MDCU
International Village

The Students’ Hub

The History of our beloved village

The story of our international village starts with our senior executive advisor and former Dean, Prof Unnop Jaisamrarn who, on a random visit to Kindai University, Japan came across an area purposely designed for all students to use at their will. It was of particular interest however to international students as it was a place where only the English language was spoken, and so designs were laid here at Chulalongkorn University, and work began on the creation of what we know today as MDCU’s International Village.

Prior to the visit, Ajarn Unnop had already been thinking about such an area. Setting the scene, Ajarn Unnop is an international officer in the full sense of the term. He spends the majority of his year visiting different countries and universities, where he develops, builds and maintains international collaborations through the likes of initial meetings, MoU signings, joint agreements, which subsequently facilitates the likes of student exchange programs, faculty exchanges, joint academic initiatives, etc., and all with a generous slice of enthusiasm 😊!

When talking about his ventures he refers to them as being a little like ‘software’ – “that’s the fun part” he says, the exciting part of the program where the action is, the motion, the drive, where the controls are operated, and of course where we utilise what we create.

BUT, all this wonderful collaboration; this exciting software, always needed … hardware! Something for it to attach itself to; somewhere that allows it to operate even more effectively; somewhere grounded where we could physically see internationalisation, and of course where we could show it or present it.

So that vision was ignited after the visit to Kindai University, and the rest came to pass right here on Valentine’s Day 2023 at the official opening ceremony of our beloved International Village.