Report on Exchange
-Rangsit University, ThailandPersonal detail:
Vaasa Polytechnic, Business economics and Tourism
Degree Programme in Hotel and Restaurant Business
Basic information of RSU:
Rangsit University is a famous private institution of higher education in Thailand.
Currently, the University is offering undergraduate programs for 60 areas of study and
18 programs for Graduate Study. Rangsit University has a vision of quality education
for all. It is firmly committed to producing highly skilled graduates who will be a
benefit to the wider society. Its motto is to create the best thing for the society.
Rangsit University is situated in the sub-district of Lak-hok, on Prathumthani
province. It normally takes around an hour from Rangsit University to the central of
Bangkok by taxi if there is not so much traffic jam.
IC is the abbreviation of International College, which is operated by offices of
international affairs of the university. The office organizes a wide range of cooperations
with partner institutions all around the world and in charge of exchange academic
programmes. Exchange students may easily get warmly assistance from IC, whatever
and whenever.
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Courses taken in RSU:

Orientation Courses
Orientation courses lasted for a week, including classroom lecture and field trip.
There are several topics, such as, Thai survival, Thai Traveling, Thai Etiquette, Thai
Language and other relative useful tips for easily living in Thailand. Teachers are
normally invited from some authority or professors of reputation outside campus. It
aims at providing more accurate and comprehensive information to us. Language
courses, named by Thai Survival, are quite useful, how to order food in local
restaurant, how to explain the destination to Taxi drivers and how to ask for assistance
in case you need some problems…Field trip to Bangkok only provided a glance to
Thailand, temples and shopping mall are welcomed by us. In general, orientation
courses are later improved to be one the most valuable tips for studying and living in
Thailand.

Strategic Marketing Management in Tourism and Hospitality Enterprises
Limited inside Asian countries, this course introduces the nature of marketing
management inside service concepts by the combination of theory models and
practical examples. Lots of discussions are recommended in the class, but it is
normally right followed by the topic, students felt no difficulty to catch up with.
Practical examples, separately handled by the other guest teacher, are very
informative and interesting. Firstly by the thorough introduction of the
mind-difference between western and eastern world, gap is clearly defined. In the
following courses, topics are mainly surrounded by how to deal with business with the
Asian. Examination is also focus on the case study, more flexible and practical.

Managing People in the International Hospitality and Tourism Industry
Internationally and flexibility are the main topics of this subject. Learn to open and
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accept is recommended through the whole course. These concepts are widely used not
only inside hotel HR business but also benefit to the whole lives. The course is mainly
based on the course book,
“managing hotel effectively”. Topics, such as, the
environment of the hotel business, leading organization, the emergence of
international hotels, political aspects of the international travel, tourism, and lodging
industry, hotel staffing, selection and preparation of International Hotel Executives
and getting employees to do things right and to do the right things are really update
and fashion. Course presentations are lively. Ideas exchange is very important to the
teacher as well. Field trip is naturally included. As the world No.1 hotel, oriental hotel,
we were invited to have a lunch there, to feel our feeling by ourselves.

Revenue and Profit Management for Hospitality and Tourism
Basic concept of financial accounting, such as fixed cost, valuable cost, BEP, balance
sheet and other relative issues is the repetition of Finnish lectures, later, more lively
topics are introduced: low-cost airlines, Thai tourism business, reasonable budget,
pricing strategies and so on. Lots of guest teachers are another prominent character.
Different teachers brought various ideas surrounding this topic. Since the hospitality
and tourism has a dramatic change and became a substantial employer of labour,
offering interesting and profitable opportunities to people, teachers try to lead us to
examine the major features of the industry, its main problems and the implication they
have for accounting and control methods.

Environmental Management in the Hospitality and Tourism Industries
Environmental management is vital to the hospitality business, still, as a difficulty to
all of us. The course is based on some knowledge of chemistry and physics. We
generally felt lots of puzzles in the class. The doctor is amazingly patient. After the
discussion, field trips are accepted. “Company visits” was later improved to be one of
the most effective tools to familiar with this topic. We were organized to visit around 6
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places, including hotels, shopping mall and hospital. It is good for us to observe hotel
from totally different points of view.

Company Visits (Field Trips)
Educations of virtual field trips is through the whole exchange period. For HB group,
hotels are the final destination, including imperial queen, banyan tree hotel and plaza
athenee. They are all five star hotels, best in Thailand. Their scale and business
concept are quite differ from the those from Finland. Good to touch different world.
Spa is another new hospitality idea to introduce. We have visited various Spa resorts,
including traditional Thai service, such as Massage and others. Reasonable
arrangement provides a relaxing and pleasure atmosphere to the guests. It shows the
typical idea of service business.

