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Undergraduate Study

 

Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Cambridge allows you to explore contemporary global cultures. You'll study language, culture and history in depth.

Explore a range of different languages and cultures, from Chinese, Japanese, and Korean to Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Sanskrit, and Hindi. Spend a year abroad perfecting your language skills.

 

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Overview
Number 3 in the UK for Languages and Linguistics (The Guardian University Guide 2025)

Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Cambridge

This is a flexible course where you can study a broad range of subject areas. From Japan in the East to Morocco in the West, and from classical times to the present day.

The first 2 years will give you a strong grounding in knowledge of the languages.

In the third and fourth year you study at an advanced level, which will enable you to speak fluently and read confidently by the end of the fourth year.

You’ll spend the third year in the country or countries relevant to your course. This is a great opportunity to immerse yourself in the culture you’re studying, and improve your language skills.

During this course you can study:

  • Chinese – explore its history, literature and philosophy to understand how it shaped the tumultuous changes of modern times
  • Japanese – gain unrivalled mastery of Japanese while developing in-depth understanding of Japan’s history, literature, society and politics
  • Arabic – explore its rich heritage as well as modern societies and cultures nurtured by Arabic, the sacred language of Islam
  • Hebrew – discover classical (Biblical) and/or modern Hebrew and its literature, and the history and culture of Israel and the modern Middle East. You can also study Aramaic
  • Persian – discover its world-famous poetic and literary tradition and a vibrant contemporary culture

Language combinations

You can choose which languages you’d like to study when you apply to the course.

  • Chinese and Japanese can’t be combined with Arabic, Hebrew or Persian. However, you will have the option to take Korean in your second and fourth year. It may also be possible to combine Chinese and Japanese in your third and fourth year.
  • Arabic, Hebrew and Persian can be combined with each other, or with a modern European language that you have studied to A level or IB Higher Level (or equivalent). Arabic and Hebrew can also be taken as single subjects. Persian must be combined with another Middle Eastern or European language in your first and second year.
  • If you take one of the Middle Eastern languages, you’ll have the option to study Hindi in your second year, or Sanskrit from your fourth year.

Teaching and facilities

Teaching

Many of our teachers in the Faculty of Asian and Modern Languages are engaged in the cutting-edge research that informs the knowledge they share with you.

Our class sizes our small, which means that you and your lecturers will have the opportunity to interact at a more personal level.

Depending on your choice of subjects, you may have classes in another Faculty, such as the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages.

Facilities

The Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages facilities include:

  • the Faculty Library, with around 70,000 books and audiovisual materials on various topics, and in the languages of Asia and the Middle East

Along with all other students at Cambridge, you'll also have access to:

  • our impressive Cambridge University Library, one of the world’s oldest university libraries

Course costs

When you go to university, you’ll need to consider two main costs – your tuition fees and your living costs (sometimes referred to as maintenance costs).

Your living costs will include costs related to your studies that are not covered by your tuition fees. There are some general study costs that will apply for all students.

Find out more about general study costs.

Other additional costs for Asian and Middle Eastern Studies are detailed below. If you have any queries about these costs, please contact the Faculty.

Books and printing

  • Text books/course books: the Faculty, University and College libraries are well-stocked and it shouldn’t be necessary to purchase more than a handful of books in any year. However, some students may spend £300 or more on specific texts in a given year.
  • Printing: 10p per A4 sheet in greyscale, and 60p per A4 sheet in colour.

Field trips and study abroad

  • Year abroad in Year 3: students are expected to cover their daily living costs and any travel costs associated with their year abroad. The Faculty covers the cost of tuition at overseas institutions and/or with private tutors. Visit our tuition fees page to find out more about tuition fees on your year abroad. Students can also apply for the Turing Scheme which is offered by the UK government.

Find out more about year abroad costs on the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies website.

If you're pursuing Chinese or Japanese Studies and you pass Part IB, you may choose to study the other language instead of going on a year abroad in Year 3. You must apply to the Faculty Board for permission to do this.

Careers and graduate options

You’ll have a vast range of career options to choose from when you graduate.

Throughout your degree, you'll develop a wide range of skills that you can apply to lots of careers. For example:

  • confident written and verbal communication
  • independent thinking
  • research
  • sourcing, examining and interpreting evidence
  • solving problems creatively

Many of our graduates use their subject directly in their career. Graduate career choices include:

  • media
  • business and commerce
  • the Civil Service (especially the Foreign Office)
  • tourism
  • teaching overseas
  • academia
  • non-governmental organisations

Even if you choose not to stay in a related field, employers are often impressed by your choice to study a difficult language.

Our graduates have also gone into:

  • banking
  • marketing
  • law
Course outline

Teaching

Teaching is provided through lectures, seminars, language classes and small-group supervisions. You can generally expect 12 to 14 hours of teaching each week.

If you combine a Middle Eastern with a European language, you study both roughly equally in Year 1 but after that you can balance them as you wish.

