East Asian Area Studies Graduate Certificate Program

Requirements

Graduate students interested in East Asian Area Studies must be enrolled in an advanced degree program in the Graduate School or in a professional school at the university. While preparing for an MA, PhD or other graduate degree, they may earn a certificate in East Asian Studies, which certifies special area competence beyond discipline requirements. The certificate requirements provide the student with two options.

• The first requires that the student write a thesis and take four graduate-credit courses in East Asian studies in any department. An oral examination is given on the thesis. 
• The student instead takes six graduate-credit courses in the East Asian area and takes an oral examination on three research papers and on relevant graduate work. This option does not require a thesis.

As a part of both options some basic East Asian history and at least two years of study or the equivalent of an East Asian language are required. The student makes the basic decisions on the program to be followed in consultation with a three-member interdisciplinary committee approved by the director of the East Asian Studies Center.

For further information, interested students can email the East Asian Studies Center at easc@usc.edu.