Thai students studying for international degrees at Thai universities

[jayboy]

As most will know, universities like Chulalongkorn, Mahidol and Thammasat have international courses conducted in English.I presume these degree courses are primarily geared to foreign students.However I'm also aware that there are quite a few Thai students - usually educated at one of Bangkok's international schools - who also join these degree courses because their English is more fluent than their Thai.Sometimes these students are luuk krung but there are also some who are fully Thai.All are fully fledged Thai citizens.Normally these courses are a higher cost than the Thai equivalent - but the websites simply refer to costs for Thai students and international students.

 

So my question is if a Thai student is accepted for the English language conducted international course, does he or she pay the Thai price or the international price? If anyone can answer this I should be very grateful.

[NativeBob]

Mahidoll medical college (aka University) - same price.

International program at Unis. is for money, not to educate some spoiled rich kids. 

 

I assume it goes same for Thamassat and Chula.

And so-called English program in schools are equal for thais, quazi thais and foreigners. Why higher education should be different?

[sanmyintmaung]

1 hour ago, NativeBob said:

Mahidoll medical college (aka University) - same price.

International program at Unis. is for money, not to educate some spoiled rich kids. 

 

I assume it goes same for Thamassat and Chula.

And so-called English program in schools are equal for thais, quazi thais and foreigners. Why higher education should be different?

Thai student pay slightly lower tuition fee compared to international students. 

 

[NativeBob]

1 hour ago, sanmyintmaung said:

Thai student pay slightly lower tuition fee compared to international students. 

The Thammasat Uni. is huge. Seriously! We spent whole day there - enormous campus!

 

Mahidol at Salaya (???) is also pretty big, Admin Dept.'s staff at Phaythai is just so sweet and kind. love them all.

But...

We were talking about college, not a "business school" which pure baloney. 

Business school program is a complete sham. (IMO)

 

And yes, @sanmyintmaung, worldwide locals pay less. 

The biggest difference moneywise between locals and kaijin (IMO) are in AU and NZ. next - SG.

 

We didn't do "googling" and "browsing" - we physically went to Admin Depts. at KMUTT, Mahidol and Thammasat (and few others). And we enquired for the real science, not some banana MBA, BBA, Bachelor of Arts and Whistling etc. 

 

I'm sure that Mahidol college is the best moneywise, next (Ooopsi!) is Saint Louis college. 

 

PS: Talking about medical program of course, not applied physics or rocket science.

[Crazy Noobie]

At the University my son attended, the Thai students paid a lot lower then the foreign students did for the International course. Almost half the tuition. 

[CM Dad]

16 hours ago, jayboy said:

As most will know, universities like Chulalongkorn, Mahidol and Thammasat have international courses conducted in English.I presume these degree courses are primarily geared to foreign students.However I'm also aware that there are quite a few Thai students - usually educated at one of Bangkok's international schools - who also join these degree courses because their English is more fluent than their Thai.Sometimes these students are luuk krung but there are also some who are fully Thai.All are fully fledged Thai citizens.Normally these courses are a higher cost than the Thai equivalent - but the websites simply refer to costs for Thai students and international students.

 

So my question is if a Thai student is accepted for the English language conducted international course, does he or she pay the Thai price or the international price? If anyone can answer this I should be very grateful.

My son is 100% Thai.  His biological Thai father was killed in an accident shortly after he was born and I legally adopted him after I married his mother soon after that (I had known both his mother and father for many years by that time)..  I have have raised him since he was born.  I sent him to bilingual schools, not international schools, to be educated and he is fluent in both That and English.  He is currently studying in an International program at Chiang Mai University.  All of his classes are taught 100% in English.  While there are some foreign students in his program, most of the students are Thai.  They all pay the same tuition - there is no special price for Thai citizens.  The price is considerably higher than the regular tuition for Thai-language programs at the university, but is the same for all students.  There is no special "Thai" price.

