Foreword
Message from the President
& Pro Vice-Chancellor
This year Monash University Malaysia celebrates its
20th anniversary. From a very modest beginning we
have grown into one of the world’s most successful
international branch campuses. Our vision is to be a
platform for Monash University’s scholarly engagement
with the dynamic Southeast Asian region.
The School of Arts and Social Science has been an
important part of this history for the past 10 years,
enhancing the breadth, depth and critical perspective
of our comprehensive campus. The global studies
program deepens our understanding of this region
and its place in the world; the communication major
provides students with essential skills to participate
in the global economy; screen studies provides a
creative window into social, cultural and political
change; while gender studies provides students with
conceptual and practical tools to understand and
address persistent inequality and intolerance.
It is an exciting time for the social sciences and
humanities in Malaysia. The election of a new
government in May 2018 has opened up discussion
on a range of issues that were previously approached
with caution. I have no doubt that the the School’s
staff, students and alumni will make a valuable
contribution to this enriched public domain as they
pursue Monash University’s tradition of critical and
engaged scholarship.
The School has grown steadily over the years,
and now has more than 600 students enrolled in its
programs. Undergraduate students make up most of
the numbers, but there is a growing cohort of Masters
students in communication and media studies.
Importantly an active cohort of PhD students drive
new insights in fields ranging from the engagement
of Chinese provincial governments with ASEAN states
to ethnographies of ecotourism among Orang Asli
communities. I am particularly pleased that another
650 students from other programs take arts
and social science units, broadening their own
disciplinary perspectives.
I congratulate the School of Arts and Social Science
on a decade of achievement. I thank all the staff,
past and present, who have worked so hard to build
the School into what it is today. I look forward to
new achievements and new directions in the coming
years as the School embraces the opportunities and
challenges of “New Malaysia”.
r
Professor Andrew Walke
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President & Pro Vic
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