Academic Accelerator - Bachelor of Arts - Asian Studies

The Academic Accelerator Program (AAP) is a balanced first-year program for international students with good English-language skills. It supplements immersive classes taught in English with just the right amount of support.

Students in the Academic Accelerator receive:

• The right amount of support for their academic and English-speaking needs
• A full year’s worth of college credits
• Access to courses exclusively for international students
• English-language help with words they need to know for their classes
• A mix of classes with international and U.S. students

Asian Studies is a vibrant community of students, scholars, and faculty committed to a deep understanding of the peoples, politics, history, and languages of Asia. Through the rigorous study of languages, societal structures, and culture, students form a basis for understanding global issues and their impact within a region of Asia—Asia Pacific, China, Japan, Korea, Russia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

In this major, students gain descriptive, analytical, and methodological tools to help understand a region and culture of Asia. Coursework in the major and minor is grounded in language; students gain or expand on their proficiency in one of the Asian languages taught at the U—Cambodian, Chinese, Hindi-Urdu, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Samoan, Vietnamese. Alongside language, students select Asia-focused classes from across campus. This interdisciplinary approach allows students the flexibility to pair their study with pre-health courses, a minor or second major, and exciting co-curricular activities related to their academic and career goals. 

A background in Asian Studies is becoming increasingly crucial to many fields including business, education, healthcare, non-profits, and international affairs. Utah, like the rest of the United States, has become a multilingual and multicultural society that is increasingly integrated with the rest of the world. Students benefit from this diversity and are uniquely poised to pair classroom learning with experiences in the community. Beyond working directly with local communities, students are able to practice their critical language and cultural skills through first-hand experience studying abroad, interning in a related field, or developing a research project. Students also benefit from the resources of the Asia Center, the leading center for Asian Studies in the region. Ultimately, a graduate of Asian Studies will leave the U prepared to effectively interact with diverse populations, understand cultures, backgrounds, and languages, and provide valuable contributions to their communities.