With a population of almost 4 billion, Asia represents 60 per cent of the globe. In recent years, dynamic cultural and economic transformation has seen Asian countries come to the forefront of global importance. Australia today is tied to Asia more than ever before, in terms of intensifying cultural contacts, immigration, tourism, commerce and trade, and strategic alliances. At the University of Sydney, Students can study with leading experts in Asian societies, languages and cultures, colonial and postcolonial histories, and the modern rural and urban social structures. The University of Sydney was the first academic institution in Australia to recognise the importance of Asia, dating back to the establishment of the Department of Oriental Studies in 1918. Since then, our expertise in Asian Studies has flourished and we now offer a comprehensive range of interdisciplinary studies related to Asia.