Outcome Assessment of a Short-Term U.S. Thailand Student Exchange Program

NACTA Journal, Dec 2004 by Robbins, Kelly, Orr, Robert, Phavaphutanon, Lop

The study tour in Tennessee typically involved a variety of tours, demonstrations and activities at the University of Tennessee's branch experiment stations, visits to a variety of commercial farms, nurseries, food processing companies, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, other statewide historical parks and sites, and several museums. During the last week of the study tour, participants resided with host families. The study tour in Thailand similarly included a variety of tours and demonstrations at Kasetsart University's branch campuses and field research stations, a variety of commercial farms, nurseries, feed and food processing companies, museums, historical sites, and Kao Yai National Park. The last full weekend in Thailand included a home stay for participating students. Ground transportation was provided by university van or bus and lodging included both university-owned facilities and commercial hotels. Typically half the program was off-campus and involved considerable travel.

Student participants were selected by the program directors from applications and nominations from academic departments in the agricultural and related fields. At the University of Tennessee preference was given to those students who were juniors, seniors or beginning graduate students and to those who had no or limited international travel experience. Kasetsart University limited participation to junior year students who were judged to have sufficient fluency in English and were able and willing to host a visiting University of Tennessee student for a weekend home stay. To assist with host institution program planning, selections were made and communicated to the partner institution by mid-January. Participating University of Tennessee students were given course credit, expected to maintain and submit a travel journal, and present a group seminar during fall semester following their return. Participating Kasetsart University students were not given course credit per se, but their hours spent in the program were counted as hours of practical training required for their respective curriculum

Both universities provided their students pretrip orientation programs. At the University of Tennessee, weekly, 1-2 hour orientation sessions were held during spring semester and included discussion of cultural norms and expectations, health and safety issues, rudimentary language training, and an introduction to Thai food. Current Thai graduate students at the University of Tennessee were recruited to assist with the orientation program. Kasetsart University conducted an intensive, 3-day pre-trip orientation that covered similar topics, but included intensive English language training. Following this 3-day orientation program, Kasetsart University participants were required to attend monthly meetings to practice their English.

A pre- and post-trip questionnaire was completed by all participating students during the first 3 years of the program. The pre-trip survey was administered following the orientation program and the post-trip survey was completed prior to departing for the return trip home. The survey asked students to indicate their level of knowledge of the visited country's society, culture, agricultural and food industries, and rate the visited country's agricultural techniques and agricultural education system. The survey also asked for comments on the program in general, including what they found most interesting and most surprising. Survey data were combined over years and statistically analyzed using PROC FREQ of SAS (2002).