Thammasat gets 5-star QS rating

 

“Thammasat University has reached the five-star level of internationalisation in the Quacquarelli Symonds’ assessment,” rector Somkid Lertpaitoon said last week. 

An international curriculum has been provided for all programmes in preparation for the Asean Community. It aims to increase foreign students and teachers to 20 per cent next year, Somkid, an associate professor, said.

The university plans to develop teaching curricula to support both Thai and English, as well as other international languages by cooperating bilaterally and multilaterally with more than 300 universities from 40 countries all over the world, including the US, Japan, China and Australia, as well as those in Europe and Asean.

There are student exchanges, research projects by teachers and other academic projects under the terms of this cooperation.

Students can transfer their credits if they are interested in courses not offered by the university.

Almost a hundred of the 300 curricula at Thammasat are international, English and bilingual – for law, medicine and engineering programmes at undergraduate level. At master’s level are international business, urban design and development programmes.

Quacquarelli Symonds has rules that the university must cooperate and do research with no less than 50 out of 500 universities approved by QS; no less than 25 per cent of all curricula must be international programmes, and no less than 20 per cent of students must come from other foreign institutions. Plus, the university must have facilities for foreign students, and personnel of various races. 

The university now has 1,400 students both full-curriculum and exchange, and more than 200 foreign teachers, he said.