On Monday, 30 May 2010, studyinthailand.org paid the International College at Khon Kaen University an unannounced visit in the morning at 10am. Coming without an appointment is not considered very polite in Thailand, but from our experience it's the only way to get to see reality.
Warmly welcomed by two members of the office staff (who both spoke English very well, one of them even perfectly), I was instantly shown around in a short tour that led me to the deputy dean of the International College, Dr. Narin Jaroensubphayanont. Quickly served with coffee and water, he enjoyed a longer chat on the challenges one faces when building up an international program, as opposed to a mere English program (the normal Thai program just taught in English). With his energy and state of the art approaches, meeting him was sure already worth the effort of paying KKUIC a visit.
Dr. Narin quickly arranged a meeting the same day with the dean of the international college, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yupin Techamanee, and the dean for academic affairs, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kamoltip Brown. Dr. Kamoltip and Dr. Narin are obviously cut from the same cloth, and they left me surprised about the amount of energy and good ideas put into building up the international college.
The International College is located on the 8th and 9th floor of a quite new building, one of the very few high risers on the huge campus of Khon Kaen University. The scenic view sure explaines the university's claim to be the greenest campus in Thailand.
KKUIC took in its first students just two years ago and has now about 200 students enrolled, several of them of Chinese nationality.
When leaving KKUIC after an all around enjoyable visit, I shared the elevator with two foreign KKUIC students from Bhutan and Denmark. When I asked the Danish student how he learned about this college, his answer was the icing on the cake: From studyinthailand.org.
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