Assessment

You are usually assessed at the end of each year through written and oral examinations, and/or coursework.

If you take Japanese, some of your half-papers will be assessed at the end of the term that you study them.

In your fourth year, you will be assessed on a dissertation of 12,000 words.

You won't usually be able to resit any of your exams.

Years 1 and 2 (Part I)

In your first year:

  • you study your chosen languages intensively, in both written and spoken forms
  • you take 4 to 6 introductory papers on East Asia or the Middle East, depending on the languages you’re studying

In your second year you continue to study your chosen languages.

  • Classical language is compulsory if you’re taking Chinese or Japanese. You will also choose from a number of optional papers, some borrowed from other courses.
  • In Japanese, this includes half-papers that last one term, which gives you even greater choice.

The topics offered change from year to year but currently include:

  • Chinese – dynastic and modern China, Chinese thought, Chinese literature, classical Chinese, popular culture, Chinese politics, Chinese religions, globalisation in China, cinema, linguistics, Korean
  • Japanese – Classical Japanese, pre-modern and modern Japanese history, pre-modern and modern Japanese literature, Japanese society, Japanese politics since 1945, cinema, linguistics, Korean, Korean politics
  • Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian – literature (Arabic, Hebrew, Persian), classical Islamic civilisation, formation of the modern Middle East, the anthropology of Islam, Hebrew culture, Hindi, cinema, linguistics, Islam, Judaism

Years 3 and 4 (Part II)

In your third year you:

  • spend at least 8 months abroad developing your language skills and your understanding of the culture you’re studying. If you’re studying Chinese and Japanese, you will spend your year abroad at a Faculty-approved university in the appropriate country. Japanese studies also offers some internship opportunities
  • if you’re studying Arabic, Persian and Hebrew, you’ll have some choice of which country you go to and what you do

In your fourth year you:

  • write a dissertation
  • take 4 further papers, including at least one advanced language paper. You choose your other papers from a list of specialist options, some borrowed from other courses

The topics offered change from year to year but currently include:

  • Chinese – early and Imperial China, China during the second world war, modern Chinese literature, pre-modern Chinese literature, contemporary Chinese society, Chinese linguistics, China in the International Order, Chinese politics, Chinese religions, Korean
  • Japanese – Classical Japanese, contemporary Japanese society, Japanese politics and international relations, pre-modern and modern Japanese history, pre-modern and modern Japanese literature, Korean
  • Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian – classical and/or modern literature (Arabic, Hebrew and Persian), empires of the Persianate world, imperialism and Islamic law, pre-modern Islamic cities, the invention of Israeli culture, Semitic linguistics, Sanskrit, Hindi, Islam, Judaism

For further information about this course and the papers you can take see the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies website.

Changing course

It’s really important to think carefully about which course you want to study before you apply. 

In rare cases, it may be possible to change course once you’ve joined the University. You will usually have to get agreement from your College and the relevant departments. It’s not guaranteed that your course change will be approved.

You might also have to:

  • take part in an interview
  • complete an admissions test
  • produce some written work
  • achieve a particular grade in your current studies
  • do some catch-up work
  • start your new course from the beginning 

For more information visit the Faculty website.

You can also apply to change to:

You can't apply to this course until you're at Cambridge. You would usually apply when you have completed 1 year or more of your original Cambridge course.

You should contact your College’s Admissions Office if you’re thinking of changing your course. They will be able to give you advice and explain how changing courses works.

Entry requirements
The listed entry requirements relate to entry in 2026 or deferred entry in 2027. They are currently draft entry requirements and will be confirmed in June 2025. 

Minimum offer level

A level: A*AA
IB: 41-42 points, with 776 at Higher Level
Other qualifications: Check which other qualifications we accept

If you’re applying for Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, we recommend these subjects for a strong application: 

  • English (language or literature)
  • History 
  • Languages (ancient or modern)

To apply to any of our Colleges for Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, if you would like to combine your chosen language with a European language you will need:  

  • A level/IB Higher Level in your chosen European language 

Robinson College only accepts applicants to Chinese and Japanese.

College entry requirements

The following Colleges usually set offers at the minimum offer level. They may sometimes ask for higher grades or an A* in a particular subject:

  • Christ’s
  • Clare
  • Downing
  • Emmanuel
  • Fitzwilliam
  • Girton
  • Gonville & Caius
  • Homerton
  • Hughes Hall
  • Jesus
  • King’s
  • Magdalene
  • Newnham
  • Pembroke
  • Peterhouse
  • Queens'
  • Robinson
  • Sidney Sussex
  • St Catharine’s
  • St Edmund's
  • St John's
  • Trinity
  • Trinity Hall
  • Wolfson

 

The following Colleges set extra conditions for most or all offers. For example, they may make a higher offer or specify an A* in a particular subject. However, some may occasionally set offers at the minimum level. For more information check the College websites:

Colleges set additional offer requirements for a range of reasons. If you'd like to find out more about why we do this, check the information about offers above the minimum requirement on the entry requirements page.

