Experience Report MUIC – Trimester 1 2024
Freemover Exchange - Autumn Semester
11th of September – 13th of December 2024
Tom Pieter Weltevreden (tompieter.weltevreden@student.unisg.ch)
Bachelor of Business Administration
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1 Introduction
With so many exchange universities to choose from it can be difficult to decide for one. But
my decision for this university actually went quite easy. My expectation of this university
was that it would allow me to do a deep dive in all of Asia’s rich culture and landscapes,
while still enjoying some standard of quality education. If that worked out, you ask? You will
find out in this experience report.
2 Information Host University
2.1 Host university
The university is located in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom. It is around 40 minutes from the
Bangkok with the Taxi.
Mahidol University (MU) is the most prestigious university in Thailand for a few different
subjects, which mostly center around medicine. The International College (MUIC), which
also includes the business faculty is younger and thus also yet less prestigious in Thailand.
But this does not mean that the standard of the faculty is low! The campus of Mahidol is
huge, having many different faculties, sports facilities, and roads. The building of the
international college is very nice and modern, with its open design it allows for some great
studying, while being semi-outside.
Students are well supported by the exchange office (A244), which not only helps with issues
concerning courses, accreditation, visa, immigration, but also with fostering ideas regarding
engagement at the university. Additionally, the university assigned each exchange student a
“buddy”. This was a local Thai student, which could help you if you had questions and
befriend.
MUIC has around 3’000 students, of which during my term abroad there were around 200
exchange students.
2.2 Academics
The classes at MUIC, really remind of high school. Each class has a maximum of 40
students, and you’re sat in a small classroom each time. Attendance is compulsory in all
classes, and you can miss 4 without repercussions. The attendance is strictly controlled by
most professors, only few either don’t mind at all, or are lenient with the repercussions of
missing too many classes. Also, in contrast to HSG, the grading is based on many different
evaluation criteria such as papers, midterms AND finals, attendance, and quizzes.
While this may sound very time consuming and strict, you will see later, that this system still
left more than enough room for outside activities, such as travelling, if you play it right.
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ICBE 371 Strategic Choices of Consumers and Firms with Isabela Rodrigues
➔ credited as Micro II – 5.5 ETCS
I recommend this course if you need to do Micro II at HSG still. The course has a big group
project and a midterm, as the main evaluation methods. The group project requires time, but is
totally doable, if you push your group to do things early (especially you need to push the Thai
students..). The midterm was alright, but considering the time you need to put in to study for
it, it is much better than at HSG. About the professor: She was quite strict. She cares about the
dress code a lot (unlike all other profs) and she cares about attendance a lot. But nothing you
wouldn’t survive.
ICBE 372 World Economy with Yingyot Chiaravutthi
➔ credited as Macro II – 5.5. ETCS
I recommend this course if you haven’t done Macro II at HSG yet. The evaluation is made up
by two main parts, the midterm and the final. If you understand Macro I at HSG, you’re good
to go to pass this one too. The professor was quite funny, and lenient. He doesn’t really care
about attendance, only deducing small percentage points from the grade, if you don’t show up
a lot of times, but nothing significant enough.
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ICMB215 Business Finance for Entrepreneurs with Sirithida Chaivisuttangkun
➔ credited as Corporate Finance – 5.5 ECTS
I recommend this course if you haven’t done Corporate Finance at HSG yet. Corporate Finance
is supposed to be one of the hardest classes at HSG, so doing it here was one of my priorities.
I made a good choice, because although the class was hard in comparison to the others, it was
still very doable. The evaluation is based mainly on a group project, a midterm and a final. The
group project, just like in Micro II is based on how good your team members are. My Thai
team members were not very motivated or good, so that led to me getting an average grade for
that, but I was able to save it with the final. You must study, but you will be rewarded for it.
The professor cares about attendance, so do show up on the required times.
ICGS113 Perspectives on Thai Past with Matthew Copeland
➔ credited as Elective – 5.5 ECTS
This class was very nice and easy. The professor didn’t mind attendance, so I just did the
assignments from home. The main parts of evaluation here are the weekly reading, midterm
paper and final paper.
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3 Practical Information
3.1 Preparation before Departure
You can apply to the exchange program at MUIC, through their website. You have to apply to
“visiting student”, and need the documents which are listed on their website. Additionally, the
student exchange office of MUIC is very helpful, if you have any questions during the
application process. Feel free to email them a lot, or also feel free to email me, if you have any
questions.
