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Identifying and Engaging with Local Stakeholder through Service Learning

Since 2012, Thammasat University has promoted “Service Learning” which is a learning process that aims at cultivating three types of learning namely, academic, practical and active citizenship. Service Learning is usually problem-based and student-centered with a lecturer as a learning facilitator and advisor. Every semester, Thammasat University organized an award-giving event that recognizes service-learning initiatives from all faculties, organized by Student Affairs Department.

In 2014, the university started to provide small grants to courses that would like to apply “service learning” to their learning process. The grant can be requested for a course (10000 – 40000 baht per course), or a project within the course (2000-4000 baht per project). The university also has a guideline about the targeted areas for the projects, which are usually nearby the campuses.

In 2019, the university granted a larger sum of financial resources to courses that would like to apply service learning in the learning process. The grant was divided into three categories, namely, Small (S), Medium (M), and Large (L) and each category gets the grant at the maximum of 100,000, 200,000 and 300,000 respectively. These courses will also automatically be a candidate for the award-giving event mentioned above. The criteria for awarding the best project include efficiency and sustainability of the project, participation of the community, participation of external partners, and presentation performance.

Reference

  1. https://tu.ac.th/thammasat-service-learning-2nd-semester-2560
  2. https://thammasatforsdgs.files.wordpress.com/2020/11/service_learning.pdf
  3. https://best.tu.ac.th/course/25/
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Thammasat University recognizes the roles of student union since 1979

Thammasat University recognizes the roles of student union since 1979.

Thammasat University Student Union (TUSU) is a committee of elected student representatives who governs all student bodies and allocates budgets for clubs and independent groups for organizing extracurricular activities. The Student Union also works with faculty-level student committees to discuss and find solutions to student-related affairs before voicing their conclusion to the university executives. TUSU is also known to be socially and politically engaging and be a leader in mobilizing university students and on some occasions the public in democratic demonstrations.

Thammasat University Student Council (TUSC) was established at the same time as TUSU. TUSC is another elected representative body of the student community, functions as a legislative body. Rules regarding student activities are drafted and approved by the student councils.  They are also student representatives when interacting with university executives.

TUSC’s roles also include the check-and-balance function for the Student Union. The Council has the authority to monitor the union’s decisions, policies, and activities. It also plays a role to approve the budget allocation for student activities.

The regulation regarding student activities, The Student Union, and the Student Council were revised in 2020 to officially recognize the student unions in different campuses of Thammasat University. Now Thammasat University has three main campuses, namely, Thaprachan, Rangsit, and Lampang. Each campus has its own elected student unions and student council, taking care of its campus’s student-related affairs. They also work together on university-level matters. The revised regulation can be found on the university’s website (http://sa.tu.ac.th/oth/TUrules/TUrules63.pdf).

Visit Facebook Page of Student Union and Student Council here.

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Thammasat University has elected representation from multiple stakeholders on the university’s highest governing body

Thammasat University has elected representation from multiple stakeholders on the university’s highest governing body.

The university highest governing body is the Thammasat University Council. The Council members consist of eight components, as presented in the university website (http://org.tu.ac.th/tu_council/sapa59/pdf/element.pdf) :

  • The president of the university council
  • The university rector, the president of Thammasat Association Under the King’s Patronage (Alumni), president of the faculty council, and the present of the staff (non-faculty) council.
  • A vice rector
  • Two deans or directors of faculties or colleges.
  • One director of institute or department.
  • Two elected lecturers with at least 5-year experience.
  • One elected staff (non-faculty) with at least 10-year experience.
  • 15 external experts.

Please see the existing members of Thammasat University Council here. https://tu.ac.th/board#content-1

Accordingly, Thammasat University Council has elected representation from faculty, staff (non-faculty) as well as alumni.

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Thammasat University collaborated with NGOs to tackle SDG issues through the Graduate Volunteer Program

In 2020, Thammasat University, by Puey School of Development Studies (PSDS), collaborated with academic institutions and Non-governmental organizations to organize its 52st batch of Graduate Volunteer Program in 8 sites covering provinces from the North (Lamphun (2 sites), Lampang, Mae Hong Son, Phichit, Phayao ), the East (Rayong), and the South (Trang). In each area, the student organizes a development project to tackle development challenges in the area. The following table illustrates provinces, our partner local NGOs, activities, and related SDGs.

