Sounay Phothisane, Young academic excels abroad

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Sounay Phothisane, Young academic excels abroad

Thursday, 09 June 2011 21:36 Sounay Phothisane

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Download the newspaper here 10 June 2011 Issue 136 (3.92 MB)

At just 26 years old, Sounay Phothisane is already well known amongst the educated elite of Bangkok, Thailand, where he works as a business modelling and analysis specialist at Mahasarakham Business School.

Mr Sounay is enjoying the kind of success in Thai universities that is rarely afforded to Lao nationals and hopes his achievements will someday prove fruitful for the development of his own country.

Sounay Phothisane was born and raised in Vientiane until the age of six, when he moved with his family to Queensland, Australia, after his father received a scholarship to study for a master's and then a PhD.

Sounay spent five years at an Australian primary school before the family returned to Laos and applied to send Sounay to Vientiane Secondary School.

However, things weren't quite that easy.

Sounay's ability to read and write Lao was below that expected of a boy his age after living in Australia for five years and the school turned him down. Instead he spent the next two years at Sunshine Primary School before finally being admitted to Vientiane Secondary School.

After finishing school in 2004 his transient lifestyle resumed when his father was offered three different jobs lecturing at universities abroad.

Despite the attractive packages offered by universities in Arizona and Tokyo, Sounay's father opted to stay closer to home and accepted a position at Mahasarakham University in Thailand, where Sounay applied for an Interna tional Business major.

After graduating in 2008 with a BBA from Mahasarakham Business School, he was granted a scholarship for an MBA in Business Modelling and Analysis at Mahidol University International College, based on his excellent undergraduate record. Both the undergraduate and master's courses were conducted entirely in English.

Sounay is grateful for the opportunities he has had to study abroad and believes that his success is due to three elements – opportunity, hard work and luck. After being given the opportunity, as a result of his father's scholarship, he was determined to make the most of it.

Sounay's father now lectures in history at Khon Kaen University, Thailand, where he specialises in the history of Laos and Issaan, while his mother works at the Ministry of Planning and Investment in Vientiane. His younger sister is an air hostess for Qatar Airways.

Sounay has followed in his father's footsteps by becoming an academic, although in a totally different field. Although the whole family has been relatively successful, Sounay believes that this is only the beginning.

He remains the only Lao lecturer at Mahasarakham Business School, where he is also the second youngest teacher. His main responsibilities are lecturing and research, some of which will soon be published internationally.

Asked if being a teacher at 25 is too young, he replied that age is not the consideration; instead strength, desire and willingness to learn new things are what are important.

Aside from his academic career, Sounay spends his free time usefully. Despite being far from home he keeps up-to-date through social networking on the internet.

His active interest in social networking has led him to create a number of websites of his own, including vientianehour.com, sounay.com and nahuk.net, which provide news on Lao current affairs to the Lao populace around the world.

Sounay also created www.dictionary.econy.asia which is an online economics dictionary for Lao students.

He believes the knowledge he has acquired and the skills he's gained are helping him become a better teacher as he is able to put his skills to practical use.

Despite his successful education and career, Sounay hopes to take a PhD programme before returning to Laos with enough experience and knowledge to make a useful contribution to the nation's development.

Sounay is a prime example of a young person making the most of his opportunities by utilising his education for the future development of his country.

Hopefully, his story will be an example to Lao students on how to succeed and serve as motivation for them to work hard and grasp all opportunities that come their way.

Source: http://www.vientianetimes.org.la/sub-new/Feature/Feature_Young_academic.htm

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