This year, CZU students had another opportunity to attend the 2nd Summer School in Thailand for the MODULE 1 of this project on the topic of Value Chain Management, thanks to the cooperation of this project. The summer school lasted for three weeks, from 7 to 28 August at Chinag Mai University in northern Thailand. There were seven students from CZU and 12 students from four Thai universities (Chiang Mai University, Prince of Songkla University, Kasetsart University, and Khon Kaen University). From the CZU side, the organization and tuition were provided by Ing. Petra Chaloupková (Deputy Director for International Relations) and Ing. Olga Leuner (Vice-Dean for Science, Research and Doctoral Study) from the Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences.
The aims of the summer school were to introduce the basic concepts of Value Chain Management to the students; teaching the principles of agricultural production in Thailand. Moreover, students could get deep insight about the situation on the local market related to agricultural production throughout on-site excursion rather than just theorical knowledge. Hence, there were also the marketing research which connected lectures about data collection method, research methods, data processing with the real field work practice by going to the local market with survey questionnaires to collect data related to their topics (mango, banana, jasmine rice, and garlic). Some examples of the excursion sites were Cooperative farm, Royal project distribution centre, and some local markets in Chiang Mai.
Aside from scientific knowledge such as how to collect the literature reviews; how to make research design; how to analyse the data and interpret the results; preparing report and scientific writing; scientific presentation etc., international team building is one of the main purposes of this program. Therefore, students were assigned to do group work such as data collection and presentation regarding to their topics in order to share their ideas and knowledges as well as creating international bonding.
