Postgraduate News & Views

The School of Oriental and African Studies has launched four new MAs in East Asian literature. Soas claims to be the first institution in the United Kingdom to offer taught masters programmes in all major East Asian literatures: Chinese, Japanese and Korean. A fourth course, East Asian literature, is designed for students who wish to study two of the languages comparatively. The programmes, to run from September, cover modern and pre-modern works, and will look at material written in the original languages as well as in translation, so applicants must have reading ability in Chinese, Japanese or Korean. Each course may be studied full time in a year, or part time over two or three years. Other new courses at Soas this autumn include MAs in gender studies and religion; migration and diaspora studies; and Buddhist studies.

It's show time this week and next at the Slade. The school of fine art, part of University College London, is staging its annual summer show of work by Masters students. "The Slade has a reputation... for allowing students to experiment and push the boundaries," says the school. Glittering alumni of the Slade include two Turner Prize winners, the sculptor Rachel Whiteread and Martin Creed. The latter was famously presented with the award in a foul-mouthed fashion by Madonna, for his work entitled The Lights Going On and Off, which featured a white room, empty except for a pair of flashing lights. Whatever your position on the "what is art" debate, you'll find work by talented people at the show. It is open to the public until 8pm this evening, and there are private views next week. For more details, or if you can't make it in person, go to the web gallery, at www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/degree2003. A Puppet Being Spied Upon, an online video by Daniel Locke, is rather amusing.

"Interview the universities before they interview you," urges the promotional material for the World Grad School Tour. This is a series of postgraduate course fairs, taking place this autumn, at which institutions from around the world, including King's College London, Queen Mary College London and the universities of Cranfield, Cardiff, Chicago, Emory (Atlanta), Melbourne, Politecnico di Milano and SDA Bocconi (Italy) will be advertising their programmes. "The whole spectrum of postgraduate study will be on offer at each fair - from aeronautics to zoology," says the blurb. There will be a focus on engineering subjects.

The tour is scheduled to visit no fewer than 22 cities worldwide, including the following places in Western Europe: London (7 October), Paris (11 October), Madrid (14 October), Munich (16 October), Frankfurt (18 October) and Milan (20 October). So you could combine sorting out your future with a jaunt to a European city. Entry to the fairs is free. For more details or to register on-line, go to www.topgraduate.com.

g.mccann@independent.co.uk