Single Major

The Department of Southeast Asian Studies welcomes students with good results in GCE ‘A’ Levels and a keen interest in Southeast Asia. The Department does not run aptitude or qualifying tests.

Undergraduate students may choose to single major in Southeast Asian Studies and graduate with a B.A. (Hons). Alternatively, students may read Southeast Asian Studies as a second major alongside their primary major under the double major degree structure.

Students who would like to major in Southeast Asian Studies should read the advisory for SE majors and the policy on reading SE language courses available in the Student Portal.

Cohort 2021 onwards Cohort 2016 to 2020

Cohort 2021 onwards

Single Major [B.A. (Hons)]

Pass at least 60 Units of SE and SE-recognised courses, which include:

SE1101E The Lands Below the Winds: Southeast Asia in the World
SE4101 Southeast Asia Studies: Theory and Practice (4 Units)
a minimum of 12 Units of Southeast Asian language courses (i.e. Bahasa Indonesia, Malay, Thai or Vietnamese)
a minimum of 36 Units at level-3000 or higher (excluding language courses (See Note 1)) with,
1. a minimum of 20 Units at level-4000 or higher (including SE4101)
a maximum of 2 level-5000 SE courses
a maximum of 8 Units SE-recognised courses, of which 4 Units may be at level-4000 (excluding language courses)

Note 1: A maximum of one more level-3000 or level-4000 language course that has not been included in the 12 Units of the language courses in point (4) above may be read subject to departmental approval.

Note 2: All the language requirements will normally be in only ONE language track, i.e., Bahasa Indonesia or Malay or Thai or Vietnamese. The language courses will be offered by the Centre for Language Studies. Under certain circumstances, students may be allowed to transfer to another SE language track. Please refer to the Policy on Reading SE Language Modules for more information.

Cohort 2016 to 2020

Single Major [B.A. (Hons)]

To major in SE, students need to:

Pass SE1101E. This will be counted towards the Faculty Core or UE requirements.
Pass at least 84 Units of SE and SE-recognised courses, which include:
- SE4101 (4 Units) or SE4101HM (5 Units)
- a minimum of 16 Units of Southeast Asian language courses (i.e. Bahasa Indonesia, Malay, Thai or Vietnamese)
- a minimum of 60 Units at level-3000 or higher (excluding language courses (See Note 1) ) with,
  - a minimum of 40 Units at level-4000 or higher (including SE4101 or SE4101HM)
  - a minimum of 25 Units of level-4000 SE courses
- a maximum of 2 level-5000 SE courses
- a maximum of 23 Units SE-recognised courses (excluding language courses)

Note 1: A maximum of one more level-4000 SE language course that has not been included in the 16 Units of the language courses in point (3) above may be read subject to departmental approval.

Note 3: To declare Honours track, students must have completed 110 Units, including 44 Units in the Major, with a GPA of 3.20 and above.

Note 4: The Honours Thesis (15 Units) is optional. To qualify for the Honours Thesis, students must complete 110 Units including 44 Units of SE Major requirements with a minimum GPA of 3.50.

Note 5: Students who do not attempt the Honours Thesis will read level-4000 courses to fulfill the Honours Requirements.

Note 6: Students may also read a level-4000 Independent Studies Course (5 Units). The level-4000 ISM carries a prerequisite of 110 Units completed, including 44 Units in the Major, with a minimum GPA of 3.20. It precludes the Honours Thesis.

Note 7: All level-4000 courses carry a general prerequisite of having completed 80 Units, including 28 Units in the Major, with a minimum GPA of 3.20 OR being on the Honours track. Some level-4000 modules may have different prerequisites.

For more information on the S/U option, please refer to the S/U Option Homepage. For general enquiries on S/U policy, email to sudeclaration@nus.edu.sg

Cohort 2016 to 2020 only

ARS3 students who intend to pursue a BA (Hons) degree do not need to declare the Honours track. Students will move on to the Honours track directly upon fulfilling ALL of the following criteria:

Completed at least 110 Units, including 44 Units of SE major requirements; and
Obtained a minimum GPA of 3.20

Students who have met the honours track criteria but do not wish to pursue the honours programme should file for graduation for the B.A degree. Students who have started on their Honours programme, but their GPA subsequently fall to below 3.20, are still allowed to complete their Honours requirements. This is because we do not remove the Honours track status from students even if they subsequently fail to sustain the minimum GPA.

Honours Thesis

The Honours Thesis (HT) is not a compulsory requirement to be awarded an honours degree. However, Honours students are encouraged to write an Honours Thesis (HT) which will allow them to carry out in-depth work on a topic of interest with the advice of a Faculty member. Students who do not want to do the HT may still engage in independent critical reading or research work through the Independent Study course (ISM). Honours year students will be given priority in accessing level-4000 courses and are also able to read a maximum of 2 level-5000 courses.

Many SE Honours students choose to conduct part of their research in a Southeast Asian country. A student project fund is available to fund students' research projects. Honours students can claim half of their actual expenditure on their projects, subject to a maximum of $100 per project.

Cohort 2016 to 2020

To qualify for Honours Thesis, students must meet the following requirements:

Completed at least 110 Units, including 44 Units of SE major requirements; and
Obtained a minimum GPA of 3.50
Preclusion: SE4660HM

Registration

Students are allowed to register for the HT one semester in advance in order to lock in their minimum GPA requirements. Instructions for the advanced registration exercise will be sent to students at the appropriate time.

Registration for HT lasts for a maximum of two (2) semesters. Students are allowed to withdraw their registration, without penalty, in the first semester. Students are strongly advised to complete SE4101 before reading HT.

Application to read SE4401 and SE4660 are done manually using the HT/ISM registration form. Details for registration are sent to Honours students one month prior to the start of the semester.

Students who have submitted their application and research proposals for these courses should reserve 5 Units (for SE4660HM) or 15 Units (for SE4401HM) / 4 Units (for SE4660) or 8 Units (for SE4401) in their workload for the department to register the course for them after their research proposals are approved. The courses will be allocated in CourseReg@EduRec by the department after Round3.

Independent Study (ISM)

Students who would like to read the ISM must meet the following requirements:

Cohort 2016 to 2020

Completed at least 100 Units, including 44 Units in SE; and
Obtained a minimum GPA of 3.20
Preclusion: SE4401HM