In addition to course work, Asian Studies at many western universities have developed and continue to promote extracurricular activities related to Asia. These may include an annual film series, field trips to the local religious communities, interactions with various Asian cultural associations, special lectures/performances by artists and martial artists, and art exhibitions.

Moreover, the special visits of Asian scholars, diplomats, journalists, and performers provide Asian Studies students with additional opportunities and valuable challenges to meet the engaged or influential people from the cultures they are studying. There are also numerous Asian students who study at various campuses while interacting with Western students.

Study and Work Abroad

There are numerous study programs in the areas of language and cultural studies. The Council on International Educational Exchange, for example, facilitates certain North American universities with Asian Studies in encouraging students to participate in these language and cultural programs.

There are many excellent summer or full-year programs offered by prestigious universities in Asian countries, including the following examples:

• Japanese language and culture credit courses at Tokyo University, Kyoto University, Osaka University, and other universities
• Japanese Language Study at the Inter-University Centre in Yokohama
• The Kyoto Centre for Japanese Studies
• Korean and International Studies at Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
• Korean language and culture studies at Sogang University and other Korean universities
• Chinese Language Studies at National Taiwan University in Taipei or at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China
• Other language and cultural programs in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China
• IAS (The Institute of Asian Studies) summer and full-year programs in language and area studies at various universities in China, Japan, and Korea (e.g., Hydro-Ecology University in Beijing, Nanzan University in Nagoya, Tokyo) E-mail: recruit@iesias.org
• and other opportunities for study and work in Asia countries, including India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Sri Lanka

These international programs are designed for students who want to spend a summer semester or a full year in an Asian country studying both language and culture; they include language and cultural studies, orientation activities, and various field trips to historic and cultural sites. Most courses are taught in English and credited toward the regular undergraduate degrees. Participating students study and live with the international and regional Asian students who can assist their learning experiences. Many of these programs maintain financial assistance and competitive scholarships.

In addition, numerous intensive summer language programs in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean are regularly offered by American universities such as Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Cornell, Hawaii, Indiana, Michigan, and some other American universities and colleges in collaboration with Exchange: Japan and other East Asian resources. These programs require special tuition fees.

There are also internship programs for upper-year students, which are dedicated to various student interests in Asian languages, cultures, economies, and politics. These programs offer different levels of partial financial support; for example, room and board are commonly provided by the host university. Furthermore, Asian Studies indirectly facilitates the international co-operative work programs that provide full or partial funding for the students who have undergraduate degrees and those who are completing the final year of their undergraduate studies. The popular areas of these programs pertain to the mutual development of business, science, or technology between an Asian country and Canada (or US).