On Wednesday 14 August 2019, the Thammasat University Library welcomed the TU Faculty of Social Policy and Development (SPD) International Program for a tour of the Pridi Banomyong Library. The SPD International Program is at the TU Faculty of Social Administration. The TU Library owns several books on many teaching areas of social policy and development, including the theory and practice of social policy; social problems and social change; social entrepreneurship; and comparative social welfare.

TU is a well-known center for development studies, also offering the Puey Ungphakorn School of Development Studies (PSDS), formerly called the Graduate Volunteer Center. PSDS is one of Thailand’s outstanding higher education institutes, offering multi-level programs in Thai language for undergraduate and graduate students in development studies, contemporary community development, corporate social responsibility (CSR), social enterprise management, and volunteer management.

According to its website, the SPD programme

is an international Bachelor of Arts programme. The curriculum will last for four years and all courses are entirely taught in English. The programme was launched in 2013 with one mission: “To prepare tomorrow’s decision-makers.” We prepare our students to work for non-governmental organisations (NGOs), charities, international organisations, academia or the public sector by training them to social agents who are aware of today’s problems and tomorrow’s solutions. 

Our values and philosophy
      The SPD team consists of experienced and innovative academics both from Thailand and abroad. These diverse lecturers and foreign experts ensure that students are exposed to a wide range of approaches and worldviews so that each can find one which fits each students’ expectations. At the core of SPD values are open-mindedness, critical thinking and intellectual rigour. SPD programme’s formation aims at keeping in touch with the demand of the job market and emerging social trends. To ensure that no significant gaps exist between the curriculum and the professional world, the SPD team has established extensive public and private partnerships with different professional social agents in Thailand. Students are given frequent opportunities to meet and discuss with experts of various social issues during lectures or special seminars organized every semester, as well as during mandatory or optional internships.

Ten reasons are offered for choosing the SPD programme:

Why join the SPD ?

The SPD is an international bachelor’s programme at Thammasat University. The programme is entirely taught in English and is open to both Thai and foreign students. Our current full-time foreign students come from Bhutan, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Malaysia, Myanmar, Japan, Taiwan, and the Republic of Korea. We prepare our students to work for non-governmental organisations (NGOs), charities, international organisations, academia or the public services by training them to become decision-makers who are aware of today’s problems and tomorrow’s solutions.

1. This programme is the only international BA programme focusing on social policy and development of its kind in Asia…
2. Join a truly interdisciplinary programme…
3. Thammasat University is consistently ranked as one of the top universities in Thailand…
4. Boost your future career prospects…
5. Benefit from the world-class expertise and international experience of top-lecturers, researchers and administrators from academe and industry in an international environment…
6. Take advantage of the exciting partnerships SPD has with universities and organisations all over the world… 
7. Build a strong foundation in English language skills for success on the programme and beyond…
8. Make friends for life in a highly diverse student population…
9. Study in an inspiring environment…
10. Become a part of a proud and influential history of cultivating leaders…

Leading the group of students for the library tour on 14 August was Ajarn Sorasich Swangsilp, a specialist in political science, language and politics, international relations, and international development. Ajarn Sorasich earned a PhD in Southeast Asian studies at the National University of Singapore after receiving a master’s degree in governance of the institutions and the organizations (international cooperation and development) at the Bordeaux Institute of Political Studies attached to the Montesquieu University – Bordeaux IV, France.

He also received a master’s degree in political science (European studies) from the Grenoble Institute of Political Studies.

Before then, Ajarn Sorasich studied political science at Chulalongkorn University, majoring in international relations. His PhD thesis was on the localisation of global words and Thailand’s foreign policy formation and practices. His dissertation examined

the shaping of Thai foreign policy through the movement of language, in particular, three clusters of foreign keywords: development/communism; regional cooperation/strategic partnership; and environment/sustainable development/human security. The thesis argues language shapes policy imaginaries through the process of localization in which global words interconnect and negotiate with local ideas in shaping Thailand’s foreign policy behavior. This approach is used to analyze three different cases: a) American development assistance to the Northeast of Thailand since 1951; b) Thailand’s claim to regional leadership in the beginning of the twentieth first century; and c) a shift of Thailand’s overseas development assistance toward sustainability in the same period…

As an example of special accomplishments of SPD students, last month SPD student Zayyar Nanda published an article about repatriated Myanmar refugees in The Nation newspaper. The student had spent a summer internship reporting for The Nation about Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand, foreign investment in Myanmar, and Myanmar refugee camps on the Thai-Myanmar border. His atmospheric article began: 

Living in a refugee camp near the Myanmar-Thailand border for 11 years was no good, but returning home with no job is not any better, says former refugee Lagon Eain as he prepares to open a stall on the outskirts of Yangon amid pouring rain. 

It’s the start of a new life for the former refugee since February who regrets the repatriation programme did not offer him the chance to reintegrate into Myanmar society.

Under the United Nations High lCommissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) arrangement, Lagon Eain was among 500 people in the third batch of refugees who voluntarily returned to Myanmar under the Thailand-Myanmar agreement.

“They told us we will be moved to a different housing complex in two months. That was two months ago. The biggest problem we are facing now is that no efforts are being made to help us have a regular income. As we are now living as temporary residents, we cannot set up a permanent business. There is also no training or employment opportunities provided to us,” he said.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)