The MENA Research and Educational Section was formed within the Arabic Department of the School of Asian Studies, which opened in 2010. The focus of Middle Eastern studies at the School of Asian Studies lies in the study of the languages, history, culture, and politics of several countries in the historical and cultural region known as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

The main languages of the Middle East being taught are Arabic and Turkish. The section has also introduced Modern Standard Hindi as a main eastern language for the group studying India. At the same time, as part of their project work, students in our programme have the opportunity to learn other languages of the region. Modern languages include Persian and Hebrew; ancient languages include Syrian, Grabar, Old Georgian, Coptic, and Ancient Greek, as well as Ottoman Turkish.

The disciplines of the so-called civilisation cycle (history, culture, literature, politics, economics, and international relations) include several small regional blocks—in addition to Arabic, these are Iranian and Ottoman Turkish; in separate courses, students learn about the culture and history of the Caucasus, Central Asia, Muslim India, the Christian East.