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SOAS University of London is the only Higher Education institution in Europe specializing in Asia, Africa, and the Near and Middle East. SOAS is a remarkable institution. Uniquely combining language scholarship, disciplinary expertise, and regional focus, it has the largest concentration in Europe of academic staff concerned with Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. On the one hand, this means that SOAS scholars grapple with pressing issues - democracy, development, human rights, identity, legal systems, poverty, religion, social change - confronting two-thirds of humankind while at the same time remaining guardians of specialized knowledge in languages and periods and regions not available anywhere else in the UK. SOAS is synonymous with intellectual inquiry and achievement. As a global academic base and a crucial resource for London, SOAS is distinctively positioned to analyze, understand, and explain some of the most challenging issues facing us in the world today. Our academic focus on the languages, cultures, and societies of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East makes us an indispensable interpreter in a complex world. SOAS is top for teaching in London with a score of 90% (3% above the sector average) (National student survey 2016). 88% of students at SOAS are satisfied overall – up from 87% last year, equalling the highest recorded at SOAS and 2% points above the sector average. SOAS has more than 5,000 students from 133 countries on campus, and just over 50% percent of them are from outside the UK. Also, about 3,600 students around the world are taking one of our online and distance learning programs. More than 350 undergraduate degree combinations are available in social sciences, arts, humanities, and languages, all with a distinctive regional focus and global relevance. And over 115 postgraduate programs. SOAS offers an unparalleled range of non-European languages, all of which may be studied without prior knowledge. The school was awarded the Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2009 for the excellence, breadth, and depth of its language teaching. SOAS has the largest concentration of specialist staff (300+ academics) concerned with the study of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East at any university in the world. SOAS has over 115 postgraduate programs taught on campus and a wide range of degrees, certificates, and diplomas taught by distance learning, in the social sciences, humanities, and languages, with a distinctive regional focus and global relevance. The SOAS Library – recently refurbished – has more than 1.5 million items and extensive electronic resources for the study of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, and attracts scholars worldwide. The School's Principal Officers are those covered under Standing Order IX related to the Senior Staff Remuneration Committee. The School's Executive Board also includes the Director of Human Resources and the Director of Finance and Planning. View full university