IU in Thailand

Seven decades of relationship-building resulting in IU’s longest-standing partnership

Studying in Thailand has helped IU Kelley School of Business student Chris Kusovski connect with new people and ideas.

Chris Kusovski's path to business, and eventually Bangkok, Thailand, started in a Columbus, Ohio, high school where he took a few economics and internal business courses. Gaining a passion for business, Kusovski decided to study at the Kelley School of Business, which is not only teaching him about business but has expanded his worldview.

Now a junior studying business economics and public policy, Kusovski has taken advantage of a number of international programs offered through Kelley, including the Global Business Immersion in Korea. Kusovski spent eight weeks studying dynamic economics in Korea, which included a weeklong sightseeing trip around the region.

The experience had such a great impact that Kusovski decided to enroll in Kelley's semester long Chulalongkorn Business School exchange program in Bangkok, Thailand. Kelley exchange students take business courses, in English, alongside local and international students at the Chulalongkorn Business School, which is known for its curricular emphasis on international business.

Description of the following video:

[Words appear in upper-left corner: Indiana University presents]

[Video: A photograph of Kelley School of Business student Chris Kusovski. The camera slowly zooms in on the photograph. Kusovski, who is in Thailand, is standing next to a fellow cultural exchange student.]

Kusovski speaks in voiceover: After studying abroad through the X272 program at Kelley to Korea, I definitely knew I wanted to do more of an exchange program for a whole semester, …

[Video: Kusovski appears on camera.]

[Words appear: Chris Kusovski, Kelley School of Business student]

Kusovski speaks: … and so I was very interested in coming back to Asia. And the opportunity here at Chula came up, and I absolutely …

Video: [A Chulalongkorn University Museum sign.]

Kusovski speaks in voiceover: … knew I was interested.

[Video: Scenery of downtown Bangkok, Thailand. Modern skyscrapers can be seen mixed with traditional Thai buildings.]

Kusovski speaks in voiceover: Bangkok is such a fascinating city.

[Video: Kusovski sits at a lunch table with two friends in the Chulalongkorn cafeteria. The three men are talking.]

Kusovski speaks in voiceover: Here, I am in the BBA program, which is for business students. It's an international English program.

[Video: Kusovski appears on camera.]

Kusovski speaks: And so, I get to meet a lot of different people from all over the world, whether that's just Thai students, Thai students that have international experience or other exchange students from all over the globe.

[Video: A photograph of Kusovski with a female Chulalongkorn student wearing a white blouse and navy skirt. They are posing for the photograph in front of a sparkly backdrop. On the backdrop is a sign that reads "Chulalongkorn Business School." Kusovski is sitting in a chair, while the other student is standing next to him and leaning on the chair.]

Kusovski speaks in voiceover: Chula is very different from my experience at Indiana. Being an international student here is quite different …

[Video: Two female students are walking outside on the Chulalongkorn University campus, wearing white blouses and navy skirts. More scenery of the Chulalongkorn campus is shown.]

Kusovski speaks in voiceover: … because I am surrounded by other exchange students as well as Thai students who are going out of their way to interact with us. So, going back to Indiana …

[Video: Kusovski appears on camera.]

Kusovski speaks: … and back to Kelley, I'm definitely going to try and interact more with our international students because they are going to know so much more about the world.

[Video: Scenery of downtown Bangkok, Thailand. Traffic in the city can be seen, as well as two Thailand flags, which are blowing in the wind. Other scenery scenes include the Bangkok skyline.]

Kusovski speaks in voiceover: And so being able to connect with them is going to be crucial to not only the cultural exchange for why we have these exchange programs between universities, but it's also so …[Video: A photograph of Kusovski and a friend, posing in front of an Indiana University backdrop and wearing red "2019 Thailand" IU silk scarves, like one would wear around their shoulders for graduation, with university insignia.]

Kusovski speaks in voiceover: … important just to expand your worldview and get to know other walks of life.

[Screen goes to black]

[IU trident appears]

[Words appear: Indiana University]

[Words appear: Fulfilling the promise]

[Words appear: iu.edu]

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"My majors are really economics heavy, which is kind of my forte, and finance heavy," Kusovski said. "So that's coupled really nicely with the interesting finance and investment classes I'm taking here at Chula, as well as the international perspective of studying in an emerging market. The impact that it's had on me is just really fascinating."

Chulalongkorn University, Thailand's oldest university, is similar in size to IU, although it's in a much bigger and busier city than Bloomington, Indiana. The university has more than 32,000 students, 2,500 of whom are business students.

Kusovski said that being an exchange student in Thailand has not felt like a traditional exchange. First, a number of international students are studying at Chulalongkorn, which makes the experience feel less siloed. Second, the hospitality Kusovski and his fellow IU students have received from the domestic students in Thailand has been exceptional.

Chris Kusovski poses with a friend at Chulalongkorn University. View print quality image
Chris Kusovski poses with a friend at Chulalongkorn University.  

"Here, I'm surrounded by other exchange students from all parts of the world," Kusovski said. "And the Thai students have gone out of their way to interact with us."

That sense of hospitality has made Kusovski's experience in a foreign land easier. It has also changed his perception of his own interaction with international students, or lack thereof, back home in Indiana.

"Being here as an exchange student at Chula has been really interesting because so many students have gone out of their way to connect with us. And that's been really cool because it expands your worldview, and it makes you connect with a lot of different people and learn a lot of different things," he said. "So, going back, that's one of the things I'm going to try to focus on, is connecting with those international students who come to Indiana."