Global Liberal Arts
Global liberal arts is a programme that approaches intellectual inquiry without the constraints of a single discipline, encouraging you to think across the boundaries of the humanities, social sciences and arts to address complex questions about the contemporary world. Liberal arts education has a long tradition of developing well-rounded, critically engaged graduates who can draw on multiple intellectual traditions, and a global liberal arts programme places that tradition explicitly in international and cross-cultural contexts, asking what it means to understand the world from perspectives outside the dominant Western frameworks.
At the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, this three-year programme with a foundation year draws on one of the world's most distinctive concentrations of expertise in the cultures, languages and histories of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. You will learn how to approach academic topics across disciplinary boundaries, developing the intellectual flexibility and critical rigour that come from moving between different kinds of knowledge and different ways of knowing. The programme is particularly well suited to students who want their education to engage with the full diversity of human experience and who want to think seriously about global challenges from multiple perspectives.
Global liberal arts graduates pursue careers in international development, journalism, diplomacy, education, arts and cultural management, research, policy, the voluntary sector and a wide range of roles that require the ability to navigate different cultural contexts and intellectual frameworks. The analytical, critical and communicative skills developed through the programme are highly transferable, and SOAS's distinctive expertise makes graduates particularly well equipped for roles that engage with the Global South and with regions that are underrepresented in mainstream British education. Postgraduate study in area studies, international relations, development studies, cultural studies or a related field is a natural next step.