[W] International Session -II

[W-07] KOSEN Education and Mindset at KOSEN-KMITL in Thailand

○Hideaki ABURATANI¹, Shigeyoshi NAKAMURA¹, Nobutomo UEHARA², Suvepon SITTICHIVAPAK³, Masaaki KOMATSU⁴ (1. National Institute of Technology, Ube College, 2. National Institute of Technology, 3. KOSEN-KMITL, 4. Thai-Nichi International College, Thai-Nich Institute of Technology)

Keywords:Curriculum, engineering design, students’ readiness, hidden curriculum, mindset

Japanese College of Technology (KOSEN), starting at the age of 15, is Japan's original five years tertiary education and has played an important role in fostering innovative engineers in the last fifty years in Japan. KOSEN-KMITL is the first Japanese-style KOSEN established in Thailand as a Thai’s national project for fostering practical and innovative engineers urgently required by industries in Thailand. There are many historical, cultural, and institutional differences between KOSEN-KMITL and Japanese long-term existing KOSEN colleges. To launch KOSEN education, it is crucial to build school spirits and students’ KOSEN engineering mindset in addition to the implementation of KOSEN classes. To develop students’ KOSEN mindset and their readiness for KOSEN study, an introductory subject module including engineering contents, cognitive approaches, hands-on work, and Lab work is provided for all first-year students. It is shown that the module is very effective as early engineering education.