Africa" is compulsory. Specialised modules in the laws and legal systems of particular countries and regions are also encouraged, and faculty experts conduct modules in these subjects every year.
=== Institutes and regional centres ===
SOAS has a number of region-specific institutions, drawing on expertise across the various colleges:
SOAS China Institute
SOAS Middle East Institute
SOAS South Asia Institute
SOAS Centre for Taiwan Studies
It also has a number of regional centres and other, non-regional institutes:
SOAS Shapoorji Pallonji Institute of Zoroastrian Studies
Centre of African Studies
Centre of Contemporary Central Asia and the Caucasus
Centre for Iranian Studies
Centre of Korean Studies
Centre for the Study of Pakistan
Centre for Palestine Studies
Centre of South East Asian Studies
Japan Research Centre
== Academic profile ==
SOAS is a centre for the study of subjects concerned with Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It trains government officials on secondment from around the world in Asian, African and Middle Eastern languages and area studies, particularly in Arabic & Islamic Studies – which combined with Hebrew formed the major bulk of classical Oriental Studies in Europe – and Mandarin Chinese. It also acts as a consultant to government departments and to companies such as Accenture and Deloitte – when they seek to gain specialist knowledge of the matters concerning Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
The school has a student-staff ratio of 15:1, which in the Complete University Guide 2025 ranked 44th in the UK.
=== Library ===
The SOAS library is a library for Asian, African and Middle Eastern studies. It houses more than 1.2 million volumes and electronic resources for the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and attracts scholars from all over the world. The library was designated by HEFCE in 2011 as one of the UK's five National Research Libraries.
The library is housed in the Philips Building on the Russell Square campus and was built in 1973. It was designed by architect Sir Denys …
