The University of Arkansas played host this spring to educators from Thailand who are pursuing advanced degrees and wanted to learn more about the U.S. education system.

The five-week visit by 30 doctoral students and a visiting instructor from Thailand wraps up this weekend. The students came from the education schools of two universities, Srinakharinwirot University and Mahasarakham University, and they are studying educational administration, curriculum and instruction, counselor education and nursing education, according to Rochelle Keogh.

Keogh works as the teacher training and professional development coordinator for Spring International Language Center at the University of Arkansas, a professional academic organization that provides intensive English and cross-cultural education to international students. Those who do not make a sufficiently high score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language enroll in the intensive language program before entering a degree program.

"These visiting Thai students are also teaching in secondary or elementary schools or hold administrative positions," she said. "Their goal when they finish their doctoral programs is to work in educational administration or teacher-training programs."

The visit included intensive English classes at Spring International, which is based in Hotz Hall. Faculty members from the university and Spring International presented several lectures and workshops to the visitors, and the Thai students also spent a considerable amount of time at Mullins Library, Keogh said.

"We have many more resources here so they worked on research projects," she said.

The trip came about after one of the Thai universities contacted Spring International to check into the possibility of an exchange program, Keogh explained. The number of students coming grew when the second university learned of the trip and asked to send some of its students, too. Leyah Bergman-Lanier, director of Spring International, has contacts with a company in Thailand called Knowledge Plus that organizes such exchanges.

"They were delighted with what we could offer," Keogh said.

Faculty members who worked with the Thai group were Kate Mamiseishvili, assistant professor of higher education; Dennis Beck, assistant professor of educational technology; Paul Hewitt, assistant professor of educational leadership; Michael Loos, clinical assistant professor of counselor education; Michael Miller, associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Education and Health Professions; Todd Shields, dean of the Graduate School and International Education; and Adam Morris, assistant director of operations management in the College of Engineering.

In addition to Lanier and Keogh, Spring International faculty Cindy Rauth and Lindsey King also made presentations or conducted workshops for the students from Thailand.