This program, grounded in interdisciplinary cultural studies within the humanities and social sciences, is designed around four major research clusters, offering students a rich curriculum that spans foundational, specialized, and diverse cross-disciplinary courses. In addition to cultivating the abilities for independent thinking, problem-solving, and research, students will develop skills in both academic inquiry and practical application. More importantly, graduates will be equipped to meet the challenges of the rapidly changing international society and academic landscape of the 21st century. They will gain a grasp of the historical connections and cultural contexts within Asian countries, enabling a more holistic understanding of global historical, cultural, political, and economic transformations, and allowing them to respond to the intellectual demands and trends of contemporary international academia.

In the past, knowledge production in most Asian countries was primarily targeted toward Western academia, with limited interaction among Asian nations themselves. Since the rise of Asia, academic exchanges among these countries have become increasingly frequent. Not only have many American universities begun to establish or strengthen Asia-related departments and programs and set up branch campuses or cooperative relationships in the region, but Asian universities themselves have also started to shift their research focus back to Asia. They are establishing Asia-related research and teaching units and strengthening partnerships with other universities in the region, such as Xiamen University opening a branch campus in Malaysia. Knowledge and culture from an Inter-Asia perspective are becoming increasingly vital, yet there is a significant lack of talent in this area. The students produced by this program will directly meet this demand and are poised to bring a transformative impact and adjustment to the perspectives of existing Asian regional studies units.

Beyond academia, commercial, cultural, and political interactions among Inter-Asian countries have also grown substantially. Graduates of this program will have the skills and opportunities to work in governmental cultural institutions and private cultural production organizations. They can plan and execute cultural policies and community-building projects related to the Inter-Asia region, and participate in practical work such as museum and art gallery curation and administration, sexuality/gender policy, and management in the cultural and creative industries.

The rise of Asia is not merely economic; the cultural and institutional foundations and the humanistic thinking and vision required behind it demand collective reflection and effort from people across Asia. The graduates trained by this program are equipped to provide the perspective and planning needed in this area, thereby making concrete contributions to enriching the substance of future Asian civilization.

Career Prospects

• Academic and Research Positions in Higher Education: For example, research on civilization, civic sentiment, governance models, and democratization movements in Asian countries.
• Inter-Asia Networking in Transnational Organizations and NGOs: As transnational organizations and movements expand with economic development in Asia, our graduates are well-prepared to engage in the planning and fieldwork of building these networks.
• Conceptualization and Curation in the Cultural and Creative Industries: While a market exists in affluent Asia, the cultural and creative sector urgently needs conceptual depth and planning to move beyond superficial consumption and broaden its foundation—a key strength of our graduates.
• Analysis of Asian Popular Culture: The interplay and competition in popular music, fashion, television dramas, and fan culture among Japan, Korea, and Taiwan are of paramount concern to related industries, an area where our graduates can excel.

Since its inception, the International Center for Cultural Studies, UST (IICS-UST) has continuously executed various transnational cooperation projects. These include the Ministry of Education's "Taiwan Experience Education Program" (TEEP) and the "Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Global Network" project, which has hosted seasonal schools (2015, 2016, 2017) that attracted a large number of international students, especially from Southeast and South Asian countries, establishing an important hub for talent cultivation in the New Southbound region. Additionally, the "Taiwan-Hong Kong Alliance for Top Universities Program" (2013–2015), funded by the MOE, provided a platform for UST faculty and students to establish collaborative teaching, workshops, and two-way exchange visits with universities in Hong Kong.

The MOE's "Aim for the Top University Program" (a five-year, NT$50 billion initiative) ran from 2005 to 2017. The UST's participation in this program concluded on March 31, 2014. The "International Center for Cultural Studies at National Chiao Tung University" (IICS-NCTU) served as the administrative office for the UST cultural studies team, actively seeking external funding to continue inter-university and international academic collaborations. In 2018, the center received support from the MOE's Sprout Project as a "Featured Areas Research Center," bringing together faculty from across the UST system to jointly execute the five-year project "Conflict, Justice, Decolonization: Critical Studies on Inter-Asian Societies" (CJD, 2018–2022).

Furthermore, the center was awarded a grant from the Consortium for Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI) and the Mellon Foundation to implement the "Global Humanities Institute" (GHI) project on "Migration, Logistics, and Unequal Citizens in the Global Contexts" (2019–2021). This three-year project involves a partnership of 12 transnational academic institutions, 36 senior international scholars, and 24 junior international scholars. The participating scholars and NGOs come from Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, India, the Philippines, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, and several European institutions. The junior scholars selected for the GHI hail from the United States, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, and various Southeast Asian countries, with backgrounds in sociology, anthropology, philosophy, history, literature, art, communications, documentary filmmaking, human geography, area studies, cultural studies, and human rights work. Through these initiatives, we have established stable formal and informal partnerships with these institutions and scholars, and the "International Program in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies" has built an international reputation for nurturing talent in the Asian region.