Summer University 2007.

After three weeks, the twenty eight undergraduates and post graduates from ten different countries have just completed their “Asian Experience” with Asian U. They are returning to Europe with an enhanced knowledge of business and culture in Thailand.

They spent their first four nights on campus alongside the Asian U students, then four nights in Bangkok, and the rest of the time they stayed at the Grand Jomtien Palace hotel. They have had so many new experiences. Four separate courses were included in their program, cross cultural management and communication in Asia, International Business: an Asian Perspective, Emerging Economies in Asia and Asian Culture and Philosophy.

The lecturers were all well known in their own fields. Khun Kriengsek (The Thai Coach) enlightened everyone with information about some of the differences between us and had the delegates taking part in role plays about the way we interact with one another; James Rooney told the stories of several successful entrepreneurs, all based in Thailand. Dr. Narongchai taught about the Thai economy, Professor Krairit covered marketing and people management in Asia.

A special guest lecturer was Dr.Tengku Mahaleel Ariff from Malaysia, an ex CEO of Proton cars. He came to Asian U and gave an entertaining and informative talk on globalisation, from an Asian perspective. The auditorium was filled with the Summer University participants, as well as Asian U students and staff.

Asian U lecturers included David Tan, who gave the group a taste of Thai and Asian business law and Kelley Ritchey who covered financing in Asia. Dr. Viphandh Roengpithya (the President of Asian U) attended many of the events and gave several lectures covering the history of Thailand and some of his many experiences working in Thailand and elsewhere. Throughout the program, the participants especially enjoyed the informality and chance to talk with Dr. Vip and all the other presenters.

"The caliber of lecturers was exceptional."

Apart from the classroom experiences, the students had the chance to visit businesses in this part of Thailand. The Thai President Food (Mama noodle) factory at Sri Racha welcomed the group and Mama kindly provided a helpful guide to tell us about the plant and answer questions. Mama generously gave each delegate some samples of a new-recipe of the popular noodles. The Toyota Motor plant in Ban Po was new, big and very impressive. The environmentally friendly plant was opened at the start of the year, and assembles pick-ups for export. The group had the chance to see the assembly lines first hand, and again ask questions of the management.

The other visits were to the Bangkok Hospital, Pattaya, where again the hosts were senior staff, including Dr Iain. After a presentation on the business side of the hospital, the effects of tourist nationalities and numbers, and information about some of the special medical treatments available, a guided tour gave everyone a chance to see for themselves .The European visitors were amazed, they thought they were in a five star hotel, not a hospital! The final visit was to a real five star hotel, the Amari in Pattaya. Again, the general manager (M. Dominic), greeted the group and then Khun Sunday gave an interesting presentation about the hotel chain and the ongoing expansion and other developments. Dr. Vip was able to add some more about the history of the hotel as he has family connections. After the visit, the group enjoyed supper at Henry Bean's, with Dr. Vip as host.

"Very friendly and always helpful team, lots of activities to get a deeper insight on Thailand and its culture."

The students' representative, Adam, from Aston University, England, gave a vote of thanks to Dr. Vip for all his input, advice and help with the program. Dr. Vip gave each delegate a special present from Asian U and Thailand; a gold badge to commemorate the King's 80th birthday. Of course there were also social events, a visit to Larn Island for games; Thai culture, food and dance lessons from the Asian U students; sports and games in the University sports hall, with the Asian U students; and an international evening to give the Thais a chance to learn a little about the visitors' countries.

"An excellent combination of studies and holidays."

Elephant riding was a first for many of the group, the talk on meditation from Chao Khun Suchart at Wat Yan was enlightening, a visit to Nong Nooch was fun and interesting, Thai cooking was another experience to take home. The delegates all enjoyed themselves, and they all learnt a lot: from the lectures, the visits, the Thai students that they met, and each other. Apart from the formal activities, they enjoyed exploring on their own, and having further adventures. Joao, from Portugal, said it was hard to identify the highlight, but it was probably the lectures in Bangkok from eminent Thais.

"I really enjoyed the leisure activities. They gave a good insight in the Thai culture and those who are interested can get good information."

The final dinner was happy and sad, but everyone is leaving with a new group of real international friends in Thailand and Europe. The Staff at Asian U are now sorting out the plans for next year's Summer University!

"Invaluable experience, great value. A truly Asian experience."

The photos show the delegates “experiencing” Thailand.

Summer University 2007 has started.

Twenty-eight graduates and undergraduates from nine different European countries have just arrived for three weeks of fun and study, all as part of their Asian Experience.

Visit to Bang Pakong Power Plant

On 2 August, a group of students and lecturers from all faculties visited the Power plant at Bang Pakong. The visit was organised by the Engineering faculty, but other interested students were able to benefit from the visit too.

Bang Pakong is EGAT’s largest power plant with an installed capacity of 3,670MW. The first plant started operation in 1980, and now supplies about 15% of Thailand’s electricity demand. There are a total of eight power plants on the site with another block (steam and combined power) under construction.

The photos show the students and lecturers at the plant, with the staff from EGAT who kindly showed us around.

Peach reports on the visit to Mama noodle factory

This was written by Alisa Tantivirasut, (Peach) a first year BA student.

First, I had to admit that I didn’t want to go to the factory at all because I thought it would be boring as I have been to some factories before and they were boring. However, as soon as I got there… I thought it was a very big factory. While we were walking to a meeting room, we could smell Tom Yam Kung. It was a very good smell, we thought.Anyway, as soon as we got to the meeting room, it was just a small meeting room but pleasant. We got to see a video of a history of Thai president Food Company and how to produce MAMA, biscuits and crackers. It was pretty interesting to see how they make those products. After we finished watching the video, the lecturer came out, he was very entertaining, funny and kind so I thought no, this trip wasn’t so bad as I thought and I didn’t regret coming here. We got to ask some questions and I dared my friend to ask him if we eat a lot of instant noodles, we will have cancer or not. It was really funny that she really did ask the question and the lecturer said no. So we were kind of glad to hear that.

