The bachelor's program in Languages and Cultures of Southeast Asia provides foundational knowledge in the minor subject areas of Southeast Asian languages, literatures, and media, complemented by additional cultural and regional studies, such as politics, economics, religion, and art in Southeast Asia. The program focuses on insular Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia and Malaysia. In addition, the program offers:
- strong proficiency in modern Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) or Malaysian (Bahasa Malaysia), particularly in reading comprehension, text analysis, and oral and written communication skills,
- in-depth knowledge of intercultural communication.
The curriculum also includes:
- instruction in the fundamentals of academic work, including understanding the structures and theories of scholarly analysis, literature search, and evaluation,
- as well as the preparation and presentation of knowledge, specifically research findings and information related to Southeast Asia.
Goethe University Frankfurt is one of the few universities in Germany to offer both an independent bachelor's program and a subsequent master's program in Southeast Asian studies.
This is just one reason why the Department of Southeast Asian Studies provides excellent conditions for studying. The department's library holds Germany's largest institutional collection of literature on insular Southeast Asia, with approximately 60,000 volumes currently available. The international orientation of Frankfurt's Southeast Asian studies is reflected not only in its focus on an extra-European region but also in the diverse composition of its team, which includes staff from several European and Asian countries. This international perspective is further enhanced by the department's extensive global network, featuring connections and collaborations with related programs and institutes worldwide, including partnerships with multiple universities and research institutions in Southeast Asia. Through the Erasmus+ exchange program, students also have the opportunity to study abroad in Europe, including Southeast Asian studies at partner institutions. Current collaborations exist with institutions in the Netherlands (Leiden University), France (INALCO - Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris), and Poland (Jagiellonian University, Krakow).
Frankfurt's Southeast Asian studies are part of the Interdisciplinary Center for East Asian Studies (IZO) in Hessen, which also includes Sinology, Korean studies, and representatives of Japanology, along with professors from other departments at Goethe University who focus on East Asia.