簡介：Degrees in these subjects attracted fewer than 500 students 2011, most taking either Japanese or Chinese. They are officially classed as “vulnerable” because of their small size and their economic and cultural importance, although the number of universities in the East and South Asian studies ranking has doubled since the subjects were placed in this category. Universities have always come in and out of the table because small student numbers mean that reliable averages cannot always be compiled, even though courses are still running. Numbers may well grow in future years, with the clamour for more interaction with China and India. Only South Asian studies enjoyed increased applications in March 2012, when the total was still little more than 100. Japanese studies saw the biggest fall with the introduction of higher fees, applications dropping by more than a third. The demand for places to study Chinese dropped by less than 3 per cent, but the 781 applications still lagged behind the total for Japanese. The well-publicised growth in the number of schools teaching Mandarin may be beginning to have an effect on the demand for Chinese studies. The contrasting fortunes of the two main subjects may help to even out the levels of competition for places: in 2011, there were nine applications for every place in Japanese and little more than four in Chinese. The small numbers make for exaggerated swings even in the national statistics. The latest unemployment rate of almost one in five is by far the highest of any group of subjects, whereas last year’s was only marginally above average. Overall, East and South Asian studies are still not far below halfway for employment, but they have slumped 20 places in the earnings table after a ￡1,500 decline in average starting salaries in graduate jobs. Cambridge remains ahead of Oxford at the top of the table, with the highest entry standards and the most satisfied students. Cardiff produced the best results in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, but has dropped out of the table this year, leaving the School of Oriental and African Studies with the best research score. Nottingham, in fifth place, had much the best of an extremely variable set of employment scores. Edinburgh is the only university in the ranking from outside England, while Oxford Brookes and Liverpool John Moores are the only post-1992 institutions. Four out of five students enter with tariff scores that are above average for all subjects, so degree classifications are also high. Most learn their chosen language from scratch, although universities expect to see evidence of potential in other modern language qualifications.以下是2013年times英國大學排名東亞及南亞研究專業排名。