Province Local NGO partners Projects Related SDGs
Mae Hong Son Province Ya Praek Salawin Learning Centre

http://salween-center.weebly.com/

 Project: Ta-si Tee-ler-bor, Herbs in the household

 

Objective: Inviting youth to learn and utilize local biodiversity, i.e. herbs, as preliminary medicine.

 SDG3 and SDG15
Trang Province Volunteer Group for Protection Dugong

 

 Project: Community-based waste management initiative, Baan Sai Kaew

 

Objective: Engaging the locals tomanage waste more effectively and more environmentally friendly.

 SDG11 and SDG12
Phayao Province Moose group Project: Youth empowerment in local waste management in Baan That Poo Sang.

 

Objective: Empowering local youth through trainings and activities and encouraging them to initiate a local waste management activity.

 SDG 10 and SDG 12
Rayong Province Rak Kao Chamao Group

FB:@RakkaochamaoGroup  ·

 Project: A Sentol worm: Small pamphlet of Kao Chamao conservation youth group

 

Objective: Using journaling process with youth to cultivate awareness for natural resource and environmental conservation.

 SDG 12
Phichit Province Pichit Development Foundation

FB: @PhichitDevelopmentFoundation

 Project: Improving positive communication skills in a family

 

Objective: Organizing trainings and reflection sessions for youth and family members to improve positive communication within a family to improve the family relationship

 SDG 5 and SDG 16
Lamphun Province Hriphunchai Research Institute

https://www.facebook.com/Hriphunchai.lamphun

 Project: Promoting youth participation in reducing toxic substances in blood from agricultural chemicals

 

Objective: Engaging youth and providing them with training and education so that they can influence their parents to reduce the use of agricultural chemical pesticides.

 SDG 2 and SDG 3
Lampang Province Hug Green

FB: HugGreen.cafe

 Project: Cultivating little entrepreneurs, Mae Tha watershed

 

Objective: Organizing entrepreneurship workshops and trainings based-on local organic farming and enterprise for youth in the area who came back home due to the loss of jobs from the COVID-19 pandemic.

 SDG 8
Lumphun Province Coordination Center for Ecological Network, Mae Tha watershed.

FB: @MaethaEcological

 Project: The return of Indigo

 

Objective: Restoring a local cultural practice of creating traditional and natural indigo garments and textiles, linking them to community enterprise initiatives.

 SDG 8 and SDG 12

 

The Graduate Volunteer Programme is one-year programme. The students spend 3 months for course work, 7 months for field studies, and 2 months for writing the thesis. It was established by Prof. Dr. Puey Ungphakorn in the late 1960s. This programme has been adopted by several universities all over Thailand.

Reference:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=GraduateVolunteerGen5.TU&set=a.700154193926054

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Thammasat University and International Health Policy Program Foundation (IHPP Foundation) collaborates in SDG research and development of SDG educational resources

Thammasat University, by Centre for SDG Research and Support (SDG Move), Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University, collaborated with International Health Policy Program Foundation (IHPP Foundation) in conducting a series of SDG research and a development of SDG educational resources, namely, SDG Watch project and SDG port-TH website in 2020 – 2021.

The research collaboration includes the following research topics:

  • SDG Stakeholder Action Reports: This is a series of four research reports focusing on studying the status of SDG implementation and enabling environment for youth, volunteering organizations, civil society organizations, and academic organizations, and identifying the gaps and proposing policy recommendations to encourage more multi-stakeholder approach to the SDG implementation.
  • SDG implementation and monitoring system: This research aims to develop a system framework to understand components of SDG implementation system and their relationship and use the framework to examine the SDG implementation system in Thailand at national level as well as for stakeholders whose works focus on SDG 3 Good Health and Wellbeing.

