Thailand

Thailand: Beyond the Classroom

Summer Field Study

Students who are accepted to participate in the spring and summer or year and summer field study programs, take a course on Thai rural development offered by the Economics Faculty in the spring semester. It is followed by a summer field study in which students go as a group to a village to work and study. In preparation for that field work, students also take basic Thai language during the spring term (unless they already speak Thai).

The summer field study course has two components:

physically working with the villagers
preparing an academic project, such as an analysis of the effectiveness of a particular program, based on qualitative and quantitative study of rural conditions in terms of demography, economy, society, and future potential

The village chosen for the study varies from year to year and may be located anywhere from two to eight hours from Bangkok. Students live with villagers and are welcome to join the family at meals.

The summer field study is expected to earn 9.5 UC quarter units. It is graded on the pass/no pass basis only. Students who are interested in the field should discuss their interest with their campus EAP adviser when applying for the Thailand program.

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