richard10365

If you really want to improve your English and make new friends, enroll in an international program in a university.
ic.payap.ac.th
200+ undergrads studying in 1 of 4 international degree programs using English as the medium of communication. 95% are in your age range. PM me for more details.
Classes start June 5th!

I think you should look at Nakorn Payap again. Their fees are the lowest for a Non-Christian school. I calculated about, 240,000/year but I might have missed something.
http://www.nis.ac.th/

Check out this school. It might be an option that would work for you.
http://www.yupparajep.net/about/

Bruce, I do feel like I might have been too pessimistic about your school. I apologize and wish you the best of luck.

Hello Bruce and everyone. My apologies for not responding sooner. I've been a bit busy.

The original post asked for opinions about the program and based on the Thongsook website I gave my opinion. Much of my concerns about Thongsook comes from the Thongsook website. To me, the website is vague and if it were more specific we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. Most of my concerns and the concerns of others could easily be eliminated by updating the website. In fact, your enrollment might increase. Also, these are my opinions based on my experience alone.

About what I said,

• Accreditation by the Ministry of Education (MOE). It's not there.
  
  • ​State ran universities usually don't have to prove their are legit but the private ones should say something like "Thongsook International is fully accredited by the government of Thailand" or something like that. The statement "Thongsook College was established as a private institution of higher education" doesn't say that. It makes people question the value of the degree they will walk away with after they finish their studies. In fact, this is how this thread got started.

• Prerequisites to enroll are usually mentioned on university websites that are accredited. These prerequisites are the same all over Thailand. A high school diploma, M6 diploma, GED, or in the case of their Masters Degree, they should ask for a bachelors degree. I didn't see that either.
  
  • ​This is something I would look for to make sure the people who are studying higher education have actually completed the prerequisites to actually study there. Now I haven't looked at every university in Thailand but I am willing to bet on most them, the prerequisites are there. If prerequisites are not there it makes me think they will take anyone. Having prerequisites on a website adds a bit of legitimacy to the university and says we have basic standards. Once again, without it, it makes people wonder about the value of the degree you get from the university.

• The website say their MBA is not yet approved by the MOE.
  
  • ​This is very confusing to me and while it is terribly honest, it makes me think that this degree is not approved. So why should I study it? If it is approved, why have the statement there at all. If it's not approved, why list the MBA as a course? It's just confusing.

• Information about the teaching staff and their education and research credentials. Most accredited universities have something.
  
  • ​It would help to add a bit more about your educators and their research. This is more true for your graduate programs as mature students have more of a tendency to judge a program based on what they read about who is teaching it.

I do think that Thailand is an awesome country to study in. Perhaps going to the USA or the UK has it's benefits for Thai students, but foreign students learning a program such as International Business Management, using English as the medium of instruction, in a country where English is not the native language does provide incredible insight to concepts that students in the USA or UK could never imagine. Graduates from international programs in Thailand are more equipped to function internationally than most grads from the USA.

There are many different international programs in Thailand taught by many different universities. From the far south of Thailand to the middle in Bangkok and far north in Chiang Rai, these programs are only getting better as the outside ASEAN influence helps to create the conditions for positive change and clear direction for quality higher education. Thailand is changing and education along with it. I hope Thongsook prospers and does well in the future. There is more than 60 million people in Thailand and they all can't study at one university. Private and government, there is plenty of room for everyone. I hope in the future Thailand will have a reputation that students from around the world consider when searching for their higher education needs.