Attitudes to study abroad: case study in Thailand

Bc. David Zeman

Master's thesis

Abstract:

The student mobility has been on a raise worldwide over the last decades. Even though it has proven to be mostly beneficial for both participants and countries involved, Thai outbound mobility in higher education still remains one of the lowest in the South East Asia region. This thesis aims to investigate factors that affect the decisions of agricultural student to study in agricultural field, their plans for the future and their attitudes towards studies abroad. A questionnaire survey of agricultural students of four Thai universities: Chiang Mai University, Kasetsart University, Khon Kaen University and Prince of Songkla University was conducted in order to specify their attitudes and believes. The results show that family has a big role in the decision-making process of choosing a field of study and reveal lower motivation of students from Chiang Mai University and Kasetsart University to work in the agricultural sector in the future. Overwhelming majority also shows willingness to study abroad, however the main challenges remain a lack of finances and a lack of foreign language skills. Regarding the location and the duration of their stay, our findings indicate that Asian countries lead by Japan proved to be the most favorable and a longer time periods abroad are preferred.

Keywords

Student mobility, Higher education, Thailand

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 15. 5. 2020

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Ing. Petra Chaloupková, Ph.D. dr. h. c.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Master programme / field:
Tropical Agriculture / International Development and Agricultural Economics