Thai Cultural Introduction
1.
Thai cooking & dancing class
Thai cooking and dancing class are arranged in the second period of study. Comparing
with the standard lectures, these two classes are relatively relaxing to follow. No strict
in the classroom. Familiarities to Thai culture are the final aims.
2.
Cultural Trips
Trips are mostly welcomed by students. Bangkok, Ayutthaya trips is arranged inside
orientation part. 3 days trip to Ratchaburi & Kanchanaburi trip is also unforgettable.
Floating market is another lively glance to Thai culture.
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Traveling in Thailand
Thailand is a popular country for budget travelers as the cost of living is very low. It's
possible to cover all your basic needs such as food, water, accommodations and local
transport on a budget of about 200 Baht a day. Bangkok will probably be your entry port
into Thailand; it is also relatively more expensive than the rest of the country. Getting
around Bangkok to see the sights can be exceedingly cheap if you stick to the public
buses. Fares are 3.5B for the first 8km. If you don't speak any Thai it can be a little
difficult finding the right bus as nothing is written in English. Other options are the
exciting Tuk tuks (3 wheeled scooters), and motorcycle taxis. You will need to bargain
with the driver. Expect to pay about 40B for a short journey. In a normal taxi fares
within central Bangkok are about 70B. Sky train is another valuable option inside
Bangkok, students may normally enjoy the student fair, 160 Baht for ten times within
some time limit.
To get from one point in Thailand to another you can take either the normal public bus
(no air-conditioning), or an air-conditioned public bus. Even though it is double the
price of the non air-conditioned bus, it is still a bargain. They go regularly almost
everywhere. The train is a great way to travel if you are heading south to the islands or
north to Chiang Mai. Accommodations in guesthouses and beach bungalows start at
about 100B. Quality can vary greatly so be prepared to shop around first. If you are
planning on staying anywhere for longer than a week it can be well worth bargaining
for a discount.
There is cheap food to be had everywhere and two people can eat a substantial
vegetarian meal for 40B. If you intend to purchase anything in Thailand such as clothes
or souvenirs, it is well worthwhile to bargain a little with the proprietor. Of course don't
try this in department stores.
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Also, here are more cheap tips for traveling in Thailand. Travel with someone to share
the cost of the motorbike (usually B150 per day). Local friends are strongly
recommended because they normally can enjoy local price. Read the local English
newspapers for bargains on flights and big discount on hotel price. You should be
careful with taxis. To start and since the meter is not always used, always clearly
bargain for a price. You will have better chance of a discount by stepping a bit outside
of the hotel, bus or trains stations and avoiding the queuing taxis. Refuse also to be
taken to another hotel than the one you specified and bring small change for the fare.
Altogether, the best advice to save money would be to stick to the public transport...
Living in Thailand
Accommodation was normally arranged in advance. Basic living facilities were
carefully put in your apartment, mattress, desk & bed, own toilet with cold-water
shower. The apartments are normally right outside campus, a few steps away. Street
dogs are another character for living in Rangsit, they are looked horrible but normally
they only begging for some food actually do nothing to you.
Compare prices & goods before buying and remember that there is usually no exchange,
refunds or after sale services. You may eat & drink at food market or small local
restaurants. You will have plenty of opportunities to meet people, find the widest choice
of tasty and fresh food and have less risk of food poisoning. Besides being tasty and
closer to the people, you shall get plenty of cold purified water to drench your thirst for
free. Western food is limited and sometimes, they are tasted much more like
There are plenty of other customs but Thai people do not really help you in
understanding them if you just cross their way. From this point of view, we should be
more polite when living in Thailand. For example, it was reported impolite to stand up
while talking to sited people (you should get yourself a seat to reach the same level as
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your interlocutors). People with long hairs are traditionally considered, as crazy and
Thai girls married with foreigners will be regularly insulted as "prostitutes"…
Final Remarks
Exchange experience in Thailand is much better than I had expected before. I thought
it would be not so many cultural shocks since the same Asian background. Teachers in
Rangist are surprised qualified. I felt my eyes are more widely opened. As I have
mentioned in the evaluation table, it might be better we have some regular teacher
who is directly charge of us all, instead of some group leader to report for everyone.
While, it is every teacher who is so hospitality and friendly, they are ready to help us
in every second of lives, shower, dogs, traveling transportation and so on, which is to
touched.
Hospitality business in Thailand is much more advanced since it is the No.1 travel
destination all around the world. Virtual field trip in education is an effective and
profound experience to all of us.
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