Student Report
Name of the University:
Exchange semester:
Chulalongkorn
Fall 2014
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
I received the information package from Chulalongkorn on time, and the student advisor,
Thirawut emailed me updates with impressive frequency. There is no lack on information, and
he always answers your emails straight away.
Applying for a visa
The visa process is a bit time consuming and it’s necessary to do this as early as possible, but
not before 3 months before your departure to Thailand. You will then receive a 3 months
single entry visa that you need to either renew or go to the immigration office where you
could buy a multiple entry visa. The other possibility is to cross the border and receive a
tourist visa on arrival.
The initial visa that you buy in Norway costs 500 kroner and has to be paid in cash at the
embassy.
Travel
I bought the tickets to Bangkok at Norwegian.no, which had the lowest price options. I paid
between 2000 and 2500 NOK each way. It’s a good idea to check different dates to find the
cheapest tickets. Buy the tickets as early as possible to get the cheapest tickets. Norwegian
have direct flights from Oslo (Gardermoen) to Bangkok.
Housing
The BBA office has contact with three serviced apartment buildings, where most of the
student lives in hotel-like environment. These are Nonsi Residence, Evergreen Place and
Asoke Residence. All three places have swimming pool, gym and cleaning girls. At Nonsi
you can choose between an apartment by your self or for two or three and have your own
bedroom, while at Evergreen and Asoke you stay 4 in one apartment, and two and two have to
share bedroom. Evergreen is more central, but most of the exchange students stayed at Nonsi.
The BBA office will support you with the rest of the information. To stay at Nonsi cost you
12000 baht a month plus electricity. I stayed at Nonsi and I payed 18000 baht plus electricity
because I had my own apartment and I would never change. Nonsi is not located in the city
center, but its only a 10-15 minutes cabdrive to school and the big shopping malls.
Costs
The cost of living in Thailand is insanely low, books is about 700 baht each (150kr). A meal
in the school canteen is about 20-50 baht (4-10kr). If however you want some more exclusive
food, you could go the mall on campus and pay between 50-150 baht for some good food,
most of the restaurants there is Japanese or fusion. Food elsewhere is so cheap that you will
never have to cook yourself. There are restaurants all along most streets (street food is
extremely popular in Thailand) and it will cost you 40-200 baht per dish. International
restaurants are a lot more expensive, but still cheaper than in Norway. Also McDonalds is
quite expensive for Thais, but at 120 baht, or just over 20 kr for a Big Mac menu, it’s still
cheap.
Because Bangkok is such a big city, you will have to use transportation to get most places.
The traffic is furious most of the daytime, but there is easier way to get around. The BTS
Skytrain has two line and cost from 15-40 baht per trip. The MRT Subway has one line and
cost between 20-40 baht per trip. If you are more than 2 persons, it is usually cheaper with a
taximeter, which starts at 35 baht, and get you around most off the city for less than 100 baht.
A bit more dangerous, but faster way to get around is with a motorbike taxi. They are a bit
more expensive than a taxi, but can get through traffic a lot faster. If you are late for school,
it’s a good alternative. There are also tons of buses, but they are even slower. TUK-TUKs are
a bit faster than taxis, but many of the drivers will try to rip you off, don`t get into one without
agreeing a price in advance. They are usually a bit more expensive than taxis. I ended up
renting my own scooter and payed 3000 baht (600 NOK) per month.
Shopping is a big hobby for many Thais it seems, and you can find things to buy everywhere.
Some places you need to bargain hard, while other places it`s not usual to do so. Try not to
shop too much at places with a lot of tourists, because there the prices are naturally put higher.
Shops around Khao San Road can be cheap though. The weekend market, Chatuchak is one of
my favorites. Here you can find anything and the prices are not too bad. Some shops you can
bargain some, while in other shops you cannot. Platinum fashion mall is a big hit, there are
hundreds of small shops there and the prices aren`t bad. The upmarket shopping malls like
Central World and especially Paragon is for the rich, or HI-SO`s as the they are called in Thai.
Prices here are mostly on the same level as in Europe. Other markets not to miss are the night
market at Saphan Pud, and the gaming market at Saphan Lek. MBK is the most popular
shopping mall among tourists, but here it`s easy to get tricked, and the prices are almost
always higher for foreigners.
While in Thailand it`s essential to travel around the country. Best way to get around is by bus
or plane. AirAsia is definitely the cheapest airline. A bus ride to the southern part of the
country, like Krabi is around 500 baht, and to the islands on the eastern cost you will need to
pay about 150-300 baht depending on the class of the bus. VIP is the best class, with good
seats and TVs. The basic bungalows could go from anything between 300 and 1500 baht
depending on the season and the location.
Culture and language
Everything related to school will be in English so language is not a problem at school.
However, when going to a market or trying to tell the taxi driver where to go, language could
be a problem. Trying to learn some basic Thai words will make this a bit easier. Body
language is universal, and if you try to pick up things as you move along language will not be
a big problem for you. Thais are very helpful and will try to do as best they can to make you
happy.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Chulalongkorn University is located in the middle of Bangkok. It has a large campus on both
sides of Phaya Thai Road and is easy to access through public transportation. Next to the
Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy where I had most of my classes there is a shopping
mall called Chamchuree Square which is very popular among the students, under the mall
there is also a metro station. Chulalongkorn, or just Chula for short has faculties for anything
ranging from art to economy and the campus is divided so that each faculty has it’s own
building(s). North of Campus is the Siam area, one of the busiest areas in Bangkok with some
of the biggest shopping malls. This is where Evergreen Place is located.
