The Impact of Globalization with Thai University Students Enrolled With International Program

Abstract

Globalization, caused by the rapid development ofInformation and Communication
Technology (ICT), is becoming aninevitable trend in the present world.
Globalization offers clear opportunities and benefits for the world economies but
comes with substantial social costs that often appear to affect people, especially the
youth. The world’s researchers have paid most of their attention to adolescents, the
special group of youth whose transition from being children to adulthood, has been
most affected by the globalization period.Theaim of thisstudy is to study the future
impacts of globalization towards perspectives in place identity, specifically, the
hometown identityofthe youth. As most of the migration workers from Bangkok
are coming from northeastern of Thailand, the place where agriculture industry is
the major industry.The young students who enrolled with international program in
the under-graduate levelforms the basis for this research. This study uses primary
data which was collected in Khon Kaen University Internasional College
(KKUIC).The research results indicated thatthe respondents from KKUIC
weremore willing to live in big cities and that traditional music stylesareneither
popular nor attractive anymore.Among the participating youth students, place
identity concerning future working place and living place, big cities such as
Bangkok, Chiang Mai, etc. are more attractive for them. The willing of migration is
higher than 78%.Sustainable development in the agricultural based region needs
contributions from the locals.However, the loss of place identity might act against
this participation.
Keywords: Globalization, Future Perspective, PlaceIdentity, YouthStudent, Northeastern
Thailand