The Experience of Students Who Attended the UDRU – SMSU Development Program in Minnesota (United States)

This study focuses on the experience of a contingent of Thai PhD in Education students who travelled to the United States (US) to participate in an intensive credit bearing academic development program at Southwest Minnesota State University. The students from Udon Thani Rajabhat University (UDRU) in the northeast region of the Kingdom of Thailand attended the program in October/November 2011. At the time of their visit, they were in the first year of their PhD program which is conducted in the Thai language. The UDRU contingent comprised two groups who are following different PhD specialisations in the fields of educational administration and curriculum development. Each group attended its own program, designed and taught by senior faculty members at SMSU.These annual programs are part of an on-going Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU)—Udon Thani Rajabhat University (UDRU) Cooperative Project that was initiated in 2007. Since then, four groups of students have benefited from the program.