Students at the Mama factory

After the lecture finished, the lecturer told us that he would give us packages of instant noodles and he told us to they were already in our bus on our seats so we didn’t have to carry them, so we were all excited. After that, he took us to see the methods of making instant noodles in the factory and it was very interesting and that was it, 10 minutes touring in the factory! We took a picture together and went back to our bus, and found on our seats, some packets of noodles for us to take home. After that, my friends and I went to Tesco and yea, it was fun. We did a lot of shopping and we all had a good time.

Students at Auto Alliance Thailand

Nurse Trainers say farewell to Asian U in style.

After five weeks in Asian U’s English Immersion Programme, a group of ten Nurse Instructors from Nonthaburi have just left Asian university to return to their regular jobs. They joined forces with the undergraduate students to put on an excellent and entertaining show. The show was all in English, of course.

Twelve bankers from BAAC also left the university on the same day, after ten weeks of Intensive English, tailored to their needs.

Students and staff from the university and the College at Asian U filled the auditorium to enjoy the show.

The nurses sang and acted out sketches, and then presented hearts and roses to staff and students. The undergraduates also sang and then performed sketches that they had written about some of the differences between Thai and other cultures.

The photos (thank you Qatar) show some of the acts.

Asian U in SIFE National Finals

The SIFE team

Over the past few months a team from Asian University has been setting up their own SIFE project. Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) is a global non-profit organisation which was established in 2000. SIFE Thailand was founded in 2004 with KPMG, the Stock Exchange of Thailand, The Nation and HSBC as the main sponsors. The students learn about business management, financial responsibility, market economics and ethics.

The SIFE group with Sambandid villagers

Asian U’s project, Char-Chain Reaction, is to establish the Sambandid District, Ayuthaya as a model of organic agriculture by spreading knowledge of organic products to interested groups y permanent exhibitions. In particular they have concentrated on improving the production, packaging, marketing and use of wood vinegar, produced as an organic by-product of charcoal burning.

Asian U SIFE members in Sambandid

From 27 to 29 June the Asian U team was in Bangkok for the Thai National SIFE final competition. After the opening round, the remaining 16 teams were divided into four groups, and Asian U came first in their group. Each round of the competition had a different set of judges, all from well-known successful international and local companies. The students gave a presentation, in English, and answered questions in a professional manner. They showed samples of their wood vinegar, brand name “Awake” which has been produced and sold in Sambandid.

On the final day Far Eastern University were declared the winners (with a project to help HIV infected women and young people in Chiang Mai market their funeral flower arrangements) and they will go to New York later this year for the international finals. Asian U had beaten both the winning team and the first runner-up on the preceding day.

Pan Pan (Left) and Job

This is the first time that Asian U has participated in this competition, and the students have gained a lot from the experience. They spent a month in Ayuthaya, working with the local people, visiting local officials, schools, farmers and then teaching people about the project and how it can be sustained.

They were able to compete in a National competition and come away with heads held high.

Collecting condensate from the charcoal kiln

A typical kiln

Thanks to Ninja for the photos show which the students working in Ayuthaya and the SIFE team.

Big, X, Wen and Pan Pan become teachers

Soonthorn Phu’s Memorial Day at the College

26 June is the anniversary of the birth of one of Thailand’s favourite poets.

Soonthorn Phu was born in the fifth year of the reign of King Rama I, and his father was a native of Muang Klaeng in Rayong Province.

On 26 June 2007, the pupils of the College at Asian U celebrated the poet with an afternoon of activities.

They set up stalls to demonstrate their skills at classical handicrafts, using flowers and local materials. Some of the students played Thai instruments and gave a recital of tuneful Thai classical music.

Some of the boys had Thai hobby-horses made from bamboo and banana stems. Others showed their skills walking on upside-down coconut shells threaded with string. The pupils were joined by Asian U students and staff.

In the auditorium the youngsters performed Thai dance, recited prose and poetry by Praya Sri Soonthorn Phu. The photos show some of the activities.

Retro Night for the 2007 Bye Nior

Elvis (Putt) and Chert
Nat sings!

Retro night: Asian U graduates’ farewell party. Sanz and First

This year’s Bye Nior (short for Goodbye Seniors) party was held on the evening of Saturday 5 May at the Asiawan Hotel in Naklua. This annual party is hosted by the third year students to give the fourth year graduating students a good send off. With tasty food, good company and plenty of entertainment, it was a very enjoyable evening.

Keith and King Jai of Retro

Students and staff dressed in 50s and 60s costumes to fit the Retro theme of the evening. The entertainment (by the students) and the music were mostly from the same era. Having just finished their end-of-year exams, the students relaxed and danced and sang and acted. Presentations were made to many of the fourth year students, and there were special sports trophies for some of the departing youngsters who had represented their university over the past four or five years.

Tee and Noi

An award for excellence (in basketball and other sports) was given to Tee, who has successfully taken part in many of the sporting activities as well as completing his engineering degree. Khun Panit, the University vice president, and two of the faculty Deans (Dr. Apichat and Ajarn Robert) gave very short speeches.

Apart from many of the current students, some Asian U alumni and others, who had only attended the University for a short time, came along to see their friends again.

The third year students are to be congratulated on arranging an excellent evening, and a special thanks to First (3rd year BA) who was a competent and entertaining MC.