour d'honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is tod ...
and Lillian Penson Hall in
Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...
. A number of SOAS postgraduate students also apply for student accommodation at Goodenough College.
Notable people
Notable alumni
File:Achim Steiner-IMG 0837.jpg, Achim Steiner, Administrator of the UNDP
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human de ...
File:Inger Andersen (environmentalist, 2010, cropped).jpg, Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UNEP
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on ...
File:Martin Griffiths.jpg, Martin Griffiths
Martin Griffiths (born 3 July 1951) is a British diplomat who currently serves as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the United Nations.
Personal life and education
Born in Wales, Griffiths was ...
, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator is a high-level position in the United Nations that heads the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The current holder is Martin Griffiths of th ...
File:Mette-Marit av Norge.jpg, Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway
File:Aung San Suu Kyi 2016.jpg, Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Myanm ...
, 1st State Counsellor of Myanmar
File:Paul Robeson 1938.jpg, Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his ...
, American singer
File:Official portrait of Rt Hon David Lammy MP crop 2.jpg, David Lammy
David Lindon Lammy (born 19 July 1972) is an English politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Tottenh ...
, UK politician
File:Zeinab Badawi crop UNISDR.jpg, Zeinab Badawi, TV presenter
File:John Atta Mills.jpg, John Atta Mills
John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills (21 July 1944 – 24 July 2012) was a Ghanaian politician and legal scholar who served as President of Ghana from 2009 until his death in 2012. He was inaugurated on 7 January 2009, having defeated the governing party ...
, former President of Ghana
File:Bülent Ecevit-Davos 2000.jpg, Bülent Ecevit
Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in 1 ...
, former Prime Minister of Turkey
File:Luisa Dias Diogo - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2009 crop.jpg, Luisa Dias Diogo, former Prime Minister of Mozambique
File:Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche.jpg, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, Bhutanese lama and filmmaker
File:Grafica pc 3.jpg, Guillaume Long, former Foreign Minister of Ecuador
File:Bisher Al-Khasawneh (cropped).jpg, Bisher Al-Khasawneh, Prime Minister of Jordan
The prime minister of Jordan is the head of government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
The prime minister is appointed by the king of Jordan, who is then free to form his own Cabinet. The Parliament of Jordan then approves the programs o ...
SOAS alumni have made significant contributions in the fields of government and politics. These include
Sultan Salahuddin, King of Malaysia (1999–2001),
Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway,
Princess Ayşe Gülnev Sultan, descendant of Mehmed V Reşâd, 35th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire,
John Atta Mills
John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills (21 July 1944 – 24 July 2012) was a Ghanaian politician and legal scholar who served as President of Ghana from 2009 until his death in 2012. He was inaugurated on 7 January 2009, having defeated the governing party ...
, former President of Ghana,
Luisa Diogo, former Prime Minister of Mozambique,
Bülent Ecevit
Mustafa Bülent Ecevit (; 28 May 1925 – 5 November 2006) was a Turkish politician, statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002. He served as prime minister in 1 ...
, former Prime Minister of Turkey.
Around the world, several national leaders and political figures are alumni:
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Myanm ...
, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and First and incumbent State Counsellor of Myanmar,
Zairil Khir Johari, Member of the Malaysian Parliament,
Amal Pepple
Amal Iyingiala Pepple, CFR, was the Minister of Housing, Land and Urban Development of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Until June 2009, she was the Head of the Civil Service.
Amal Inyingiala Pepple was born on June 16, 1949 to the Perekule Roy ...
, Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development in Nigeria,
Aaron Mike Oquaye
Aaron Mike Oquaye (born 4 April 1944) is a Ghanaian barrister and politician who served as the sixth Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana, Speaker of Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana from 2017 to 2021. An academic, diplomat and Baptis ...
, Speaker of Parliament and former Minister of Communication in Ghana,
Hüseyin Çelik, Turkish Minister of Education,
Femi Fani-Kayode, former Nigerian Minister of Culture and Tourism and former Minister of Aviation,
Kraisak Choonhavan, Former Senator in Thailand,
Samia Nkrumah,
Hammad Azhar, Former Pakistan Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister for Industries and Production, Ghanaian Member of Parliament and
Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, 4th Vice President of the Maldives. In British politics, several current and former Members of Parliament are alumni:
David Lammy
David Lindon Lammy (born 19 July 1972) is an English politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Tottenh ...
,
Catherine West,
Tim Yeo
Timothy Stephen Kenneth Yeo (born 20 March 1945) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of South Suffolk between the 1983 United Kingdom general election and that ...
,
Ivor Stanbrook
Ivor Robert Stanbrook (13 January 1924 – 18 February 2004) was a British Conservative party politician and barrister. He represented Orpington as its Member of Parliament from 1970 to 1992.
Biography and early life
Stanbrook was born in Wil ...
