About Us

In 2005 the chairs for Southeast Asian Studies moved into the International House of the University of Passau, nicely located at the banks of the Inn river. Our team consists of two full professors,Tilman Schiel and Rüdiger Korff, as well as 10 lecturers / researchers from different academic fields. Besides the regular staff members ,Ph.D. students from different countries, financed by scholarships from organizations like the DAAD, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung etc. do research on Southeast Asia under supervision of the professors.

The main focus of research and teaching lies on processes of post-colonial transformation in Insular and Mainland Southeast Asia, including South-West China. Particular fields of study are:

development policy
economic transformation
gender, religion and culture
urbanism
conflicts, disasters and state formation

A special feature of Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Passau is its extensive language programme.Regular courses for beginners and advanced learners are offered in the following languages:

Indonesian
Thai
Vietnamese
Chinese

History

The Southeast Asian Programme was established in 1984 with Bernhard Dahm (formerly University of Kiel) as the first professor for Southeast Asian Studies in Germany. Later on Harald Hundius became Prof. for Thai Literature at the University of Passau. The programme focused on history and literature. From the very beginning language training formed an integral part of the teaching programme. Today lecturers offer courses in Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese.

After the retirement of Prof Dahm, Vincent J.H. Houben took over the position as Prof. for Southeast Asian studies. Soon he left Passau for the Humboldt University in Berlin. For four years, visiting professors (namely Mary Somers Heidhues (Göttingen), Stefan Dietrich (Heidelberg) and Mark Thompson (Erlangen-Nürnberg) ) offered courses in the area studies programme. In 2005 Prof. Hundius retired.

In 2004 the Ministry of Science of Bavaria decided to re-structure and strengthen Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Passau. Since then one professorship deals with Island Southeast Asia, and a second with Mainland Southeast Asia. In 2005 Susanne Schroeter (formerly University of Frankfurt) was appointed Professor for Island Southeast Asian Studies and Ruediger Korff (formerly University of Hohenheim) as Professor for Mainland Southeast Asian Studies.