Engaging with Asia as a part of Asia is a strategic imperative for Australia. The Bachelor of Asian Studies provides a pathway for ambitious and adventurous people in all fields of study to gain the language skills and cultural-historical expertise critical to leading that engagement. Graduates emerge with a nuanced understanding of the Asian region and its complex national and subnational parts.

Watch our video to find out how the Bachelor of Asian Studies can help you make a difference where it matters in Asia and beyond. 

The Bachelor of Asian Studies provides a firm footing in how to study and engage with Asia with both language and discipline/area studies to create a unique and world class experience.

The College of Asia and the Pacific's (CAP's) breadth of Asia and Pacific language offerings is unmatched anywhere in Australia is globally recognised. All students in the Bachelor of Asian Studies must complete at least four course/a minor in an Asian language, and we encourage students who begin the study of an Asian language at university to complete a full language major in order to graduate with the proficiency required to function as an Asia specialist in the competitive job market. Placement testing allows students with existing expertise in a language to enter at their current proficiency level and develop their language skills from that point.

CAP offers a world-leading concentration of disciplinary expertise in regionally-focused and globally-aware Security Studies, Linguistics, Politics, Anthropology, and History. Our focused discipline and area studies majors communicate this expertise to students. You can focus your studies in disciplines or choose instead to study a particular geographic region within Asia and bring a range of disciplinary perspectives to bear on exploring and understanding that area.

Our majors incorporate experiential and independent research courses that equip graduates with critical thinking skills that are contextualised with regional understandings and the capacity to communicate that across cultures. A sequence of transdisciplinary problem solving courses grants students the opportunity to develop and articulate creative solutions to emerging global and regional challenges. 

Graduates from the Bachelor of Asian Studies at ANU will define Australia’s productive and peaceful engagement with the region through the 21st century. 

What does it take to start a successful new business, to lead an organisation, to plan and manage a complex project? How do leaders negotiate, resolve conflict, and manage across cultures in the global workplace?

The BBA will answer these questions and, more importantly, help you develop skills to go out and do these things in the real world.

The BBA is flexible so you can build on your strengths. For example, you have a wide choice about how much mathematical content to include in your degree.

Employment Opportunities

Bachelor of Asian Studies graduates develop language skills and disciplinary sophistication within a nuanced understanding of the Asian region and its complex national and subnational parts.

Employer recruitment priorities show that Bachelor of Asian Studies graduates’ critical intercultural skills provide a competitive edge in career fields including international relations or trade, aid and development, government and policy, banking and finance, tourism, media, education, information technology, marketing, journalism, and corporate communications.

Bachelor of Asian Studies graduates develop language skills and disciplinary sophistication within a nuanced understanding of the Asian region and its complex national and subnational parts.

Employer recruitment priorities show that Bachelor of Asian Studies graduates’ critical intercultural skills provide a competitive edge in career fields including international relations or trade, aid and development, government and policy, banking and finance, tourism, media, education, information technology, marketing, journalism, and corporate communications.

Learning Outcomes

1. Demonstrate an understanding of different disciplinary approaches and methods drawn from the humanities and social sciences, to synthesise knowledge about Asia, its regions, and its place in the world.
2. Demonstrate a nuanced understanding of the regional diversity of the societies, cultures, and life-systems perspectives across Asia and Oceania.
3. Develop, refine, and apply the skills to recognise transdisciplinary opportunities and collaborate to solve complex transdisciplinary problems.
4. Evaluate ideas and debate issues in both English and an Asian language, using academic style for written work.
5. Critically apply theoretical frameworks and research techniques to understand the global significance of Asia as a region and as a composite of diverse societies and cultures.
6. Exercise critical thinking and judgment in identifying and solving problems, individually and in groups.

1. review, analyse, consolidate and synthesise knowledge, from both Indigenous Australian peoples' and non-indigenous peoples' perspectives, as well as locally and globally
2. demonstrate a broad understanding of management and leadership knowledge with depth in some areas
3. present a clear, coherent and independent exposition of management knowledge and ideas
4. exercise expertise in critical thinking and judgement in identifying and solving problems with intellectual independence
5. demonstrate initiative and judgement in planning, problem solving and decision making in professional practice and/or scholarship
6. adapt knowledge and skills in diverse business contexts
7. demonstrate responsibility and accountability for own learning and professional practice and in collaboration with others within broad parameters
8. employ discipline-based knowledge in transdisciplinary problem-solving

Further Information

Admission Requirements

Adjustment Factors

Adjustment factors are combined with an applicant's secondary education results to determine their Selection Rank. ANU offers adjustment factors based on equity, diversity, and/or performance principles, such as for recognition of difficult circumstances that students face in their studies.

