AUN Summer Camp Introduction Series #2: AUN-Thailand Summer Camp (CUxMU)

Following our detailed introduction to the NUS-AUN Summer Programme 2024 last week, this time in the AUN Summer Camp Introduction Series, the AUN Secretariat would like to dedicate this week to introducing AUN-Thailand Summer Camp with the theme “Beyond Border, Better Health: Medical Tourism in Thailand''. This marked another unique programme of the brand-new concurrent AUN Summer Camp 2024 objective of promoting cross-border student and academic mobility across the 10 ASEAN countries.

Driven by advanced technology and medical innovation, ‘Medical Tourism’ has been evolving as an emerging economic trend in which tourists are seeking to travel to another country to access quality healthcare services with a fraction of the costs in their country of origin. With rising international demand on a variety of services available – from preventative healthcare, local and traditional medicine to long-term medical treatment, medical tourism has established a global environment where diverse healthcare systems and practices, cross-cultural contexts as well as economic considerations interplay with one another. Thailand, as one of the world’s most famous medical tourism hotspots, ranking 17 on the Medical Tourism Index (MTI) 2020-2021 by the International Healthcare Research Centre (IHRC), serves as a perfect learning ground about the multidimensional development and impacts of medical tourism on the economy and well-being practices of the society.

Hosted by Chulalongkorn University (CU) and Mahidol University (MU) on 1 - 12 July 2024, AUN-Thailand Summer Camp [CU x MU] “Beyond Border, Better Health: Medical Tourism in Thailand'' programme aims to bring undergraduate students from 30 AUN Member Universities to the vibrant landscape of medical tourism in Thailand while aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being. Through experiential learning, participating students from this programme are expected to take up active roles in contributing to the global dialogue surrounding health promotion and healthcare disparities.

In this regard, the participants will be able to develop a balanced understanding on two types of medical tourism development: Health Promotion Tourism and Health Healing Tourism through a combination of experiential learning activities, ranging from lectures, workshops, cultural site visits to panel discussion.

Throughout the two-week programme, which will take place in the MU campus and the CU campus respectively, the participants will work with and receive support from local academic staff, in-the-field professionals as well as their international peers from across the 10 ASEAN countries to achieve their knowledge and capacity building goals on the assigned theme. Upon completion of the programme, the students will be awarded with certificates to signify their successful participation in the AUN-Thailand Summer Camp.

Application and Nomination to this programme remains open until 15 April 2024 through the global/international affairs offices of 30 AUN Member Universities only. Nominated students will need to complete the application form by 20 April 2024. For more information about the AUN-Thailand Summer Camp programme and its application process, please visit https://op.mahidol.ac.th/ir/AUNcamp/.

For insight on the overall AUN Summer Camp 2024, please visit https://www.aunsec.org/aun-action/our-flagship-project/aun-summer-camp.