The Centre of Oriental Studies was established in 1993 and acted as an academic core unit of Vilnius University. As of February 1, 2018 the Centre is reformed into the Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies and is an integral part of the Faculty of Philosophy of Vilnius University. Since the establishment until present it remains the major academic institution of Asian and Middle East studies in Lithuania in terms of the scope of studies, research and resources as well as academic staff employed. The Institute runs two study programmes in the field of Area studies: Asian Studies (undergraduate) since 2000 and Modern Asian Studies (graduate) since 2006. The aim of the Institute is to educate Asian culture specialists with special engagement in Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Turkish, Arabic and Iranian studies, and to act as a national infrastructure of subject studies and research fostering the collaboration between Lithuania and Asia and the Middle East.