Knowledge Quarter at the Foundling Museum Tuesday 31 March 2015 SOAS, University of London 

2 The rumours: Bagpipes and camels, Elvis and Hare Krishna 

3 The reality • The world’s leading institution for the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East • Arts and humanities, languages and culture, law and social sciences • Non-European perspective. Interdisciplinary centres. Regional focus SOAS President Graça Machel Alumni include: Zeinab Badawi - broadcaster David Lammy – politician Nick Mulvey - musician 

Language-based scholarship Afrikaans Akkadian Amharic Arabic Armenian Avestan Bengali Burmese Cantonese Georgian Gujarati Hausa Hebrew Hindi Hittite 4 Hokkien Igbo Indonesian Japanese Khmer (Cambodian) Korean Kurdish Malay Mandarin Chinese Mongolian Nepali Pali Panjabi Pashto Persian Prakrit Sanskrit Sinhala Somali Sumerian Swahili Tamil Thai Tibetan Turkish Urdu Vietnamese Yorùbá Zulu 

• Sustainable food and water • The fairness of fair trade • Intercultural understanding through the arts • Social change in a digital world • The rights of displaced people • Preserving endangered languages 5 SOAS research making a difference 

Some numbers • Undergraduate and postgraduate degrees • 5,000+ students from 133 countries 6 • 4,000 distance learning students • 60,000 students took our first MOOC ‘Understanding Research Methods’ 

Public engagement • SOAS library one of only five National Research Libraries in the UK; 1.5 million items in 400 languages, focusing on Asia, Africa and the Middle East. • Brunei Gallery year-round programme of spectacular public exhibitions (Tentmakers of Cairo from 16 April) • SOAS Concert series renowned annual programme of music from around the world • soasradio.org world music, culture and current affairs. 7 

• Working with London Schools to widen participation in HE • Partnering with British Library to deliver outreach for major West Africa exhibition 2015 8 Public engagement 

Summer Schools Academic (undergraduate level) world music english language SOAS Language Centre Evening, Saturday and week-long courses Teacher training, certificates and diplomas Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art 9 Public programmes – short courses 

10 • Client: Sumitomo Chemical Company Regional Focus: East Africa Determining the economic impact of a malaria-net manufacturing facility in Tanzania • Client: DFID Regional Focus: Sub-Saharan Africa What price peace? Considering the cost and effectiveness of different approaches to conflict prevention • SOAS China Institute monthly business roundtables Major free event on 29 June: The China Debate: how healthy is China? Consultancy 

Client: John Swire and Sons Regional Focus: Asia Tailored programme for Swire graduate trainees. 11 Customised training Client: Ambassadors and Senior Diplomats, Sweden, Republic of Ireland Focus: Asia, Africa and the Middle East Tailored briefings: historical, political, economic and cultural background 

12 Community consultancy Community Leadership Programme for borough residents, designed and delivered by the Centre for Ethnic Minority Studies (CEMS) at SOAS and funded by Tower Hamlets Council. Great Ormond St Hospital – staff training - culture and etiquette of patients and their families from the Gulf region. 

13 www.soas.ac.uk Lectures, concerts, food festivals, book launches, exhibitions