IB offers

Some Colleges usually make offers above the minimum offer level. Find out more on our qualifications page.

Admission assessment

If you are combining with a European language, there is an admission assessment at all Colleges. You do not need to register in advance for this assessment.

Check the College admission assessments page for more information.

Submitted work

Some Colleges will ask you to submit written work. 

The following College requires 1 piece of written work:

  • St Catharine's

The following Colleges require 2 pieces of written work:

  • Downing
  • Trinity

If you are combining with a European language, you will need:

  • 2 pieces of written work at Churchill, Corpus Christi, Downing, St Catharine's, Trinity and Trinity Hall
  • 1 piece of written work at Christ's, Clare, Fitzwilliam, Girton, Gonville & Caius, Homerton, Hughes Hall, Jesus, Lucy Cavendish, Magdalene, Murray Edwards, Newnham, Pembroke, Peterhouse, Queens', Selwyn, Sidney Sussex, St Edmund's, St John's, Wolfson

What Asian and Middle Eastern Studies students have studied

Most Asian and Middle Eastern Studies students (who had studied A levels and started at Cambridge in 2018, 2019 and 2023) achieved at least A*A*A (70% of entrants). The majority of students who studied IB achieved at least 43 points overall and/or grades 777 at Higher Level.

Most had studied at least one of the subjects recommended above.

The rest had usually taken at least one of:

  • Ancient History, Classical Civilisation, Economics, Further Mathematics, Geography, Politics, Music, Philosophy, Psychology, Religious Studies, sciences (Biology, Chemistry or Physics) or Sociology
  • Mathematics

This information shows some of the common subjects our applicants have studied. Although these are common subject combinations, this doesn't mean they're favoured. 

When you're choosing your post-16 subjects, it's most important to check whether any subjects are required for your course. You can also check our guidance on choosing your high school subjects for more information.

All undergraduate admissions decisions are the responsibility of the Cambridge Colleges. Please contact the relevant College admissions office if you have any queries.

Next steps

Discover your department or faculty

Explore our Colleges

Visit us on open day

Find out how to apply

Discover Uni

Discover Uni data

Contextual information

Discover Uni allows you to compare information about individual courses at different higher education institutions.  This can be a useful method of considering your options and what course may suit you best.

However, please note that superficially similar courses often have very different structures and objectives, and that the teaching, support and learning environment that best suits you can only be determined by identifying your own interests, needs, expectations and goals, and comparing them with detailed institution- and course-specific information.

We recommend that you look thoroughly at the course and University information contained on these webpages and consider coming to visit us on an Open Day, rather than relying solely on statistical comparison.

You may find the following notes helpful when considering information presented by Discover Uni.

  1. Discover Uni relies on superficially similar courses being coded in the same way. Whilst this works on one level, it may lead to some anomalies. For example, Music courses and Music Technology courses can have exactly the same code despite being very different programmes with quite distinct educational and career outcomes.

    Any course which combines several disciplines (as many courses at Cambridge do) tends to be compared nationally with courses in just one of those disciplines, and in such cases the Discover Uni comparison may not be an accurate or fair reflection of the reality of either. For example, you may find that when considering a degree which embraces a range of disciplines such as biology, physics, chemistry and geology (for instance, Natural Sciences at Cambridge), the comparison provided is with courses at other institutions that primarily focus on just one (or a smaller combination) of those subjects.You may therefore find that not all elements of the Cambridge degree are represented in the Discover Uni data.

  2. Some contextual data linked from other surveys, such as the National Student Survey (NSS) or the Destination of Leavers in Higher Education (DLHE), may not be available or may be aggregated across several courses or several years due to small sample sizes.  When using the data to inform your course choice, it is important to ensure you understand how it has been processed prior to its presentation. Discover Uni offers some explanatory information about how the contextual data is collated, and how it may be used, which you can view here: https://discoveruni.gov.uk/about-our-data/.

  3. Discover Uni draws on national data to provide average salaries and employment/continuation data.  Whilst starting salaries can be a useful measure, they do not give any sense of career trajectory or take account of the voluntary/low paid work that many graduates undertake initially in order to gain valuable experience necessary/advantageous for later career progression. Discover Uni is currently piloting use of the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data to demonstrate possible career progression; it is important to note that this is experimental and its use may be modified as it embeds.

The above list is not exhaustive and there may be other important factors that are relevant to the choices that you are making, but we hope that this will be a useful starting point to help you delve deeper than the face value of the Discover Uni data.

Key information

Minimum offer level 
A level: A*AA
IB: 41-42 points, with 776 at Higher Level
UCAS code 
TT46
Course length 
BA (Hons) 4 years full-time, including a year abroad
Start date 
October 2026
Study at 

All Colleges. Robinson College only accepts applicants to Chinese and Japanese.

Applicant numbers 
2024 cycle:
Applications per place: 3
Accepted: 38
Contact email 
ug_progadmin@ames.cam.ac.uk
Contact telephone 
01223 335105