The University of Washington this year is offering a new East Asia Studies master of arts (MA) program that includes a Taiwan studies track.
The program is “the first Taiwan studies-related graduate degree at a major university in North America,” the university said in a statement released on Dec. 19.
“The East Asia MA at the University of Washington offers students the opportunity to develop a substantial understanding of East Asian culture, history, society and contemporary issues, while focusing their coursework on China, Japan, [South] Korea or Taiwan,” it said.
Photo: Screen grab from the University of Washington’s Web site
The inaugural cohort would begin taking classes at the Seattle-based university in autumn, with applications open until Jan. 31, the program’s Web site said.
Before the program was announced, the Taiwan Studies MA program at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies was the first and only such Taiwan-focused postgraduate degree in the English-speaking world.
The University of Washington’s new program fills an “academic gap” for students who want to specialize in Taiwan studies at the postgraduate level, but who previously would have had to take more general East Asia classes, said James Lin (林于翔), an adjunct assistant professor who teaches in the university’s Department of History.
Alongside William Lavely, the director of the University of Washington’s East Asia Center, Lin has been a major driving force to establish the Taiwan studies track.
Although classes and events related to Taiwan have been organized by its Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies since 2017 under the “Taiwan Studies Program” nomenclature at the East Asia Center, the University of Washington’s announcement this month formalizes the courses into a distinct MA track.
The program has also received “generous support” from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange and other entities, the Web site said.
“The faculty members of the Taiwan Studies Program provide a broad and deep range of course offerings in the social sciences and humanities,” it said.
“Students may combine their graduate study with professional degrees through a con-current degree opportunity in which two degrees may be earned in the course of three years rather than four,” it said.
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