[CLW]

Kasetsart Uni has different prices for Thai and foreign students in international courses.

Foreign students pay more.

Their explanation was that Thai nationals pay taxes and foreigners not.

I leave it up to you if that makes sense or it is reasonable. It is what it is....

[LukKrueng]

15 hours ago, sanmyintmaung said:

Thai student pay slightly lower tuition fee compared to international students. 

 

That's for the admission fee. Don't know how much it is now, used to be 20k for non Thais, 8k for Thais. That's a one time fee. Then there is the tuition fee which is calculated by credit points, and those are the same for all.

[jayboy]

2 hours ago, CM Dad said:

My son is 100% Thai.  His biological Thai father was killed in an accident shortly after he was born and I legally adopted him after I married his mother soon after that (I had known both his mother and father for many years by that time)..  I have have raised him since he was born.  I sent him to bilingual schools, not international schools, to be educated and he is fluent in both That and English.  He is currently studying in an International program at Chiang Mai University.  All of his classes are taught 100% in English.  While there are some foreign students in his program, most of the students are Thai.  They all pay the same tuition - there is no special price for Thai citizens.  The price is considerably higher than the regular tuition for Thai-language programs at the university, but is the same for all students.  There is no special "Thai" price.

 

Many thanks for this useful info.If I may ask a follow up question, how is your son finding his Chula international programme (ie academic rigour, quality of lecturers, workload etc) ?

[scorecard]

19 hours ago, NativeBob said:

Mahidoll medical college (aka University) - same price.

International program at Unis. is for money, not to educate some spoiled rich kids. 

 

I assume it goes same for Thamassat and Chula.

And so-called English program in schools are equal for thais, quazi thais and foreigners. Why higher education should be different?

 

You're making big assumptions.

 

I have lectured many courses (in English) in these programs. The student make up is different every time.

 

In most cases 70 - 80% Thai nationals.

20 - 30% international students from: Myanmar (many on UN scholarships), Lao, Vietnam, Sth. Korea, France, Spain, Denmark and many from Germany.

 

The students from abroad expect quality in every aspect and they will complain if they are not satisfied.

 

This puts pressure on the Thai students to behave themselves and apply themselves.

 

Plus pressure from observing the behaviors, good questions, English language abilities from the Myanmar student. As said above many of the Myanmar students are on UN scholarships and they have to report their scores / grades to their UN monitor at the end of every semester. If they don't get good grades their scholarship is at serious risk. Never happens.

 

Plus pressure from observing the behaviors, focus and commitment of the students from Europe, and Sth Korea (the Sth Korea students will quickly complain).

 

I've had several incidents where I split the class into small teams (3 to 5 students) and most in the team have rejected the 1 perhaps 2 Thai students in the team. I ask why, classic answers:  lazy, watches cartoons, doesn't contribute, talks to friends on LINE all the time, disappears well before the activity finishes. 

 

In these cases I tell the student 'you will have to find a new team'. Reality is that no other team will accept these Thai students. Because of policy at one Thai uni (that I'm aware of) the lecturer must inform the dean of these incidents who calls the parents and informs then 'your son/daughter is now marked to fail this course'. The students know this will happen.

 

Jayboy, sorry this doesn't answer your question, I never look at the fees,  and I suspect it could be different uni by uni. Hopefully there will be others more familiar with fees.

 

However I hope the details  / comments above are of of some value. 

 

 

 

 

[NativeBob]

1 hour ago, jayboy said:

Chula international programme

he is in Chiang Mai University, not in Chula which is in Bangkok. 

[Rhys]

Are there any of these so-called international programs down south?

 

[CM Dad]

3 hours ago, jayboy said:

 

Many thanks for this useful info.If I may ask a follow up question, how is your son finding his Chula international programme (ie academic rigour, quality of lecturers, workload etc) ?

He studies at Chiang Mai University - read my post - and he finds the program rigorous.

