About SIAS

     The Section for Islamic Area Studies was established with a view to dealing with major research projects in the Institute of Asian Cultures, a recognized Institute among the research organizations of Sophia University. The members are currently engaged in research and educational activities, and these include active involvement in the Department of Asian Cultures of the Faculty of Foreign Studies, and the Graduate Program in Area Studies linked to the Graduate School of Global Studies, (which until 2005 was known as the Graduate Program of Area Studies of the Graduate Division of Foreign Studies). Earlier, with the growth and expansion of its research activities, the Angkor Training Center of the Institute of Asian Cultures was reorganized into the Sophia Asia Center for Research and Human Development, and while continuing to work in collaboration with the Institute of Asian Cultures the center has developed into an independent body. Similarly, we hope to see the future development of the Section of Islamic Area Studies as the Department of Islamic Area Studies, an autonomous body within Sophia’s Research Organizations. We are now carefully assessing this possibility as part of the overall effort of the University to enhance research as a whole, in its plan to develop education, research, and campus facilities by the year 2013, at which time the University will mark the 100th anniversary of its founding.