Horizons are set to broaden for Bangkok students after an agreement was reached between the United Kingdom’s University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and entrepreneur Sitichai Charoenkajonkul to build a full-scale campus in the Thai capital.
UCLan, a private university in the UK, will invest 7.5 million pounds (364.9mn baht) in the project, which is scheduled to open to students in June 2014, the PA reported.
This is said to be the first such venture by a private UK university in Thailand and is being touted as a unique opportunity for students in Southeast Asia to earn UK-standard college degree.
Degrees will be taught in English and validated by UCLan.
The university will offer full-time and part-time undergraduate, postgraduate and foundation degree courses in business, built and natural environment, engineering, creative and performing arts, and languages.
The campus will be located in the Bangkok metropolitan area and “within easy reach of the city center,” according to a press release. It is said that the facility will be home to 800 students with an anticipated capacity of 5,000 in 10 years.
UCLan vice-chancellor Malcolm McVicar said, “At an undergraduate level our market research shows that in Thailand nationally there is strong demand for all our proposed academic subject areas while the postgraduate market looks even more encouraging with UK MBA [master’s in business administration] qualifications particularly sought-after.
“Our Thailand project is an ideal fit for UCLan as we extend our international links. This project will enable us to become the first UK university to build a campus in Thailand, thereby bringing world-class higher education and our view of a superlative student experience to Southeast Asia
“UCLan has made huge strides in the last ten years and the qualities of innovation, entrepreneurship and enterprise remain at the heart of everything we do.
“We have students from over 120 countries and some 125 partnerships across the globe but we are now entering a new phase of exciting development which will see us build campuses outside the UK,” McVicar said.
Bangkok-based entrepreneur Sitichai added, “We are very excited to be involved in such an ambitious project that is set to add significant value to the education industry in Thailand. An international education is valued highly by Thai people and we are pleased to be able to enable one of the UK’s top universities to establish a campus in Thailand.”
Details on the exact location of the proposed campus were not specified.
In related news – and with an eerily similar name – highly regarded American university UCLA is also opening a satellite campus in Bangkok.
