Graduate Study in Thailand

leductony@yahoo.com 09/19

Hi Group,

I have a friend who is moving to Thailand for work.

She is interested in continuing her education. She

speaks some Thai but will probably need more language

training. Can anyone tell me if there is a good

graduate anthropology (master/Ph.D.) program in

Thailand , particularly Bangkok ? I would appreciate any

information. Thanks for your help!

regards,

Anthony

Off-topic for the list, but there is no Thai university that offers a Ph.D.

in Anthropology--so several Thai are now pursuing Ph.D.s in Hanoi . Several

of the first-tier Bangkok universities offer M.A. degrees in Anthro

(Chulalongkorn, Thammasat, Silpakorn, etc.) - depending on her interests she

might also want to pursue an area studies track or cultural studies track

(as for instance at Mahidol). Chula has an English-language M.A. in

Southeast Asian Studies (http://www.seachula.com/). Outside of Bangkok,

there are anthropology departments at most of the major universities, but

whether or not they offer a degree called "anthropology" at the M.A. level

would require place-by-place research.

Best,

Frank Proschan

Dear all,

As one of the few Thai specialists who is also a member of VSG, let me

clarify some things about post-grad study in Thailand , especially with

regard to anthropology.

First, it is not true that no Thai university offers a PhD in

anthropology -- Chiang Mai University does and actually has a couple of

students from outside of Thailand . It would be receptive to an application

from an American student and if anyone is interested, I can provide contact

information. There are also PhD programs in anthopology-sociology at

Ramhkhamhaeng University in Bangkok and one in Thai studies (which subsumes

anthropology) at Mahasarakham University in NE Thailand , but both programs

are in Thai. The Ramkhamhaeng one is not very strong, in my opinion. The one

at Mahasarakham is headed by Dr. Chayan Vaddhanaphuti, long at Chiang Mai

University . It has one student from Vietnam who took an MA -- in Thai -- at

Thammasat; there is also a Lao in this program.

Mahidol University at Salaya very near Bangkok offers an MA program

headed by Dr. Ratana Boonmathaya, who holds a PhD from the University of

Washington , and she has told me they are planning to open a PhD program. The

program uses both English and Thai. Ratana's email address is

daengrawee@yahoo.com. Although as Frank notes, there is an MA in SEA studies

at Chula in English, I do not know of any other MA programs at universities

in Bangkok that are in English.

There is an exccellent English-language MA program in development

studies at Chiang Mai University . This program has had many students from

Vietnam , Cambodia , Laos , and China , as well as a few native-English speakers

from the UK , US, and Australia . I can, again, provide more details if anyone

is interested.

Biff

Charles Keyes