Centre of Japanese, Korean and North East Asian Studies (CJKNEAS)

Japanese Language was introduced in the Centre of Afro-Asian Languages (CAAL) in School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies in 1973 as a one year certificate course, which was upgraded into full-time five year integrated programme leading to M.A. degree in the next year.  During the Cold War period there was not much interaction between India and Japan, be it in the realm of bilateral economic cooperation, trade or commerce or in the field of technology transfer, industrial cooperation and collaboration.  But by the beginning of 1980’s with a sudden improvement in Indo-Japanese relations, especially in the field of bilateral trade and technology transfer a spurt in the demand for Japanese Language experts was created.   The Pre-Ph.D./Ph.D. programme was introduced in the Centre in 1982.  CAAL was bifurcated  in the mid 1980s and the Centre of East Asian Languages (CEAL) consisting of Chinese, Japanese and Korean, came into existence.  However, CEAL was further bifurcated and the Centre for Japanese and North East Asian Studies (CJNEAS) came into existence, with Japanese, Korean and Mongolian Languages in 1995.

Korean Language which was introduced first in the Centre in 1976 as a Certificate of Proficiency course was upgraded into a full-time, B.A.(Hons) programme in 1995 and M.A. in 1998, to cope with growing demand for Korean Language experts in India.  The Centre also offers a part-time diploma course in Mongolian Language.  In 2006, M.Phil programme was introduced in Japanese studies replacing the Pre-Ph.D. programme.  The normenclature of the Centre was also changed to Japanese, Korean and North East Asian Studies (CJKNEAS) in 2006.  Over the years CJKNEAS has grown into one of the largest Centres of School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies (SLL&CS) with over two hundred and fifty students.