Studying In Thailand - Choice Of University And Faculty

[Strike07]

I'm 20 years old and I live in Poland. I had a gap year after highschool and now I have to make a choice, I either study in Poland which is ok but boring or Thailand. I've been to Thailand before but on vacation only. It's not really about studying but about living in Thailand, but studying is the only way I can live there and have financial support from my parents. After searching through many universities I have 3 left. Faculty doesn't really matter to me so much because I don't know what I want to do later in my life, but I am not good in maths so faculties including a lot of it are not an option.

My 3 choices, still don't know which one should I pick:

1. Ramkhamhaeng University

here I was thinking about Bachelor of Arts in English but I don't exactly know what is that faculty all about (in Poland we have different "titles" and I am not native english speaker)

2. University of Bangkok

my choices were:

- Bachelor of English in Business

- or Bachelor of Hotel and Tourism Managament

3. Prince of Songkla University Phuket Campus

- Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism

Yea this one is on Phuket and it is the most expensive one considering tution fee, price of accommodation, price of flights from Poland etc but it is still an option

Any ideas and opinions about these universities and faculties would be nice.

[Scott]

Hopefully we will have some knowledgeable posters who can give you some guidance in this area. I would, however, suggest that you NOT take a degree in English from a Thai University. The degree may be fine, but in the future I don't know if it will count for much. A degree in English from an English speaking country would be more feasible.

I do know a few people who have taken business degrees (in English) here. They seemed to be happy with the courses and managed to get the degree with little effort. Like you, they were getting their degree primarily to stay in Thailand. They were not overly interested in an education, but wanted/needed a degree. They weren't screw offs so I am sure they did their work.

Best of luck.

[SomTumTiger]

Mahidol is the strongest school in Thailand at the moment. Their international college offers all those degrees - id check them out if i was you. http://www.muic.mahidol.ac.th/eng/

[TerryLH]

You didn't say if there were more programs you looked at, and decided against.

Here are other options, in case you haven't already looked at them.

http://studyinthailand.org/

[rayfork]

I have been a 'mature' student at Ramkhamhaeng for 4 months doing their BA in English. It's a very flexible course, taken in units of 3/4 weeks per unit - several English Language units plus Sociology, Music, International Business (as an additional option).

I believe it's the cheapest in town, with quite large classes (sometimes 80-100 students, sometimes 15-20).

The majority of students are Asian - mainly Thais, Japanese, Chainese - and some Europeans. Remember the Asians will never complain so the staff can get away with poor quality - but it's cheap!

In Bangkok, it is regarded as a 'cheap, easy-pass' university and the teaching methods vary - the worst, the Sociology professor (American guy) simply talked at us for hour after hour in a rambling, unstructured monologue.

I became frustrated by the badly organised Department which administers the programme and the vagueness/poor punctuality of the schedule.

Hope this helps.

[emsfeld]

As a previous poster pointed out, if I were you I'd seriously reconsider your choice of Bachelor of Arts in English in general unless you wanted to go down the teaching English as a foreign language career path. There is nothing wrong with that career, but you should be fairly certain that this is what you want to be doing, otherwise, in today's job market it'd be a big waste of your time!

I'd recommend anyone to get at least some exposure to the 'hard sciences' via a minor or as a second major. Even if you aspire a career in business, exposure to sciences is viewed quite favourably upon by many employers (unless you go into HR, advertising, sales where this is not so important).

Also, reconsider your choice of Hotel and Tourism Management - this is quite a specialised (yet very generic) degree program where a lot of stuff is not necessarily transferrable to other areas. If you wanted to head down that type of career, be aware that your are competing with an abundance of grads from the more reputed European programs plus those that went through the vocational pathways. For instances, a Thai Bachelor of HTM won't give you much more knowledge than someone who went through the German 'Hotelkaufmannslehre' - just to name an example. Usually, the latter would have a lot of hands on, practical experience which a degree simply won't match (unless taken at one of the Swiss schools).

I agree with another poster who recommended Mahidol U. They are a great institution and compare equally to any Western universities, in terms of scope and depth of material taught. I'd pick Mahidol over most other unis, but would give equal consideration to Chula, Thammasat and AIT.

[Strike07]

Mahidol is the strongest school in Thailand at the moment. Their international college offers all those degrees - id check them out if i was you. http://www.muic.mahidol.ac.th/eng/

Mahidol is too expensive for me.

You didn't say if there were more programs you looked at, and decided against.

Here are other options, in case you haven't already looked at them.

http://studyinthailand.org/

I read it all. I decided against business administration programs because like I said my maths is very bad, although this would be probably the best option.

As a previous poster pointed out, if I were you I'd seriously reconsider your choice of Bachelor of Arts in English in general unless you wanted to go down the teaching English as a foreign language career path. There is nothing wrong with that career, but you should be fairly certain that this is what you want to be doing, otherwise, in today's job market it'd be a big waste of your time!

Teaching english is probably the last thing I want to do in my life.

What about business english degree at Bangkok University, useless too?

I also looked at Bachelor of Business Administration in Enterpreneurship but then again mathematics would kill me probably.

[Scott]

I completely understand your concern about math, but unless you are completely and totally useless at it or have a phobic fear, it might not be as bad as you think. A lot of what you will be learning is applied to your studies and thus complements what you are learning. You also don't have to 'ace' these subjects; just pass them.

I managed to make it through statistics many years ago and yet I had to take 'bonehead' algebra first. Your not going to be taking math that is terribly difficult or complicated. If you are really afraid of the math part, take the subjects during a summer session or when you have a very light load (maybe in your own country).

No matter what you do, you will have courses which are challenging.

[emsfeld]

I know the Bangkok U degrees quite well and would personally advice against BA in Business English. Not because I think it is a bad degree or poorly taught, I just think that it will not give you ANY advantage in the job market at all (unless you are a good looking Thai girl).

If you passed high school maths in your home country, I wouldn't worry too much about passing it at uni level within the business faculty. Science courses taught out of the business faculties, generally, are on a much much lower level than those by the Science faculties. Usually, these courses are very gentle introductions into business statistics and business mathematics. I'd be surprised if you had to solve any integrals or derivatives. Also, 80% of the students in your class will have the same problems with scientific contents as you claim to be having, hence you stand a very good chance of doing well even .

[Strike07]

Yea I did pass high school maths but It wasn't easy for me, some times I had to take extra classes and I haven't had any contact with maths since may 09.

I did some resarch on business administration studies and found out that Ramkhamhaeng University has the best price for this course, but still not sure If I can face maths there;/

[Strike07]

Also what do you think of Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication Technology

major in:

- Integrated Communication Studies

- Multimedia Journalism or

- Radio & TV Broadcasting

??