Student Testimonials
Xie Mulan
Southeast Asian Studies MA (CSEA) '25
“What I loved most about the programme was the interaction with people – whether it was the professors’ insightful responses during seminars or the discussions with classmates from multicultural backgrounds. These intellectual collisions not only deepened my understanding of the region’s complexities but also challenged me to think critically in both my studies and life. The programme also offered unforgettable hands-on learning experiences. From the Gamelan masterclass, where I experienced Javanese culture through music, to the Johor field trip, where I immersed myself in the local communities’ cultural and social nuances, these activities brought Southeast Asia’s vibrancy to life.”
Song Yang
Southeast Asian Studies MA (CSEA) '26
“This programme has truly opened the door to my interest and enthusiasm in understanding the politics and culture of Southeast Asia. What surprised me most was the entire department's support network to help students inspire their academic potential. Professors' unrestrained support and their patient, hands-on guidance were of the greatest help to me. Their guidance taught me how to transform disorganised ideas into concrete and meaningful research topics and how to then conduct solid empirical research.”
Frances Ong Hock Lin
Southeast Asian Studies MA (CSEA) '26
“One of the most enriching experiences of the programme was taking SEA5238 Country Studies: Singapore. Some of my friends questioned why I chose to study my own country, but this module provided a new lens through which to examine Singapore’s historical development, governance, and cultural and social evolution. It challenged many of the assumptions I had taken for granted and allowed me to explore lesser-known aspects of Singaporean society. The diversity of perspectives in the class, with students from different academic and professional backgrounds and from various countries in Southeast Asia, made for stimulating debates and deepened our collective understanding of contemporary issues in Singapore. What truly made the experience exceptional was the engaging teaching approach. Our lecturer infused lessons with real-life stories that brought abstract concepts to life, allowing us to appreciate how historical events and policies continue to shape Singapore today. This storytelling approach added a human dimension to our studies and reinforced the relevance of academic knowledge in real-world contexts.”
Yuan Hanchen
Southeast Asian Studies MA (CSEA) '26
“SEA5213 Food History of Southeast Asia is a module that left an extremely deep impression on me, not only because it has a somewhat “delicious” title, but also because it is an extremely rich module, both in terms of content and form. On the one hand, this module has a serious academic nature: Dr. Lin selected topics related to 13 kinds of food to tell stories about foods, technologies, and cuisines, and provided a multidisciplinary research perspective in both teaching and the choice of reading materials. The module is undoubtedly extremely suitable for history lovers; in the stories of food, we learn the interconnection and interaction of human history from a global historical perspective through the flow, influence, and change of food, and we can also see the interaction of these foods with gender, class, and even individual identity in more specific and microscopic society perspective. On the other hand, the module also has a side that is close to life. In class, I really like Dr. Lin's way of asking questions. In addition to setting discussion questions related to lectures and reading materials, he also raises some questions that are close to daily life; at such times, students from different countries and regions, with different life experiences, can always provide more, and even some obscure information, which seems to prove that the global story of food is still being written today.”