The school has about 35000 students (23000 undergraduates and 12000 graduates). During
my semester we were over 100 exchange students.
Academic calendar
Arrival date:
First day of the semester:
Last day of classes:
Examination period:
Any special events/holidays:
7th August
13th August
23rd November
24th Nov – 5th Aug
There are two exam periods, one for midterms in the end of September and one for the finals
in November/December. There are no set holidays, but if your midterms are within a week,
you might get a week off. The same counts for the end of the semester when you might get a
week or two off before your finals. If you arrange courses according to which day of the week
they take place, you could end up with a long weekend. Many students do this.
Last day of the semester is in the beginning of December and depends on your exam schedule.
Arrival
All the exchange students got assigned to one or two buddies (like a Norwegian Fadder). I got
one signed, and she met me at the airport and helped me a lot the first week. They took me
around campus and helped me to buy the school uniform. This was helpful and very
welcoming.
The International Office
There is a BBA office at the faculty of Commerce and Accountancy. It`s open from 08.00 to
17.00 Monday to Friday. There is several persons working there to assist you, Thirawut
Sutabut is the contact person for the incoming exchange students. If there is anything you
want information about, just ask there.
Promoting BI and Norway
At the welcome party all incoming students will be asked to make a presentation on stage
about your country and university and present something relevant to our culture. I did the
presentation with the other exchange students from Scandinavia.
Social activities
The relationship you get with the other exchange students is very good. You get to know
people from all over the world. We were a big group of exchange students, and you get a lot
of close friends. I hanged out with mostly people from Nonsi since I lived there. We often
went out eating, drinking or traveling together, but people have different school schedule, and
all most everybody choose courses after how the timeline is set up, so people have school
from Monday – Wednesday or Wednesday – Friday. Basically, you probably will end up
travelling with people with same schedule as you.
You are free to join organizations at school such as football, aerobics and other cultural
things. Not many exchange students attended this kind of things as far as I know.
I travelled to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, as well as several destinations in Thailand
including the famous full-moon party at Koh Phangang, Koh Tao, Koh Lanta and Koh Phi Phi
among others. Travelling around Thailand and neighbouring countries is highly
recommended.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
All the teaching is done in English, which is fluently spoken, by professors and students.
Compared to BI there is more case work and presentations. The final exams are usually not
counting more than 25-30 %. This makes you work more evenly throughout the semester
rather than just the last two weeks before the exam. Teaching is as much practical as
theoretical and perhaps not as academic as at BI. The cases and presentations will be done in
groups, so pick a good group to work with early. There`s usually a lot of humor and goodwill
in the classroom, so don`t be scared to take the word.
Course materials
The literature is in English and on pair with the one you find in Norway. In some classes,
handouts are the only required literature though.
Exams
There is both midterm and final exams, where the curriculum is split in two. Exams could be
both written or given as a multiple choice.
A course was normally evaluated by a midterm (30%), final exam (30%), class
participation/in-class quizzes (20%) and group work/presentations (20%)
Library and technology
The library is easy to access and open for exchange students, but you need to login before
entering. Same counts for the computer rooms. Remember to wear full uniform when going to
the library.
Information from school will be sent by mail, or through the IT program Blackboard.
Description of courses
I got a lot of information about different course from Thirawut in good advanced time to
choose; also you can change your courses during the first two weeks.
2604361 Business Finance
Goals of financial management, techniques used in financial analysis, financial planning and
control, working capital management, capital budgeting, longterm financing, cost of capital
and capital structure. The evaluation was two written exams who counted for 33% each, one
group work 20%, and the remaining was in-class quizzes.
2602416 Business Strategy
Strategy and long-range planning; strategy formulating process; social, economic and political
factors affecting strategy, role of a manager as an implementer of strategy. The evaluation in
this course was one exam who counted for 50%, one presentation who counted for 20% and
the remaining 30% was a simulation game online.
2601123 Intermediate Accounting
Cash and internal control; recognition and valuation of receivables; estimation of bad debts;
investments ; recognition and valuation of inventory; recognition, valuation, and deposition of
fixed assets, natural resources, and intangible assets; depreciation, depletion, amortization;
current liabilities; long-term debts; stockholders’ equity ; retained earnings. The evaluation
here was just two exams, bot written and multiple choice, and counted for 50% each.
2601224 Managerial Accounting
Roles of accounting in management; cost concepts and classifications; product costing; job
costing; process costing; activity-based costing; full costing and variable costing; costvolume-profit analysis; analysis of costs for decision making; standard costing and variance
analysis; budgeting; responsibility accounting and performance evaluation. The evaluation
was two exams who counted for 40% each and the remaining 20% was homework and inclass quizzes and participation,
2604362 Personal Finance
A finance class. Highly recommended. Learned a lot about how to deal with your own
finances. The evaluation here was just the two exams. The mid-term was written and counted
for 50% of the grade, so did the final exam which was multiple choice.