Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) at Corpus Fact File

Minimum offer: A*AA

Required subjects: Any language A level/A Level in the European language if combining AMES with a European language

Typical number of AMES undergraduates admitted per year: 1-2

Submitted written work requirements: See our Written Work webpage

Admissions assessment: None. However, if combining with a European language applicants must take the MML College-registered assessment.

AMES at Cambridge

The AMES course ranges from Japan in the East to Morocco in the West, from classical times to the present day. To study one of these cultures through its language enables you not only to develop a set of practical skills and knowledge that can be used later in many different ways, but also to engage with different ways of understanding our shared world. Many of our students are looking for something different that takes them away from languages and area studies they took at A-Level, most commonly French, Spanish or German.

You choose to study one language and culture from five options; Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Hebrew, or Persian. Chinese and Japanese cannot be combined with another language but you do have the option of taking Korean in Year II. Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian can be combined with each other or another European language (providing that you have taken an A Level in that language. Arabic and Hebrew can also be studied as a single subject.   

Your third year is spent abroad in the country most suited to your chosen Asian language where you will be completely immersed in the local culture and society. It is truly a highlight of the AMES course.  

Given the unique combination of language and content, AMES classes tend to be smaller and more intensive than some universities, but our small group supervision teaching provides an excellent framework to rise to the challenge.

For more information about the AMES course at Cambridge, visit the University website.

Why study AMES at Corpus?

Although the College's two Directors of Studies specialise in modern East Asia and Classical Persian respectively, we arrange for teaching to take place in all areas of the AMES course.  

AMES undergraduates are also memebers of our Modern and Medieval Langauges society (even if they have not combined AMES with another European language). The MML society organises talks, events, and film nights across the academic year, and it also assists with the Admissions Team's work on supporting students applying for langauge-based courses at Cambridge.  

Corpus also offers travel grants for vacation study and some assistance with year-abroad funding (in Year 3). 

What do we look for in applicants?

As with all courses that have no direct link to a specific A Level, we expect AMES applicants to demonstrate that they have already begun to explore the linguistic, social, or historical areas of the Asian culture that they want to study further over the course of their degree.  

Through interviews and its selection of candidates, we try to assess previous linguistic interest, travel and exposure, literary and cultural interests, experience and general motivation.  There is no requirement to have studied any of the languages available in AMES prior to application, but a student with no foreign language experience must be sure of their reasons for choosing one area over another and an A Level or the equivalent in any language, though not essential, is seen as desirable. 

Super-curricular resources