Liberal Arts Faculty’s youngest

Kim (right) with Rachaneeboon

Kim Phan, LA lecturer, gave birth to twins on 15 May. The girl, Jana, was born first, closely followed by Nathan. The photos show a proud Kim and her babies.

Nathan (left) and Jana (right).

Asian University on the High Seas at Hua Hin Regatta

The weekend of sailing at the Hua-Hin Regatta brought home some mixed results despite the wet and very windy conditions. Asian U’s sailors were proud to successfully complete the races, as many of the other competitors failed to do so due to the extreme weather conditions.

Asian U's sailing team

Sinsupa Wannasuth or Mink (a second year BBA student) was holding an excellent third place run in to the finish line in her second race, which included sixty other boats, when the weather got the better of her and she capsized losing her advantage. It must be noted, that of the sixty-one boats taking part in this particular race, only eleven managed to finish because of the inclement weather, so well done to Mink and commiserations on your stroke of bad luck.

Piak and Mink

In other news from the sailing, Piak (Sports Instructor) managed to finish in the top 50% of the competitors which was a marvellous result as he has only been sailing twice before and the other teams were 'Old Salts' from Thailand and other South East Asian countries, with many such competitions under their belts. A great effort from Piak and a truly great effort from all our competitors and Asian U looks forward to taking part in, and maybe winning, future events.

Mink has recently returned from two weeks in Olympia, Greece, where she attended the International Olympic Academy for young participants. She represented Thailand at the seminar, which was to prepare the youngsters for the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008.

An Asian Experience at Asian University; “A great experience!”

Written by Dr Astrid Kainzbauer and Netikan Roopngarm

In July 2006, I lived a big experience! An Asian experience! For me it was the first time in an Asian country and I loved the experience! (Frederico Simoes, Portugal)

For three weeks, seventy three students from thirteen different countries were based at the Welcome Jomtien Beach Hotel for a Summer University on business practices and cultures in Asia. Ages of the participants varied from 21 - 53 years. Many of them were students of business and some of them already had many years of work experience.Asian University put together an exciting programme including topics such as Economic Growth in Asia, an Asian perspective in International Marketing, and Cross-cultural Management in Asia. On top of these academic subjects, taught by professors of the Business faculty, a series of talks about Oriental Culture and Philosophy introduced aspects of Japanese, Indian and Thai religion and philosophy. For these talks, Asian University managed to attract some famous specialists in those fields.I appreciate my time here! I had so many impressions of Asian life and a lot of new inputs within a short time. (Renate Krascovic, Austria)Apart from the academic programme, students were given a chance to experiment with activities such as Thai boxing, yoga and meditation, Thai dancing, Thai cooking, Thai massage and of course survival Thai language! Highlight of the programme for many students was a talk with the Head Monk at Wat Yan, who kindly offered the students some insights into Buddhism and the daily life of a monk in Thailand.Field trips to experience the actual business environments included a company visit to Nestlé Thailand, and the Bangkok-Pattaya Hospital, where students had a chance to discuss practical business issues with members of the management team.

Of course, local sightseeing excursions took the students to Wat Yannasangwararam, the Buddha Mountain, Nongnooch Tropical Garden, and Koh Samet. Two days in Bangkok offered the group the possibility to visit the Royal Grand Palace, some temples and markets, and to have dinner at the Royal Bangkok Sports Club. And a long weekend provided the opportunity for more distant trips: Phuket, Chiang Mai or Cambodia.
Mingling with students from so many different countries and cultures was of course an experience in itself, as expressed by Barbara Jeza from Slovenia: “It has been quite a privilege for me to learn and live alongside everyone these three weeks. I really enjoyed everything with the group, all the fun, laughter, parties, trips.”

This is an Asian Experience! I love the group! I’ve met very interesting people and I’ve learned a lot of new things. (Filipa Paisana, Portugal)

The programme director for this very successful Summer University was Dr. Astrid Kainzbauer, Associate Dean at the Business Faculty. For the programme coordinator, Katharina Auer, it meant a lot of planning before the programme started, and a lot of running around during the programme. She is enthusiastic about the result: “I am very happy to have had such a great group of participants. It was great fun to organise the Summer University. I hope I managed to arrange an unforgettable experience for everybody.”From the reactions of both participants and lecturers, we can certainly conclude that this was a wonderful experience, and that Asian University will plan to repeat it in the future.
One participant summed up his feelings this way: “Remember: always smile. I really enjoyed this Asian experience.” (Catia Luis, Portugal)

Physics Workshop @ Asian University

On Saturday, 29 July, Asian U hosted a physics workshop for over a hundred teachers and students from schools all across Thailand.

The event was arranged in order to support one of Asian U’s visions: to see Thai students grow up to be smart people and be able to use their skills to develop the country and the world in the future. Asian U encourages youngsters to enjoy studying science and to learn by doing. It also supports Thai teachers by informing them about new teaching techniques.

The morning special guest speaker was Professor Dr. Suthat Yoksan (Chief Expert, Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology) who talked about "Tuning teaching and learning techniques to nanotechnology" and "Converging modern education towards research in nanotechnology."
After lunch delegates heard from Ajarn Ram Tiwari, (Science Education Officer, Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology) who spoke about "Nanotechnology found in nature" and "Enjoying teaching and learning using toy media."

With plenty of student and teacher participation, the delegates learnt how to observe, to set up a logical system for their experiments, to search for information, and how to ask the right questions and analyse the replies to find the correct answers.

The day also provided plenty of opportunity for networking amongst students and teachers, and will encourage future cooperation between schools and Asian U.

The photos show the speakers and the youngsters enjoying learning.