School of Oriental and African Studies - History

History

The institution was founded in 1916 as the School of Oriental Studies at 2 Finsbury Circus, London, England, the then premises of the London Institution. The School received its Royal Charter on 5 June 1916; admitted its first batch of students on 18 January; and was formally inaugurated by King George V in the presence of the Earl Curzon of Kedleston among other cabinet officials just a month later on 23 February 1917.

The founding mission was to provide the University of London with a rival to the famous Oriental schools of Berlin, Petrograd and Paris, and advance British dominance in scholarship, science and commerce in Africa and Asia. The institution forthwith became integral in training British administrators, colonial officials and spies for overseas postings across the British Empire. Africa was added to the school's name in 1938 and it was thereafter known as the School of Oriental and African Studies.

For sometime in the mid-1930s, prior to moving to its current location at Thornhaugh Street, Bloomsbury, the School was located at Vandon House, Vandon Street, London SW1, with the library located at Clarence House. Its move to new premises in Bloomsbury was held up by delays in construction and the half-completed building took a hit during the Blitz in September 1940. With the onset of the Second World War, many University of London colleges were evacuated from London in 1939 and billeted on universities all over the provinces. The School was, on the Government's advice, transferred to Christ's College, Cambridge. In 1940, when it became apparent that a return to London was possible, the School returned to the city and was temporarily housed for some months in 1940–41 in eleven rooms at Broadway Court, 8 Broadway, London SW1. From May 1942 onwards, the School's Japanese department became the centre for training military translators and intelligence officers.

Since its establishment the school has grown into one of the world's most notable centres for the exclusive study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. A constituent college of the University of London, the School's fields include Law, Social Sciences, Humanities and Languages with special reference to Asia and Africa. The School consistently ranks among the top twenty universities in the UK league tables and in 2004 was ranked 44th in the world, 7th in the UK and 11th overall in Europe according to The Times Higher Education Supplement. The SOAS Library, located in the Philips Building and designed in the 1970s by Sir Denys Lasdun, is the UK's national resource for materials relating to Asia and Africa and is the largest of its kind in Europe.

The School has grown considerably over the past thirty years, from fewer than 1,000 students in the 1970s to more than 4,500 students today, nearly half of them postgraduates. SOAS is partnered with the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO) in Paris which is often considered the French equivalent of SOAS.