The Department of Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures, formerly known as the Department of Oriental Studies and previously as the Department of Arabic & Near Eastern Studies, was established in 1999. Our Department is responsible for all undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and diplomas in Arabic, Hebrew, Near Eastern Studies, and Chinese. We promote an interdisciplinary approach, and different members of staff are expert linguists, philologists, literary and cultural critics, historians, and archaeologists. All degree programmes balance these various specialities, and thus we offer students the opportunity to learn the language of their choice from scratch, to become conversant with a number of diverse subjects and disciplines, as well as to acquire critical skills for data analysis and interpretation. Our Department maintains a highly respectable international profile and scholars of repute often participate in the department’s programmes. Our academic members are involved in various research projects, regularly participate in international conferences, and publish their research in prestigious academic journals and books.