Many AIST students choose to do study-abroad at some point during their study at SU.  Popular destinations include China, India, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.  Students may participate in existing study abroad programs at SU or choose their own destination in Asia for study abroad.

All students are able to acquire basic proficiency in an Asian language through two years of college-level study.  Popular languages include Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese.

You have the option of taking language classes here at SU, transfer classes from other universities, or waive your language requirement through placement tests.

We are fortunate to have a team of talented and dedicated professors from the nation’s top universities, who look forward to working with you and sharing their knowledge about Asia.

Students in AIST concentrate on a wide range of thought-provoking courses on Asia in the humanities and social sciences. AIST classes are truly interdisciplinary in nature, ranging from arts, anthropology, history, psychology to business and political science.

The AIST degree at SU prepares students to pursue Asia-oriented careers in fields such as international business, communications, development, education, government, law, non-governmental organizations, and various services to the community. Graduates of our program have been successful in securing satisfying employment and in pursuing advanced educational opportunities in graduate schools or professional schools in law, business, and education.

Students can enroll in AIST as a major or minor.  Many AIST students have chosen to double major or minor in another discipline, such as business, political science, or international studies.

Thanks to a generous contribution by Dr. Peter Lai Sun Lee ’64, SU established the Peter L. Lee Endowed Lectureship in East Asian Culture and Civilization in 2015.  Every year we bring in an internationally recognized scholar from around the world to give a lecture on a research topic that is at the forefront of Asian studies.  This lectureship has drawn large audience and international recognition.  Students have the opportunity to interact closely with the endowed speaker while he or she is on campus.

Students are able to acquire and demonstrate a basic understanding of the meaning of "Asia" in its relations to the world through various disciplinary frameworks, approaches, and perspectives from the humanities and social sciences.

Students are able to acquire basic proficiency in an Asian language through two years of college-level study as measured by the following criteria consistent with the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines at this level:

• Listening: Engage in listening tasks such as understanding highly contextualized messages and information conveyed in simple speeches on familiar or everyday topics
• Reading: Understand information conveyed in simple, predictable, loosely connected texts and start to have the basic knowledge in vocabulary and grammar to get information from more organized discourses on subjects beyond everyday and social topics
• Speaking: Converse about familiar topics on everyday life with learned material and handle frequently seen survival situations with sentence-level language that can be understood by interlocutors who are accustomed to speeches produced by non-native learners at this level
• Writing: Meet practical writing needs, such as simple messages and personal letters, have the ability to produce simple discourses for descriptive or expository purposes, and have basic knowledge in applying rhetorical devices to express meaning that is comprehensible to those accustomed to the writing of non-natives

Students are able to use library databases and other sources to find appropriate information and evaluate critically the probable quality of sources about Asia.

Students are able to critically interpret and analyze important issues related to societies and sub-regions of Asia through discipline-appropriate languages and methods.

Students are able to carry out a research project grounded in scholarly literature of appropriate disciplines as measured by successful completion of a senior capstone paper:

Outline, conduct, organize, and critically and creatively articulate appropriate analysis of the chosen subject

Use English (and an Asian language) to access primary or secondary sources for the research project

Communicate the analysis and research findings in discipline-appropriate writing and an oral presentation

A complete list of Learning Outcomes for Seattle University Undergraduate Students is available here.