Southeast Asian Studies Program : Rationale

Southeast Asia has been the site of human settlements and cultures form very early times, prehistoric and historic. Its unique importance is that it is situated between the two great Asian cultural centers of China and India. In modern times, Southeast Asia has become a strategic area between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the joining point of South

Asia, East Asia and the Pacitic Rim. Today, Southeast Asia, joined together in ASEAN, is undergoing rapid change, politically, economically, socially and culturally.

Knowledge of Southeast Asia and ASEAN is therefore of vital importance to relations between Thailand and its neighbors and the rest of the world.

With these considerations in mind, in 2000, the Faculty of Liberal Arts has set up a B.A.Program in Southeast Asian Studies which is multidisciplinary providing knowledge on politics, administrative system, economics, societies, art and culture, and languages of the region. Students must also become proficient in English, as some advanced lectures will be in that language.