The Birmingham Area Consortium for Higher Education (BACHE) Asian Studies Program is an inter-disciplinary curriculum comprised of courses taught at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Samford University, Miles College, Birmingham-Southern College, and University of Montevallo.  The program offers a major and minor and is open to students with other majors, as well.

The Asian Studies curriculum gives students at the five consortial institutions the opportunity to study Asian societies from many disciplinary perspectives and to develop important analytical skills within those disciplines.  Students who study Asia add a multi-cultural dimension to their education which is useful for graduate study of careers in international business, government service, banking, marketing, law, education, journalism, and others.

An Asian Studies curriculum is particularly relevant to today's undergraduate because it emphasizes the changing traditions of Asia, contemporary problems faced by Asian nations, and the relations between Asian nations and between Asian nations and the West.  The courses in this consortial program cover East, South, and Southeast Asia.