Week Four Print Story 2 : Asian Institute of Technology

Feature Article on Education in Thailand – The Education Hub of South-East Asia

A Day at the Asian Institute of Technology
By Bruce

Pathumthani - Walking around the campus at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), I did not think that I was in Thailand. The ambiance is very international as more than thirty nationalities are represented by the student body and faculty members combined. I could hear people speaking in Vietnamese, Chinese, Mongolian, Hindi and many other tongues that I could not recognize. Of course, the lingua franca here is English, the international language that connects and unites all these students together.

Mr. Matt Laski, the Director of AIT’s Language Center said that most of the students enrolled here are scholarship recipients and many have never been outside their own countries.

“Many come here on some sort of financial aid. The problem is that many do not have the required English language proficiency, so they encounter a great deal of problems as they cannot understand the instructor in their classes” Mr. Laszewski explained.

“It is my job to help them adjust to their new learning environment,” he added.

One particular student, Nguyen Chanh Nghiem, a Masters degree candidate from Vietnam is studying Gender and Development Studies.

“ It was rather lucky that I had some information about AIT from my seniors. AIT is a good place to be at since it provides the multi-cultural environment and much knowledge that will benefit me a great deal” she explained.

Ms. Nghiem would like to go back to Vietnam and become a university lecturer, and she believes that AIT is the perfect place for her to prepare for her chosen career.

“For example, I learned from my professors, their styles of giving lectures and presentation. I addition, I know a bit more about the way to stimulate students. In general, working and studying with professors help me to be a good lecturer in the future” she said.

AIT is extremely well regarded and popular among students from South-East Asia and the South Asia sub-continent, as the school specializes only in training post-graduate students and focuses on specialized fields of studies, such as Waste Water Management and Paper and Pulp Technology, fields that are in high demand in many developing Asian countries.

As tuition fees are over $25,000 US per program, students from developing countries must rely on the generous financial support of various governments and foundations. This includes the Asia Scholarship Foundation, the Netherlands’s Ministry for Development Cooperation and the Royal Thai Government’s Scholarship programs.

Mr. Laski added “many students find the experience here to be very rich and fulfilling, as they leave with friends from all over Asia and really learn from one another. As a teacher here, I certainly have gained some wonderful insight. ”

While the studies here are very intense, with numerous assignments and field trips, many students still manage to attend some Thai language classes and meet some of the local people.

“I want to learn as much about Thailand, my host country, as possible while I am here. This is a great school and I feel so luck to be here,” Ms. Nghiem concluded the interview with a big smile.

The Asian Institute of Technology’s website is http://www.ait.ac.th/ and the Institute is currently accepting students for programs commencing in March 2007.