The primary aim of the Asia and Middle Eastern Studies programme is to develop a rigorous and innovative understanding of popular culture in East Asia from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to the present.

The Educational Aims of the course are:

• To give students training in research skills and methodologies in the field of popular culture;

• To develop students' expertise in relevant aspects of East Asian popular culture across Greater China, Korea and Japan;

• To guide students in the critical investigation of a wealth of primary sources that are available in English translation;

• To expose students to materials that have yet to be translated in English;

• To give students the opportunity to carry out independent and original research under bespoke and close supervision.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the MPhil programme, students will be expected to have:

• acquired the ability to read and interpret primary sources in translation;

• acquired a good knowledge of the general scholarship on East Asian Popular Culture;

• acquired an in-depth knowledge of the secondary literature relevant to the subject of their dissertation;

• developed the ability to formulate original research questions and to produce a well-constructed argument to answer them, in the form of an independent piece of research based on the use of primary and secondary sources;

• acquired the skills to use library and internet resources independently; and

• developed a peer network and the ability to give constructive feedback.

Continuing:

All applicants should submit, via the Applicant Portal, a workable and relevant research proposal and demonstrate that they have the required academic knowledge and skills to carry out their project.

Those students who are enrolled in an MPhil by Advanced Studies at the University of Cambridge and wish to continue to the PhD programme at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies will be required to obtain at least 67 per cent overall in their MPhil by Advanced Studies degree and satisfy any pre-existing requirements also set by the Degree Committee, i.e. English language requirement and sufficient knowledge of an East Asian language to carry out their proposed research.

Admission is at the discretion of the Degree Committee, which judges each applicant on their own merits and in accordance with its own set of rules and regulations.