,
Sir Ray Whitney,
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, (16 June 1912 – 8 February 1998) was a British politician, classical scholar, author, linguist, soldier, philologist, and poet. He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (1950–1974) and was Minister of Health (1 ...
.
* In government, alumni include
Dharma Vira, who served as 8th
Cabinet Secretary of India
The Cabinet Secretary is the top-most executive official and senior-most civil servant of the Government of India. The Cabinet Secretary is the '' ex-officio'' head of the Civil Services Board, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Indian Administra ...
,
Johnnie Carson
Johnnie Carson (born April 7, 1943) is a diplomat from the United States who has served as United States Ambassador to several African nations. In 2009 he was nominated to become U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs by Presid ...
, former US Ambassador to Kenya, Zimbabwe and Uganda,
Hassan Taqizadeh, Iranian Ambassador to the UK,
Sir Shridath Ramphal, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth,
Sir Leslie Fielding, British diplomat and former European Commission Ambassador to Tokyo,
Sir David Warren, former UK Ambassador to Japan,
Quinton Quayle
Quinton Mark Quayle (born 5 June 1955) is a retired British Diplomat.
Early life, education and early career
Educated at Bromsgrove School, Humphry Davy School and University of Bristol, Quayle entered the Foreign Office in 1977 and studied Tha ...
, UK Ambassador to Thailand and Lao,
Sir Robin McLaren, UK Ambassador to China and the Philippines,
Sir Michael Weir, UK Ambassador to Egypt,
Jemima Khan, UK Ambassador to
UNICEF
UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid t ...
,
Hugh Carless
Hugh Michael Carless CMG (22 April 1925 – 20 December 2011) was a British diplomat, philanthropist and explorer who served in Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service from 1950 to 1985. He is best known for the exploration of Nuristan and the Panjshi ...
, UK Ambassador to Venezuela,
Francis K. Butagira, Ambassador and Permanent Representative, Mission of the Republic of Uganda to the United Nations,
Gunapala Malalasekera
Gunapala Piyasena Malalasekera, OBE, JP, (8 November 1899 – 23 April 1973) was a Sri Lankan academic, scholar and diplomat best known for his Malalasekara English-Sinhala Dictionary. He was Ceylon's first Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Ce ...
, Sri Lankan Ambassador to UK, Canada and Soviet Union,
Michael C Williams, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon,
Guillaume Long, former Foreign Minister of Ecuador,
Haifa al-Mogrin
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropoli ...
- Saudi Arabia's delegate to UNESCO.
* In justice,
Idris Kutigi
Idris Legbo Kutigi (31 December 1939 – 21 October 2018) was a Nigerian lawyer and jurist. He was Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Niger State before becoming a high court judge. He joined the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1992 a ...
, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria,
Sylvester Umaru Onu, Judge of the Supreme Court of Nigeria,
Herbert Chitepo, first Black Rhodesian Barrister,
John Vinelott, lawyer and judge.
* Prominent journalists and broadcasters such as,
Abdel Bari Atwan
Abdel Bari Atwan ( ar, عبد الباري عطوان ', Levantine pronunciation: ; born 17 February 1950) is the editor-in-chief of ''Rai al-Youm'', an Arab world digital news and opinion website. He was the editor-in-chief of the London-based ...
, editor-in-chief of
Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper in London,
Zeinab Badawi, presenter of
BBC ''
World News Today'',
Martin Bright
Martin Derek Bright (born 5 June 1966) is a British journalist. He worked for the BBC World Service and '' The Guardian'' before becoming '' The Observer's'' education correspondent and then home affairs editor. From 2005 to 2009, he was the poli ...
, political editor of the ''
Jewish Chronicle'',
Jung Chang, who is best known for her family autobiography ''
Wild Swans'',
Hossein Derakhshan, Iranian blogger credited with starting the blogging revolution in Iran,
Jamal Elshayyal, news producer at Al Jazeera English,
Ghida Fakhry
Ghida Fakhry ( ar, غیدا فخري) is a Lebanese-British journalist. She was a lead anchor for the global news channel Al Jazeera English at its launch in Washington DC, and was later one of the primary anchors at the network's headquarters ...
, news anchor at Al Jazeera English,
James Harding, head of BBC News and former editor of ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...
'',
Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4 News correspondent and columnist for the ''
New Statesman
The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members o ...
'',
Swapan Dasgupta, Indian journalist and public intellectual,
Dom Joly, television comedian and journalist,
Elan Journo
Elan Y. Journo (born January 1976) is an Israeli writer, specializing in American foreign policy. He is an Objectivist and a fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute and its Director of Policy Research. , Fellow and Director of Policy Research at the
Ayn Rand Institute,
Clive King, author of ''
Stig of the Dump
''Stig of the Dump'' is a children's novel by Clive King which was first published in the United Kingdom in 1963. It is regarded as a modern children's classic and is often read in schools. It was illustrated by Edward Ardizzone and has been ...
