Application process
The application and enrollment at the university went smoothly. MicroEDU will send you a list of the documents you will need for your application. You will need to collect all of the documents and send them to MicroEDU. MicroEDU will take care of submitting the application documents and communicating with the university for you. Obviously it takes some time to put all the documents together, but it wasn’t complicated and it’s worth it.
Education
According to iamaccepted, the Mahidol University is one of the three most prestigious universities in the country. Nevertheless, I did not find the course extremely demanding. I learned a lot, but never had the feeling that I didn’t understand anything more or less directly. Since many Thais work alongside the university, the lectures take place during the week in the evening or on the weekend. Almost half of the assignments consist of group work, which takes some getting used to.
Occupied courses
I have taken four courses:
MGMG697 Thematic Paper Consulting Practice (Employee Selection)
This course was given by a Thai who speaks good English. The course only lasted half the semester and I liked it a lot. The lecturer was very dedicated and human. The course can be classified as a personnel lecture with the focus on selecting the right employees. The course is relatively time-consuming, since smaller group presentations have to be prepared for each lecture or there is a lot to read, but as I said, it only lasted half the semester. Clear recommendation!
MGMG562 Introduction to Business Planning
The course was given by a motivated American trying to instill entrepreneurship in his students. The course felt very unstructured and the lecturer gave us a lot of freedom as to how the given tasks should be processed. Often you only know in retrospect why he organizes the lessons the way he does. In my opinion, a clear recommendation if you are ready to get involved.
MGMG605 Project Management
The lecturer is Thai and has a PhD in the USA. Good entry into project management. In my opinion, group assignment has little to do with project management and the evaluation seems quite arbitrary.
MGMG658 Cross-Cultural Management
The lecturer is a committed Austrian with very good English. The course was very interesting and I learned a lot. However, it was also quite time-consuming, as many assignments and group work had to be done over the semester. Recommended for people who want to deal with the cultural differences of different nationalities and their effects on the business world.
On-site support
The on-site support is very good. A dedicated employee of the university is available to the exchange students almost day and night to answer questions. Your responsiveness is really incredible. There are three introductory days in which you get to know the university and visit some sights together and learn something about the country and its people.
Accommodation search
The search for accommodation can take some time, but in my opinion it should still be approached on site. If you have the opportunity to fly to Bangkok 1-2 weeks before the start of the semester, you have enough time to look for an apartment in one of the many condos on site. The offer is large and on site you then roughly know in which area you would like to spend the next few months. For € 350-400 including utilities, you can get very nice apartments of western standard. I stayed at Casa Condo and I can absolutely recommend this house. DDproperty. com is a good address for looking for an apartment.
Leisure and excursion possibilities
The leisure activities in Bangkok are almost unlimited, you will definitely not get bored. Traveling in Thailand or Southeast Asia is often very spontaneous and usually cheap.
General do’s and don’ts
You should definitely eat in the street food stalls. The food can easily keep up with that in the restaurants and costs only a fraction. There are various markets and sky bars in Bangkok that you should visit. If you have the opportunity to travel through Thailand before or after the semester, you should definitely do so!
What you should avoid are any political comments or derogatory remarks about the royal family, there are high penalties. If Thais (mostly tuk-tuk drivers) address you in reasonably good English, you should always be a little careful. Most of the time they want to drive you somewhere overpriced, sell you something that you don’t need or otherwise pull the money out of your pocket.
Conclusion
Warm, delicious cheap food and beautiful nature, Thailand is a great country to travel to. I am absolutely not a city dweller and can still absolutely recommend Bangkok for a semester abroad. A blatant city that you can only really get to know after a few weeks. However, it is not for everyone and you should think about what you are getting yourself into beforehand. If you have had enough of the city, there are countless opportunities to go out into nature for 1 or 2 days. All in all, it was a crazy time with lots of great experiences. It’s a bit of a shame that it’s over again!
