Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University - M.A. in Communication Arts

A contact from Thailand recently told me that he's registered with an open university in his country, and I had to take a look to see what (if any) options they have for international students.

It turns out that Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University offers a Master of Arts in Communication Arts for ASEAN:

http://asean-commarts.stou.ac.th/main/

This degree is open to both and international students and can be completed entirely online. While there are some standard communications courses, at least half are ASEAN-centric. So depending on where you plan to live and work in the future, your mileage may vary.

For those still interested, here are a few other links of interest:

Courses: http://asean-commarts.stou.ac.th/main/index.php/about-us/online-graduate-degree-program

Tuition: http://asean-commarts.stou.ac.th/main/index.php/about-us/tuition-fee

 

I see 5 courses plus a thesis or independent study, and a one month "Graduate Professional Experience" abroad, with the degree being 36 credits. At 3 credits each the five courses would be maximum 15 credits, so the thesis would be worth another 15-21? (Minus whatever the professional experience is.) Is that typical? I'm used to the US model where each thesis course is credited similarly to the coursework so you'd expect to see 12 courses, but several of them would be Introduction to Graduate Research, Thesis I, Thesis II, etc.
ONLINE GRADUATE DEGREE PROGRAM

 

That does seem rather light on coursework, now that you've pointed it out. Not having much experience with either Communications degrees or with Southeast Asian universities, I'm not sure if that's the norm or not!

I would concur with your guess, though, that the thesis and professional experience (internship?) must be worth the bulk of the credits.

 

I have never attended any SEA schools. That said I know many use the European format of a graduate degree or doctorate basically being a multi-year thesis and little else.
This is especially popular along with the new "doctorate by publication" options at some schools.