Vancouver Island University/UdonThani Rajabhat University (UDRU) Partnership - Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) Degree

Overview

Vancouver Island University (VIU) is a public university located in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. The main campus of 10,000 students is located close to the centre of Nanaimo, a city of 85,000 residents. VIU is active internationally with over 800 international students from over 40 countries participating in our MBA, Business and Tourism degrees and diplomas, Sciences and Technology degrees and diplomas, Fisheries and Aquaculture degrees and diplomas, Humanities and Education degrees, Art, Design, Music and Theater degrees and diplomas. VIU has extensive experience in international contract training, international development projects and offshore program development.

Udon Thani Rajabhat University (UDRU) has a similar history to VIU of institutional development. Beginning in 1923, UDRU was a Teacher Training College, an Agriculture College and Rajabhat Institute (RI) (a comprehensive non-degree and degree granting institution). RI offered associate degrees, degrees and graduate diplomas in Education, Arts and Science. Two years ago UDRU received university status and began the development of several new undergraduate and graduate programs including a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA).

The VIU/UDRU Partnership

VIU and UDURU have enjoyed a strong and growing partnership for over ten years. The Faculty of management and the Faculty of International Education at VIU have joined with UDURU to expand this partnership by delivering VIU’s BBA, Management Concentration, to students in Thailand. This is a dual-degree arrangement with UDRU graduates receiving two degrees – a VIU BBA (Management) and an UDRU BBA.

Program

Students begin the program with extensive English language training through a combination of non-credit ESL courses and UDRU credit English courses.

VIU is actively involved in the program in all 4 years. Each VIU course taught by UDRU faculty is linked to a VIU faculty member who takes on a quality assurance role. Each year, a VIU faculty teaches two courses in Udon Thani. During this period, an annual field school for VIU students takes place in Thailand. The VIU Faculty of Management anticipates that this partnership BBA will lead to an array of faculty and student exchanges in coming years.

Institutional Impacts

This program is important for VIU because it will:

assist with education of Thai students while they pursue an undergraduate business education,
contribute to the regional development of northeast Thailand,
build upon VIU’s already productive relationship with UDRU,
contribute to the further development of UDRU,
provide meaningful experiences for VIU students towards a greater understanding of the world outside of Canada,
develop a wider range of VIU/UDURU faculty professional development, research and enhanced teaching opportunities.

For More information

Brock Dykeman
Acting Dean, International Education
Vancouver Island University
900 Fifth Street
Nanaimo, British Columbia
Canada, V9R 5S5
T: 250 740-6310
international@viu.ca