The GDAS is awarded upon fulfillment of the following requirements:

1) Completion of the core course: The Making of Asian Studies: Critical Perspectives
2) Two research papers with clear Asian content. The paper submitted for the core course is not eligible.
3) Demonstrated competency in an Asian language relevant to the candidate's research
4) Fieldwork or other experience in the Asian geographic region, including Diaspora, normally of at least a 12-week duration. In certainl circumstances, archival work or other forms of fieldwork may qualify if this is central to the candidate's research.

A detailed description of the requirements is available here.

Each student will have a Diploma Committee of two faculty members of the diploma program to advise and assist them in completing requirements. For example, the diploma committee will help students in finding institutional affiliations in Asia, and in finding Asia-related readings to enable them to write papers with Asian content. See Participating Faculty for a list of YCAR-affiliated faculty members who are eligible to acts as committee members.