Wednesday, 6 October 2010

Academic Book Collection

1. The Paradox of Choice (Why More Is Less)
Author: Barry Schwartz










2. Neuroeconomics Decision Making and the Brain
Author: Paul W. Glimcher






  



3. Financial Modelling (2nd Edition)
Author: Simon Benninga








 


4. The Mathematics of Financial Modeling and Investment Management
Author: Frank J. Fabozzi






Monday, 4 October 2010

International sources for scholarships (Thailand)

       We summarized the available information on Thai university web sites related to international student scholarship funds and financial aid for both undergraduate and graduate studies, to assist you an easier access. If you are uncertain how to prepare and apply for a scholarship, please have a look at these links.

       Please note that any student usually has to apply in her/his home country for a college scholarship or bursary. For example, for Thai students who want to study abroad scholarships are available in Thailand, and so it is for German students with scholarships in Germany. Please understand that we cannot find those specific scholarship options for everyone. So most of them will be only general scholarships.

       From many of the scholarship sources below, you will also find tips on how to prepare, write a cover letter, an application, a research proposal, or what ever might be needed to help a successfully apply for a scholarship.

       Those international sources for scholarships are:
       Please note that scholarships offered by Thai universities will follow in the next post.

Sunday, 3 October 2010

Higher Education in Thailand

       Thailand has a long history of higher education development. During the reign of Rama IV (1851-1868) it became clear that public education was inadequate to prepare high caliber government officials to serve the country. With this need in mind, the King laid the foundations establishing an official education system which persists to today. Education reform continued under King Rama V, with the creation of the first formal school. In 1887, the Department of Education was established to oversee schooling and religious affairs. The Department then had under its jurisdiction 34 schools in the metropolitan and provincial areas, 4 advanced/specialized schools, 81 teachers and 1,994 students.


Thammasat University
       Higher education was viewed as an avenue to modernize and professionalize the civil service. Thailand’s first university, Chulalongkorn University, was established in 1916, with four departments: medicine, law and political science, engineering, and literature and science. In 1934, two years after Thailand’s transition from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy, the second university, Thammasat University, was established with the mission to train future professionals and civil servants in the social sciences (law, political science and liberal arts). Three other universities were founded a few years later: Kasetsart University (1943), specializing in agricultural education; Silpakorn University (1943), specializing in Fine Arts; and Mahidol University (1969), specializing in medicine.

        In this early period of university development, all higher education institutions were located in Bangkok. By the 1960s, new comprehensive universities were established in several provinces: Chiang Mai University in the north, Khon Kaen University in the northeast and Prince of Songkla University in the south. The number of institutions grew steadily in the 1960s and 1970s, with new centers of higher learning established: the National Institute for Development and Administration (NIDA), the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)—specializing in science and engineering programs—and King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology. Two open admission universities, Ramkhamhaeng University and Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, were established to promote greater access for secondary school graduates and those already employed.  
Chulalongkorn University
       The enactment of the Higher Education Institution Act in 1981, to replace the former Private College Act (1971), intensified the development of private institutions in response tohigh public demand for tertiary education. This led to rapid growth in the number of both public and private nstitutions—from 5 in 1967 to 166 in 2008


Asian University Rank in 2010

       After we know top 20 world university which are focused in America and Europe, let's see how Asian universities ranked in this year. Starting with Japan, as usual, it still remains as the highest rank university in Asia. For Thai universities, Chulalongkorn University fell from 138 to 180 this year.

24. University of Tokyo, Japan (2009: 22)

31. National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore (2009: 30)

42. Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Hong Kong (2009: 46)

50. Seoul National University (SNU), South Korea (2009: 47)

180. Chulalongkorn University, Thailand (2009: 138)

TOP World University ranked in 2010 (by QS World University)

       As QS World University had announced the rank of top university around the world, the result came out that Cambridge University, England, won the first place of the world's top universities, replaced Harvard University, USA, who used to be on top of Cambridge for many years. 

       The ranking is carried out by scholars around the world, more than 15,000 people, and is determined based on several factors such as research quality, number of international students, fields of studies, employment rate, standard of teaching, etc. Although the U.S. is not in the first rank, it still dominate the most top universities in the world since there appear to have 13 U.S. universities included in only the top 20 list of universities.

       These are the top 20 universities in this year (2010).

1. University of Cambridge, UK (100 scores)

2. Harvard University, U.S. (99.18 scores)

3. Yale University, U.S. (98.68 scores)

4. UCL (University College London), U.K. (98.54 scores)


6. University of Oxford, U.K. (98.16 scores)

7. Imperial College London, U.K. (97.78 scores)


8. University of Chicago, U.S. (97.52 scores)


10. Princeton University, U.S. (96.03 scores)

11. Columbia University, U.S. (95.99 scores)

12. University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), U.S. (95.97 scores)

13. Stanford University, U.S. (93.62 scores)

14. Duke University, U.S. (92.29 scores)

15. University of Michigan, U.S. (92.20 scores)

16. Cornell University, U.S. (90.44 scores)

17. Johns Hopkins University, U.S. (89.67)


19. McGill University, Canada (89.25 scores)

20. Australian National University (ANU), Australia (88.58 scores)