3.2 Visa and Immigration
You will need to apply for a non-immigrant ED visa. The process takes up to two weeks, and
can vary in length, so plan ahead. The documents you need, you can also find on the website
of the Thai Embassy.
3.3 Living Arrangements
Most students all live in the same street, called Soi Tang Sin. There are many student
accommodations there, including September Salaya, Bundit House/Home, and Salaya One.
Most people are in either one of those three. I chose Bundit House and found this was the
liveliest one. The rooms are nothing crazy, and they kind of look like hotel rooms. This means
there is no kitchen, but don’t worry, you won’t want to cook anyways with a huge variety of
meals for as little as 1 CHF right in front of your door. Furthermore, Bundit has a swimming
pool, a big gym, laundry options and a great reception, which was very helpful with many
inquiries from my side. The best part: it only costs around 7000 THB per month, which
calculates to around 185 CHF.
I recommend Bundit Home/House for the whole package of benefits it has to offer.
3.4 Finances
As I said the accommodation will cost you around 200 CHF per month, plus food for around
250 CHF per month, coming out to 550 CHF.
Of course, if you choose this university, you will want to travel, so make a budget for that too.
It totally depends on where you travel and how luxurious or budget backpacking you want to
go.
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4 Host Country
4.1 Culture
The Thai people are the kindest people in all of Asia. They will help you everywhere and
anytime. I never felt judged for being tourist or looked down upon by Thai locals.
Which brings me to the topic of safety. Thailand is a very safe country, but each country has
its bad people. There are some parts of Bangkok, where you have to be aware of dangers, one
such place is Khaosan road. I have heard a story of a gun-point robbery at that party street
during the night, so be on the watch out in areas like that. But other than those places, you
don’t have to worry at all. Thailand is generally safe for men and woman alike.
4.2 Travel Opportunities
To come to the main part of this exchange (at least for me), the travelling! I chose this university
particularly for its location in the centre of southeast Asia. Its perfectly located to travel
anywhere cheaply and quickly.
My first and longest travel was 2.5 months prior to the start of the exchange term. I flew into
Bangkok end of June (two days after my last exam!), and started my backpacking journey,
going from the North of Thailand to Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and back to the South of
Thailand, making a full circle. This was one of the most crazy and amazing experiences I have
ever had in my entire life. I made countless friends, memories and seen so many sides of
southeast Asia in this time.
During the semester (trimester), my travelling didn’t stop. Along with other exchange students
(Spanish, Canadian, American, Dutch, etc), which I met during the orientation day, I travelled
each weekend starting from the first one, up until the last weekends, sometimes even skipping
a week of uni when possible. This allowed me to travel, to countless places in Thailand, and
all these other countries: Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and China.
This exchange allowed me to not only do a deep dive into Thai culture, but also explore so
many other Asian countries alongside it, making this a huge personal development and
broadening my horizon of so many things. I can only recommend this wholeheartedly to
anyone having that same urge to see the world and travel as me.
If you are worried about choosing a prestigious university over Mahidol, look at where you
are. You are at the University of St. Gallen the best business university in the DACH region.
Enjoy this exchange semester and utilize the experiences and personal development in your
future career. For me I grew a lot socially, in terms of being more confident, outspoken and
open to many different types of people. This will most definitely be of much benefit in my
future career path.
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5 Social Life
5.1 Extracurricular Activities
In terms of clubs as we know them at HSG, there is only little to be found of it here. They
have one investment club, and one consulting club. The other clubs are more “fun” clubs,
such as an art club, dance club, etc etc. I tried to enter the investment and consulting club, but
they would only accept full-time students. So, no luck here.
5.2 Social Connections
In terms of social connections, don’t worry. I was a bit worried at first, to not find any friends
at Mahidol, coming to the exchange semester mostly alone, knowing only a few
acquaintances from HSG. But that soon diminished, as the orientation day came around, I
immediately heard someone speak Dutch, talked to some Spanish guys and made friends with
the very socially open Americans. Most of the HSG students stuck together but coming from
what I experienced during my backpacking in hostels, I wanted to try the route of making
new friends from other countries and chose to not hang out too much with HSG students.
Concerning Thai students, they were friendly but still a bit closed off. My buddy was nice
and brought us partying once, but that’s pretty much it.
Concluding, don’t worry. You’ll make tons of friends. Everyone is very open and keen to
hang out and travel.
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6 Overall Evaluation
This was one of the best periods of my life, probably the best up until now. I say go for it.
The university doesn’t really matter much in the end. It’s just classes and studying. But the
location and the country? It does, and Thailand does a very good job at it.
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