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Center for Southeast Asian Studies > Students > Foreign Area Officer (FAO) Program Information

Foreign Area Officer (FAO) Program Information

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The Asian Studies Program at the University of Hawai‘i offers an unequalled opportunity for FAOs to study a wide range of topics, disciplines, and methodologies covering a broad geographical arc including East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. The School of Pacific & Asian Studies (SPAS), in the College of Arts, Languages & Literatures (CALL), is home to two Title VI National Resource Centers for Asia (East Asia and Southeast Asia), ranking the school’s Asia programs among the strongest in the US.

The University of Hawaii’s Asian Studies Program has been engaged with the FAO Program since 1997. Since that time, we have awarded MA degrees to more than 75 officers across all regions of Asia. The MA degree program is tailored to meet the academic needs of FAOs who are preparing to work in their Asia region of expertise.

The University’s location in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, offers unique opportunities for FAOs concentrating on Asia. The extensive academic resources at UH-Mānoa are enhanced by its proximity to the East-West Center and the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. The numerous Asian and Asian-American communities on Oah‘u—and the temples, festivals, performances, talks, classes, restaurants and cultural sites they support—provide an unparalleled resource for learning about Asian cultures and worldviews outside the classroom. Finally, given that between a quarter and a third of all job assignments for Asia FAOs are based in Hawaii, studying at UH gives you access to these units through briefings, lectures, and so on. It also gives you the opportunity to check out future job prospects—specifically, which jobs you might wish to compete for as well as which jobs you might wish to avoid.