To be eligible for adjustment factors, you must have:

• achieved a Selection Rank of 70 or more before adjustment factors are applied
• if you have undertaken higher education, completed less than one year full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) of a higher education program
• applied for an eligible ANU bachelor degree program

Please visit the ANU Adjustment Factors website for further information.

Scholarships

ANU offers a wide range of scholarships to students to assist with the cost of their studies.

Eligibility to apply for ANU scholarships varies depending on the specifics of the scholarship and can be categorised by the type of student you are.  Specific scholarship application process information is included in the relevant scholarship listing.

For further information see the Scholarships website.

Program Requirements

The Bachelor of Asian Studies flexible double degree component requires completion of 96 units, of which:

A maximum of 36 units may come from completion of 1000-level courses

A minimum of 18 units must come from completion of 3000-level courses

A minimum of 12 units of courses tagged as Transdisciplinary Problem-Solving

The 96 units must consist of:

96 units as follows:

12 units from completion of the following compulsory courses:

ASIA1025 Asia and the Pacific: Power, Diversity and Change

ASIA1030 Asia and the Pacific in Motion

48 units from completion of one of the following majors:

Asian and Pacific Culture, Media, and Gender

Asian History

Chinese Studies

South Asian Studies

Japanese Linguistics

Japanese Studies

Korean Studies

Northeast Asian Studies

Southeast Asian Studies

Chinese Language

Hindi Language

Indonesian Language

Japanese Language

Korean Language

Sanskrit Language

Thai Language

Vietnamese Language

A minimum of 12 units of courses tagged as Transdisciplinary Problem-Solving

A minimum of 12 and maximum of 24 units from completion of courses:

in an Asian Language minor to meet the Asian Language requirements

in one or more of the majors listed above

12 units from completion of the following compulsory courses:

ASIA1025 Asia and the Pacific: Power, Diversity and Change

ASIA1030 Asia and the Pacific in Motion

48 units from completion of one of the following majors:

Asian and Pacific Culture, Media, and Gender

Asian History

Chinese Studies

South Asian Studies

Japanese Linguistics

Japanese Studies

Korean Studies

Northeast Asian Studies

Southeast Asian Studies

Chinese Language

Hindi Language

Indonesian Language

Japanese Language

Korean Language

Sanskrit Language

Thai Language

Vietnamese Language

A minimum of 12 units of courses tagged as Transdisciplinary Problem-Solving

A minimum of 12 and maximum of 24 units from completion of courses:

in an Asian Language minor to meet the Asian Language requirements

in one or more of the majors listed above.

The Bachelor of Business Administration flexible double degree component requires completion of 96 units, of which:

A maximum of 48 units may come from completion of 1000-level courses

A minimum of 12 units of courses tagged as Transdisciplinary Problem-Solving

The 96 units must include:

60 units from completion of the following compulsory courses:

BUSI2025 - International Business (6 units)

BUSN1001 - Business Reporting and Analysis (6 units)

ECON1101 - Microeconomics 1 (6 units)

ECON1102 - Macroeconomics 1 (6 units)

MGMT1003 - Management, People and Organisations (6 units)

MGMT2003 - Business Decision Making (6 units)

MGMT2030 - Human Resource Management and Strategy (6 units)

MGMT2100 - Communication for Business (6 units)

MGMT3021 - Leadership (6 units)

MKTG2004 - Introduction to Marketing (6 units)

12 units from completion of Transdisciplinary courses from the following list:

MGMT3015 - Corporate Strategy (6 units)

MGMT3027 - Entrepreneurship and Innovation (6 units)

Either:

12 units from completion of courses from the following list:

BUSI3024 - Export Business Planning (6 units)

CBEA2001 - Indigenous Perspectives in Business (6 units)

CBEA3001 - College of Business and Economics Special Industry Project (6 units)

CBEA3066 - Global Business Immersion (6 units)

CBEA3070 - ANU College of Business and Economics Internship Program (UG) (6 or 12 units)

12 units from completion of elective courses offered by ANU

Or:

24 units from completion of elective courses offered by ANU

If your flexible double degree is within the College of Business and Economics (for example Commerce and Economics), the below study plan may show the same course twice. If this is the case, you must only do the course once and replace the other course with a University Wide Elective.

For majors and minors offered by the ANU College of Business and Economics, students may count a course towards multiple majors and minors. If a minor is a subset of all stated courses and/or prerequisites for a major, then completion of the major overrides completion of the minor, and only the major is regarded as having been completed. If all courses in a major and/or minor are compulsory courses in the degree, the major and/or minor will not be listed on the transcript.

Majors

Bachelor of Asian Studies Majors

Minors

Bachelor of Asian Studies Minors