 

The education resources developed by this collaboration include the following projects:

  • SDG watch project: This project aims at curating knowledge and information related to SDG situations status and implementation both at national and global levels. It also aims to be a knowledge sharing platform in which scholars from different disciplines whose works are connected to SDG topics write articles and share their ideas. There are three types of content, namely, SDG news, SDG updates, and SDG insights. SDG news is a 500-word article that reports the current situations and news related to SDG topics. SDG updates is an 1500-word article summarizing international and national reports. SDG insight is a 3000-word article written by experts to share their insights in a specific topic. Later this year, SDG watch also created a podcast channel on podcast platforms (such as Youtube, Soudcloud, and Spotify).

See SDG watch here:

https://www.sdgmove.com/?tag=sdgwatch

YouTube: https://bit.ly/2YmfZAI

SoundCloud: https://bit.ly/3a3Vjjm

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3B49T66

 

  • SDG Port Thailand: This project aims at developing an online education and policy resources related to SDGs. The resources are from both international and national sources. These resources include SDG related books, guidebooks, reports, articles, journals, presentation, infographics, indicators and dashboard, and database of SDG actors.

See SDG Port Thailand here:

http://www.sdgport-th.org/

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Thammasat University cooperates with Konrad Adenauer Singapore and international networks in gathering SDG data and best practice for “Accelerating Progress and Equity in Education”

Thammasat University, by Centre for SDG Research and Support (SDG Move), Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University, cooperated SDSN Thailand, and Konrad Adenauer Singapore in an international effort for gathering SDG data and best practice for “Accelerating Progress and Equity in Education” (directly related to SDG 4) in a project called Konrad Adenauer Sharing Political and Civic Engagements Spaces (KASpaces).

This project covers 12 countries including, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, South Korea, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan, The Philippines, India, Taiwan.

There are two levels of activities, namely, national workshops and webinars from July until September 2021, and regional workshops in November 2021. While each country may focus on different issues, these topics were highly encouraged to include the following four topics, namely, blended learning vs traditional classroom, Infrastructure and teachers’ development, Inequality in education, and new actors in education.

For Thailand, SDG Move and SDSN Thailand focused on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as the main theme and explored (1) the policies and governance, (2) practices, and (3) ways to unlock enabling environment for the ESD. Each workshop explored each topic respectively. Policy makers, scholars, representatives from government agencies and international NGO participated as panelists in the three workshops. International experts from Japan and UNESCO also joined to share their thoughts and experiences.

Reports from the three workshops are deliverables of the project for each country. Findings, case studies and best practices are included in the report. All national reports will be synthesized into a cross-country report on “Accelerating Progress and Equity in Education” to identify the common challenges faced by countries in Asia in achieving the SDGs goal and to find a collaborative framework in addressing the sustainable development goals.

 

Reference:

https://www.kas.de/en/web/politikdialog-asien/veranstaltungen/detail/-/content/kaspaces

https://www.kas.de/en/web/politikdialog-asien/veranstaltungen/detail/-/content/konrad-adenauer-sharing-political-and-civic-engagements-spaces-kaspaces-regional-roundtable

https://www.facebook.com/SDSNTH/photos/130840032494510

https://www.facebook.com/SDSNTH/photos/153857326859447

https://www.facebook.com/SDSNTH/photos/183548537223659

 

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Cross sectoral dialogue on roles of youth in political movements on SDG-related topics at Thammasat Sustainability Festival and Open House 2020

On November 26-28, 2020, Thammasat University organized the Thammasat Sustainability Festival and Open House 2020. In this event, a cross-sectoral dialogue on “Politics of the new generation: Change the country by ourselves”, which is directly related to SDG 16 and youth participation, was organized and participated by a diverse group of panelists including a leader of Advance Constitution Group and a former political candidate from Democrat Party, Miss Grand Thailand 2020, and Thammasat and Demonstration Club.

The discussion was based on the change of political landscape in all countries in which youth plays more roles in politics; political participation and government’s oppression; human rights, free speech and forced disappearance; and poverty, inequality, and digital divide.

