Pathway to NIU: Expanding International Opportunities Across CISTU’s PPE Programmes

International opportunity should not depend on whether the word “international” appears in the name of a student’s degree.

On 11 August 2026, the College of Interdisciplinary Studies (CISTU), Thammasat University, organised Pathway to NIU, introducing students from CISTU’s Philosophy, Politics, and Economics programmes to study opportunities at Northern Illinois University (NIU), United States.

The session welcomed Assoc. Prof. Colin Kuehl, Ph.D., from NIU, who met directly with students to discuss academic opportunities, requirements, and the 2+2 pathway connecting study at Thammasat with further study at NIU.

One Pathway, Three PPE Programmes

A distinctive feature of the pathway is its availability to students across CISTU’s three PPE programmes:

• PPE at Tha Prachan

• PPE International Programme

• PPE at Lampang Campus

Students interested in the pathway can begin planning during their studies at Thammasat, subject to the relevant academic and English-language requirements.

This broad access reflects an important direction in CISTU’s approach to internationalisation. Global academic opportunities should not operate as a separate track available only to students already enrolled in an international programme.

Instead, institutional partnerships can be used to create practical mobility pathways across the College.

From Partnership to Student Mobility

CISTU’s collaboration with Northern Illinois University is no longer simply about creating future opportunities. The pathway is already being used by our students.

Following the first CISTU student who continued their studies at NIU through the 2+2 pathway last year, two more PPE students have begun their studies at NIU this academic year.

The Pathway to NIU session therefore builds on an opportunity that has already materialised. By introducing the pathway to students across all three PPE programmes—Tha Prachan, International, and Lampang—CISTU is working to make an established international opportunity visible and accessible to a wider group of students.

For CISTU, this is what international collaboration should ultimately produce: not agreements that remain on paper, but pathways that students actually use.