The degree requirements for M.A. and Ph.D. in the department are designed with a goal to achieve both depth and breadth in the understanding of East Asian Languages and Cultures. The major field/discipline requirements develop expertise in a student's major field, while the distribution requirements on electives aim to broaden student's training in a second field, period or area. The course requirements refer to the concepts Discipline , Area and Field , which are defined in the tables below.

Discipline refers to literature, history, religion, language and linguistics, and anthropology. Area refers to China, Japan and Korea. Period refers to modern and premodern following customary practices in a discipline/area.  Field refers to any combination of these labels. So, "Premodern Korean History" and "Japanese Second Language Acquisition" are both examples of a field .

Below are the fields for which the department currently offers supervision: