An Asian Experience: Summer University 2009

Thirty nine students from thirteen different countries have just enjoyed being a part of Asian University’s fourth Summer University programme. Students came from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Russia, Slovenia, Spain and elsewhere, making it a truly international experience.

They spent a week at the university campus, meeting the students, and learning from them about the Thai way of life. A Thai evening of presentations by the Thai students was followed by an International evening, with the visitors telling everyone about their home countries. Several of the visitors had brought along food and drink from their countries for everyone to share. People either loved or hated the salty licorice from Denmark! However, most people enjoyed tasting the wines. Then a weekend on Koh Samet to relax, including dinner and a fire show on the beach, before enjoying a week at the Jomtien Sea Breeze Hotel. The final week was spent based at the Ambassador Hotel in Bangkok.

The courses offered the young people a chance to listen to many experts and practitioners to improve their knowledge about business and tourism in Asia, especially in Thailand.

Visits to local businesses gave them an insight into the wide variety of products and services here. They enjoyed seeing behind the scenes at the Royal Cliff and Amari hotels, where they heard about hotel management in Pattaya. They were very impressed by the Bangkok Hospital, Pattaya, where Dr. Iain and Neil gave a presentation and showed us some of their facilities. Other places visited included Mama Noodles production plant (Thai President Foods), Nong Nooch gardens, an authentic Thai meal on the beach at Tung Seafood, Tiffany’s, Henry J Bean, etc. In Bangkok they went to the Grand Palace and the Stock Exchange of Thailand; they learnt the benefits of travelling by Skytrain (BTS) and found plenty of evening entertainment venues to explore. Of course shopping was on the agenda, in both Pattaya and Bangkok, with visits to malls and street-markets.

Everyone enjoyed hands-on classes in Thai Massage, fruit carving and cooking Thai food as well as an introduction to the Thai language and Muay Thai boxing. The students heard about the Art of Meditation from Pra Suchart at Wat Yan, and gave alms to a group of monks early one morning at the university.

The Special Guest speaker this year was Mr. Chung Po-yang (Po Chung) OBE, SBS, JP, a co-founder of DHL International, and a very successful entrepreneur. This lecture was open to the public and Po Chung came with his wife, and told everyone about his life, so far, before telling us about his many business and philanthropic ventures. His talk was an inspiration to the young students who are just starting their working lives.

Some of the comments on the course included “Awesome!”, “Very well organized”, “I liked the chance to talk with the lecturers” and “The mix of international students.”

Staff at Asian University are now starting to plan for Summer University 2010.









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Successes for fourth year Engineering student Pro

Ms. Varittha Sanphuang, a fourth-year electrical and electronic engineering (EE) student, won an IEEE MTT-S (Microwave Theory and Techniques Society) Undergraduate/Pre-Graduate Scholarship of US $1,500 to carry out her research during 2009-2010 at Asian University. The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology. Only six students around the world have received this IEEE scholarship this year. She will work on the following research topics, “Analysis and Design of Electromagnetic Bandgap (EBG) Metamaterials and Negative-Refractive-Index Transmission-Line (NRI-TL) Metamaterials Using Equivalent Transmission-Line Models with New Graphical Tools.”

In addition, she also won an IEEE AP-S (Antennas and Propagation Society) Pre-Doctoral Research Award of US $1,000 during 2009-2010. For this research award, she will work on a similar research topic as above. Her research projects will be carried out under the supervision of Assistant Professor Dr. Danai Torrungrueng, a senior IEEE member, at Asian University. These scholarships will be used to support her in attending international EE conferences. She expects to publish journal and conference papers based on her research work. Let’s congratulate Ms. Varittha for her excellent academic achievement.

Summer University . . . ongoing

Asian University’s Asian Experience 2009.

Asian University’s Summer University 2009 started on 3 August. With thirty-nine young people from thirteen different countries, it will be a truly international experience. They will spend three weeks in Thailand, learning about the Thai ways, culture and history and about doing business here.

There are two separate groups, some who are here to learn more about business in Asia, and the others who are studying tourism and related subjects.

After the traditional welcome by students from a local school, the first evening activities included a welcome dinner, a Thai dancing lesson (including dressing for the dance) and a Bi See ceremony by candlelight. Dr Viphandh (the University president) and other faculty members joined together to wish the visitors good luck and a fun and fruitful stay in Thailand.

After a week at Asian University, staying on campus with the undergraduates, the visors will move to Jomtien for a week, and then Bangkok. There is a busy schedule of Thai experiences for them to look forward to.

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