[jayboy]

40 minutes ago, CM Dad said:

He studies at Chiang Mai University - read my post - and he finds the program rigorous.

 

Thanks

[MalcolmB]

23 hours ago, jayboy said:

Thai students - usually educated at one of Bangkok's international schools - who also join these degree courses because their English is more fluent than their Thai

I am sure they are fluent in Thai as well.

[NativeBob]

Dear fathers, please enlighten me: what "international program" actually is? 

Also, dear sages of Thailand, why nobody the subject of "study" and degree - Bachelors, Masters, Doctorate etc?
 

Every University has certain inclination - Mahidol >> med, Kaset >> agriculture, Tammasat >> social studies 

Yes, they do have "generic programs" and they are very "generic".

Chiang Mai University >>> I'm not quite sure, but they have serious and advanced faculties, not only vanilla MBA as they participate in few international projects (funny - with AU).

[NativeBob]

3 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

I am sure they are fluent in Thai as well.

The problem lays into "Teecha Andy mai put pasa-thai". So if pupil will ask what is the difference between desk and table there would be either total silence or freakiest show ever. 

 

Farang teacher in International school is not much different from farang teacher in college. 

Funny I haven't seen any farang teachers in Master program.

 

@MalcolmB you're correct [again] if student really fluent in Thai why he/she would need questionable farang who won't be able/capable to explain what "distillation" is and what is "valence"? 

[RickHuahin]

I taught many years English at Rangsit University in the medical faculties and to the best of my knowledge they had one price for any student who enrolled. Did not matter in the doctor , nurse, pharmacy, chinese medicine, or dentistry faculties.

 

[EVENKEEL]

On 10/9/2024 at 11:52 PM, CM Dad said:

My son is 100% Thai.  His biological Thai father was killed in an accident shortly after he was born and I legally adopted him after I married his mother soon after that (I had known both his mother and father for many years by that time)..  I have have raised him since he was born.  I sent him to bilingual schools, not international schools, to be educated and he is fluent in both That and English.  He is currently studying in an International program at Chiang Mai University.  All of his classes are taught 100% in English.  While there are some foreign students in his program, most of the students are Thai.  They all pay the same tuition - there is no special price for Thai citizens.  The price is considerably higher than the regular tuition for Thai-language programs at the university, but is the same for all students.  There is no special "Thai" price.

What is your reasoning for International program vs Thai? I'm curious, my kid is M1 but kinda of looking ahead.

[scorecard]

On 10/10/2024 at 5:59 PM, Rhys said:

Are there any of these so-called international programs down south?

 

 

Not sure now but previously I taught in an Executive MBA program at a uni in Hat Yai. Several foreign students, all keen to learn. They were all from Palestine, but I know the uni was open to international students from any country.

 

Prince of Songkla Uni is quite big and well respected, maybe worth a call to check (websites are often not up to date and often don't have all the details.

 

If someone decided to call P of S Uni or any uni I suggest don't call the main switchboard because the staff in that office usually have very little knowledge of what's going on / programs etc., and aren't interested.

 

I suggest do some research and get a number for the faculty you're interested in and call the faculty direct and ask your questions.  

[Rhys]

On 10/14/2024 at 11:27 AM, scorecard said:

 

Not sure now but previously I taught in an Executive MBA program at a uni in Hat Yai. Several foreign students, all keen to learn. They were all from Palestine, but I know the uni was open to international students from any country.

 

Prince of Songkla Uni is quite big and well respected, maybe worth a call to check (websites are often not up to date and often don't have all the details.

 

If someone decided to call P of S Uni or any uni I suggest don't call the main switchboard because the staff in that office usually have very little knowledge of what's going on / programs etc., and aren't interested.

 

I suggest do some research and get a number for the faculty you're interested in and call the faculty direct and ask your questions.  

 

[Rhys]

 

PSU   thanks for the suggestions.  Which southern campus?