The School of Oriental and African Studies, commonly known by its acronym SOAS (/ˈsoʊ.æs/ SOH-as or /ˈsoʊ.æz/ SOH-az)), is a constituent college of the University of London in the United Kingdom specialising in teaching and research in the humanities, languages, and social sciences relating to Asia, Africa and the Middle East. SOAS currently offers over 300 undergraduate Bachelor's degree combinations, and over 70 one-year intensively taught Master's degrees. MPhil and PhD research degrees are also available in every academic department.
Founded in 1916, SOAS has produced several heads of state, government ministers, ambassadors, Supreme Court judges, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and many other notable leaders in emerging markets, future superpowers and in the Next Eleven. Located in central London, SOAS describes itself as the "world's leading institution for the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East", and is consistently ranked amongst the top universities in the UK.
Read more about School Of Oriental And African Studies: History, Campuses, Academics, Student Life
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“A school is not a factory. Its raison d’être is to provide opportunity for experience.”
—J.L. (James Lloyd)
“Since the Greeks, Western man has believed that Being, all Being, is intelligible, that there is a reason for everything ... and that the cosmos is, finally, intelligible. The Oriental, on the other hand, has accepted his existence within a universe that would appear to be meaningless, to the rational Western mind, and has lived with this meaninglessness. Hence the artistic form that seems natural to the Oriental is one that is just as formless or formal, as irrational, as life itself.”
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“The fact that white people readily and proudly call themselves “white,” glorify all that is white, and whitewash all that is glorified, becomes unnatural and bigoted in its intent only when these same whites deny persons of African heritage who are Black the natural and inalienable right to readily—proudly—call themselves “black,” glorify all that is black, and blackwash all that is glorified.”
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“Even if one studies to an old age, one will never finish learning.”
—Chinese proverb.