I’ve been meaning to post some information about my university for a while as it is a very unique place, in that it draws people from all over the country together to learn in one place. More so than other universities, Ramkamheang, creates a broad cross-section of the country, drawing people from very different socioeconomic backgrounds and age-groups. The cost per credit hour is 25 Bhat, which means that a normal 3-credit full semester course, runs 75 Bhat (a little over $2USD). I don’t know the details of how things are funded, but I am guessing that there is significant government funding going into the place. Out of approximately 600,000 students, there are around 10 of us foreigners … I’m the only white person, there rest are Japanese, Chinese, Lao, Cambodian and Burmese. (There is an international college that is part of the university which has more people from the Occident due to its instruction being in English, but that is a separate entity).

The grade is made of of a single final exam and attendance to classes is not required. Many students go part time while working, sometimes coming to classes but other times trying to read the text books at home. Students who graduate are thought to be very hard-working and self-motivated, as the lack of an attendance requirement or mid-term exams allows for lazy students to slip through the cracks.

The majority of the classes happen at two campuses in Bangkok, and there are also close to 30 satellite locations around the country which are setup for distance learning. One thing I find so visually interesting is that there is often different technologies all layered on top of each other. There are many large lecture halls used for exams and freshman lecture classes, each one seats about 500+ students and is outfitted with giant ceiling fans (no air-conditioning) and large TVs that hang from the ceiling. The professor stands up at the front to teach, his face and lecture notes are displayed on the TVs and then there is a full editing room in the corner where the lecture is edited and broadcast out on the internet and via satellite for students who can’t make it in.

One you get into your major courses, the class size drops down considerably. My Spanish class is in a room like this with 15 students and my Sanskrit class is in an even smaller room with 4 students.

There is a lot of construction going on and many buildings are slated to be torn down and rebuild over the next few years.

There school was built 37 years ago and there are some really strange things that remain, including this Austin Powers-esque conference-room.

There is a full TV and radio production facility, where the university produces content for its own television station,

and where lectures are broadcast live to satellite campuses. I haven’t been down to any of the satellite campuses yet, but plan to eventually. From what I understand, they have rooms full of TV monitors where students watch a lecture and also microphones which the students can use to ask the professor questions.

The full photo survey that I’ve been doing can be seen here.