General Competencies

• Understand the broad foundations of at least one major Asian culture, including its history, culture, and socio-economic-political organization.
• Recognize the utility of different humanistic and social science disciplines in understanding a culture.
• Understand the distinction between theory and data and the links between them. Understand how to draw generalizations from actual social experience.
• Recognize the way language serves as a foundation of culture.
• Understand the issues and requirements of cross-cultural communication.
• Encourage students to take more initiative in educating themselves, to make analytical generalizations, to make ethical choices, and to feel confident in these and other exercises of personal responsibility.

Specific Competencies

• Establish preliminary personal intercultural relationships and networks that can help expand contacts into various Asian societies.
• Know how to use standard bibliographic tools and the internet to find more information on any specific topic.
• Learn how to identify and contact people with specific information and expertise.
• Understand how a second language is acquired.

Skills

• For non-Asian students, establish a foundation in an Asian language so that further development of language skills will be feasible.
• For non-American students, improve their oral and written skills in English to facilitate inter-cultural communication.
• Write analytical essays at a professional level of competence.
• Communicate ideas through oral presentation.
• Utilize computers for word processing, communication, and access to data, including the internet.