You are on page 1of 17

ACTIVITY REPORT

ASEAN INTERNATIONAL MOBILITY FOR STUDENTS (AIMS)


PROGRAM

ANDY HARTONO
Department Of Food Science and Technolgy
Faculty Of Agricultural Engineering and Technology
Bogor Agricultural University

Host University:
Kasetsart University
Thailand

DIRECTORATE OF LEARNING AND STUDENT AFFAIRS


MINISTRY OF RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY, AND HIGHER EDUCATION
REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
2018
A. PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Kasetsart University (Thai: มหาวิทยาลัยเกษตรศาสตร์ ; rtgs: Mahawitthayalai Kasetsat) (KU) is


a public university in Thailand. It is ranked in the 651-700 tranche in the QS World University
Rankings 2015/16. Kasetsart is also ranked 29 in Agriculture and Forestry around the world in
the QS World University Rankings 2017. It was the first agricultural university and the third
oldest university in Thailand. It was established on 2 February 1943, to promote subjects
related to agricultural science. Since then, Kasetsart University has expanded its subject areas
to cover economics, business administration, veterinary medicine, engineering, science, social
sciences, humanities, education, and architecture. Kasetsart University is in Chatuchak District,
Bangkok, and now has four campuses, with an enrolment of approximately 67.000 students. It
is the largest university in Thailand.
The AIMS Program in KU is under the Department of Tropical Agriculture, Faculty of
Agriculture. There are 42 AIMS Program participants in total, which are from Indonesia,
Malaysia and Japan. Participants from Indonesia are 11 students. The academic semester
started on August 1st, 2018 and will end on December 15th, 2018. The activities for AIMS
Program participants are divided into few categories: academic courses, international
community activities held by International Studies Center, and student club activities. Common
courses can be registered in from any departments that offer courses delivered in English
language. International activities are organized by International Studies Center to
accommodate participants to learn more about Thai culture and also to exchange culture from
other countries. The activities that have been held so far are food fair, national costume and
dance contest, cooking class and field trips to various cultural sites and landmarks. Student
club activities are activities organized by student clubs ranging from sport, music, art and
religion activities.

B. ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES

There are four courses taken from 4 different departments with 12 credits in total. The
courses are Confectionery Technology, Food Marketing, Agro-industrial Product Innovation
Process, and Marketing for Agri-enterprises.

Course Type Credit Department


Bakery Technology Lecture and 3 Food Science and Technology
Laboratory

Food Marketing Lecture 3 Agro-industrial Technology Management


(Graduate School)
Thai Conversation in Lecture 3 Humanity
Everyday Life

Introduction of Tropical Lecture 3 Agriculture


Agriculture

Total Credit 12
C. BENEFITS OF ACTIVITIES

As student mobility program is believed to be very effective to give opportunity to more


insights and new perspectives on the global community, so does AIMS Program. This program
has provided me with many new perspectives on how to grasp the opportunity in global
community. Through this program, I have learned many new soft skills, hard skills and ideas
that I believe will be useful for me to develop my community and country. Academic
knowledge, cultural knowledge, language skill and social network are ones of the benefits from
this program.
1. Academic knowledge
Academic knowledge is gained through courses provided by the university. Here, I
learned new knowledge and skill on how to produce and judge the quality of confectionery
products, how to start new innovation on agricultural product and start entrepreneurship,
how to market food products and agricultural products.
2. Cultural knowledge
Living in another country means interacting with new culture. Here in Thailand, there
are so many interesting aspects that can be learned from the culture, such as the courtesy of
the people, pride in the culture, honor to the kings, and many more.
3. Language skill
Through this program, I met with a lot of people from another countries such as Japan,
Malaysia, Vietnam and many more. English is the main language used to communicate in
this community and basic Thai language is needed to communicate with local people,
therefore this provided me opportunity to hone my English skill and learn Thai language. I
also learned a little about Japanese language since most of my friends here are Japanese.
4. Social Network
With many new friends from another countries in one place, it was a very great
opportunity to expand my social network into an international network and learn more about
each other.

D. FUNDING RESOURCE

The main funding resource are from Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher
Education. Academic, field trips, and student activities are funded by Kasetsart University.

E. PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

1. Language
Language is the main problem throughout this program. Most local students are cannot really
speak in English, therefore I found it so hard to communicate and have a conversation. Also, a
lot of local places and signs across Bangkok use written Thai language and local people can
barely speak English. International Studies Center provided basic Thai language courses once
or twice in a month, even though it was very basic and short courses, but it was very helpful.
Local students with good English skill also taught me basic Thai language.
2. Financial
Even though foods and transportation are affordable in here, but accommodation and visa fee
are very expensive. For accommodation, it was about THB 3500/month and for visa fee it was
about THB 4570 in total. The expense for the first month was very high since students had to
buy uniforms and necessities for dormitory room. To save money, cooking in the dorm was
preferred.
3. Church
It was very hard to find church with service delivered in English. There are only churches with
Thai language service near campus. The nearest church with English service takes 2 hours to
reach and the transportation is quite expensive. Because of this, I used my church’s live-
streaming service from Indonesia.

F. RECCOMENDATION

It is better if Kasetsart University could provide basic Thai language course for all
AIMS Program participants on a weekly basis to help students learn Thai language faster. Also,
it would be better if the funding can be increased with the accommodation expense taken into
consideration.

G. TESTIMONIAL

AIMS Program has provided me with very valuable experience through this mobility.
I learned many new knowledge and skills. Also, this program gave me opportunity to expand
my network by making new friends from other countries. More than that, through this program,
I learned how to explore and develop myself into more open-minded person who is willing to
keep learning.

H. EXPENDITURE

Cost
No Expense
THB IDR
st
1 Visa (1 ) - 1.120.000
2 Visa (2nd) 1.900 798.000
3 Air Asia ticket from Jakarta-Bangkok + baggage - 1.366500
4 Air Asia ticket from Bangkok-Jakarta + baggage 5.065 1.475.600
5 Dormitory (5 months) 18000 7.560.000
6 Health insurance - 1.200.000
7 Living cost 33.000 13.860.000
Total 27.692.300
*conversion rate THB 1= IDR 420 (average)
ATTACHMENTS

Activity photos

a. Field Trip to Fishery Station in Chonburi Province

b. Loy Krathong (Water Goddess) Festival

c. AIMS Participants from Indonesia


d. AIMS Students Inauguration

e. Field Trips AIMS


f. Bakery Laboratory

Expenditure invoices

You might also like