'',
Freya Stark, travel writer,
James Longman, former BBC journalist, now
ABC News
ABC News is the journalism, news division of the American broadcast network American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other progra ...
foreign correspondent and
Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, BBC's Tokyo correspondent.
* In academia, SOAS alumni include:
Edith Penrose
Edith Elura Tilton Penrose (November 15, 1914 – October 11, 1996) was an American-born British economist whose best known work is ''The Theory of the Growth of the Firm'', which describes the ways which firms grow and how fast they do. Wr ...
, economics scholar,
Simon Digby, oriental scholar,
Kusuma Karunaratne, Sri Lankan academic, university administrator, Professor and scholar of Sinhalese language and literature,
Wang Gungwu, Australian historian of Asia,
Sir Martin Harris
Sir Martin Best Harris, (born 28 June 1944) is a British academic and former University Vice-Chancellor.
Life and career
He was born at Ruabon, Wales, the son of William Best Harris, afterwards City Librarian of Plymouth, and educated at Dev ...
, educationalist,
Gregory B. Lee
Gregory B. Lee (born 1955) is an academic, author, and broadcaster. Lee is Founding Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of St Andrews. He was until July 2020, Director of the French research Institute for Transtextual and Transcultur ...
, sinologist,
Bernard Lewis
Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Nea ...
, Orientalist,
Duncan McCargo
Duncan McCargo is a British academic who is serving as Director of the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies and Professor of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen. He is currently a Visiting Professor in the School of Politics and Inte ...
, political scientist,
Robert L. McKenzie
Robert L. "Bobby" McKenzie, Ph.D., is a domestic and foreign policy analyst, public commentator, and scholar of the Middle East and North Africa. An anthropologist by training, his current work largely focuses on forced migration, displaced perso ...
, scholar-cum-public commentator on forced migration and refugees,
Than Tun, historian of Burma,
Ivan van Sertima, historian and anthropologist,
Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera, contemporary Muslim jurist and scholar,
William Montgomery Watt
William Montgomery Watt (14 March 1909 – 24 October 2006) was a Scottish Orientalist, historian, academic and Anglican priest. From 1964 to 1979, he was Professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Edinburgh.
Watt was one of ...
, Islamic scholar,
Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas
Syed Muhammad al Naquib bin Ali al-Attas ( ar, سيد محمد نقيب العطاس '; born 5 September 1931) is a Malaysian Muslim philosopher. He is one of the few contemporary scholars who is thoroughly rooted in the traditional Islamic sci ...
, a contemporary Muslim philosopher, and
A. K. Narain
Awadh Kishore Narain (A. K. Narain, 28 May 1925 – 10 July 2013) was an Indian historian, numismatist and archaeologist, who published and lectured extensively on the subjects related to South and Central Asia. He was well known for his book ...
, Professor and scholar of Indo-Greeks studies, Archeology, Ancient Indian History.
* Noted writers include
M. K. Asante author of ''
Buck'', filmmaker and professor,
Raman Mundair, British poet and playwright.
Olu Oguibe
Olu Oguibe (born 14 October 1964) is a Nigerian-born American artist and academic.[Olu Oguibe]
Retrieve ...
, a conceptual artist and academic,
Derwin Panda, an electronic musician and producer,
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his ...
, an American singer who was involved in the Civil Rights Movement,
Himanshu Suri aka "Heems", rapper and member of
Das Racist, and
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, a Bhutanese lama and filmmaker are all alumni of the school.
* In business, alumni include:
Fred Eychaner
Fred Eychaner (born c. 1945) is an American businessman and philanthropist.
Eychaner is the chairman of Newsweb Corporation. He was included in ''Chicago'' magazine's 2014 list of the 100 most powerful Chicagoans. In 2005, the ''Chicago Tribune' ...
, American businessman and philanthropist,
Abdulsalam Haykal, Syrian media entrepreneur,
Sir Peter Parker, chairman of the
British Railways Board,
Lesetja Kganyago, Governor of the
South African Reserve Bank
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is the central bank of South Africa. It was established in 1921 after Parliament passed an act, the "Currency and Bank Act of 10 August 1920", as a direct result of the abnormal monetary and financial condit ...
,
Atiur Rahman, Governor of
Bangladesh Bank and
Sir Dermot de Trafford, British banker and baronet.
Notable faculty and staff
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
*Game, Joh
"The origins of SOAS as a colonial institution, training district"SOAS Student Union websiteSOAS graduates list
{{DEFAULTSORT:SOAS, University of London
Musical instrument museums
Educational institutions established in 1916
Charles Holden buildings
1916 establishments in England
Asian studies
African studies
Universities UK
University of London