Reference: https://tu.ac.th/thammasat-271120-open-house-2020

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Cross sectoral dialogue on Human Development and SDGs in Anthropocene at Thammasat University in the launch of the 2020 Human Development Report “The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene”

School of Global Studies, Thammasat University, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and other related organizations launched the 2020 Human Development Report “The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene” at Sri Burapa Auditorium, Thammasat University, Tha Prachan Campus.Assoc.Prof. Gasinee Witoonchart, Rector of Thammasat University, and representatives from the private and public sector, academic institutions, and private organizations attended the event.

Ms. Lovita Ramguttee, Deputy Country Director of UNDP, presented the main points from the 2020 Human Development Report “The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene”.

The exchange of opinion and discourse concerning different issues in the report was led by Mr. Renaud Meyer, Resident Representative for UNDP Thailand. Asst.Prof.Dr. Prapaporn Tivayanond, Dean of School of Global Studies, Thammasat University, was present in the discourse. There was on-site and online panel on “The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene”(featuring Mr. Weerasak Kowsurat, Deputy Chair, Senate’s Standing Committee on Natural Resources and Environment, Dean of School of Global Studies, President, Thailand Environment Institute and executive from PTT Global Chemical Public Company Limited). Participants included representatives from Embassies, International organizations, Thammasat executives and students.

The discourse explored various issues, including the biodiversity impact of human action in the Anthropocene, how humans played an important role in climate change, and environmental recovery during the COVID-19 outbreak in the context of Thailand. There was also an exchange of ideas between the public, private, and academic sectors.

 

References

  1. https://qs-gen.com/undp-thammasat-university-launch-the-human-development-report-2020/
  2. http://oia.tu.ac.th/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=588:undp-thailand-and-thammasat-co-hosted-launching-of-global-human-development-report-2020&catid=59&Itemid=451
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Cross sectoral dialogue about SDGs and COVID-19 in The 43rd Annual Symposium of Faculty of Economics: Next Steps for Thailand Sustainability

Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University organized its 43rd Annual Symposium on June 17, 2021, under the theme of “Next Steps for Thailand Sustainability”, which focuses on impact of COVID-19 on society, economy, and the environment and what directions Thailand should take to stay in the path towards the SDGs. Government agencies and international organizations were engaged in a series of dialogue throughout the event.

The four presentations in this symposium were based on research conducted by four main research clusters of the faculty, namely, PRO-Green, ICRC, HIDE, and CRISP. In each session, scholars from other academic institutes and government agencies, namely Institute for Trade and Development (ITD), Population and Society Research Institute, Mahidol University, Faculty of Economics Chulalongkorn University, and Office of Natural Resource and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP), participated as discussants.

In the last session, a dialogue on the topic of Next Steps for Thailand Sustainability was participated by a representative from the Office of National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC), a development economist from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the director of Centre for SDG Research and Support (SDG Move), Faculty of Economics Thammasat University.

Reference

http://www.symposium.econ.tu.ac.th/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My3NH5KrFQE

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The SDG-Foresight project 2021: Engaging multiple stakeholders at regional level to inform SDG-based Science Research and Innovation Policy

From March to June 2021, SDG Move undertook muti-stakeholder, policy-focused research for Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI), an organization under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation. It was the analysis of data and the design of future scenarios to support the science research and innovation plan. TSRI wants this development plan to be the catalyst of change that would steer Thailand to progress more sustainably and inclusively along the line of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The research in 2021 was conducted at two levels, namely regional level and provincial cluster level. For the regional level, SDG Move also worked with 6 regional teams from 8 regional universities. Foresight (i.e. Horizon Scanning and Delphi) was used as the research methodology. Data collection was conducted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, six regional foresight workshops were organized, engaging more than 200 stakeholders all over Thailand. At the provincial cluster level, the 6 regional teams took a deep-dive into the provincial clusters (sub-unit of the regional level), to find the provincial-cluster specific needs and priorities.

As the project was based on multi-stakeholder participatory approach, more than 1000 respondents and participants engaged in the Delphi and the workshops process. State actors were accounted for approximately 50% of the respondents and participants. Non-governmental organizations, Civil Society Organizations, and Community-based organizations were accounted for approximately 27% of the respondents and participants.

This project is the continuation of the SDG Foresight project organized in 2020.

Reference: See the full report here.