Dr. Marie-Therese Claes PhD

by Dr. Iain Corness

There are many words that can be used to describe Dr. Marie-Therese Claes, the Dean of the Faculty of Business at the Asian University. Multi-lingual, sophisticated, eloquent, intelligent, driven, feminist, well groomed - the list goes on. An achiever at the highest level, and yet someone with that certain ‘human’ touch, despite operating almost all her life in academia. After suggesting that we did not meet in my office, which I described as a pig-sty, she came back with the rejoinder that she was pleased as she did not then have to wear her Wellington boots!
Marie-Therese was born in Belgium, in a region where her parents spoke Dutch. Her parents were not academics, and ran a building company, but yet the importance of education and language was appreciated by them, and Marie-Therese was sent to a boarding school which operated in the French language. As well as a basic education, it had already been decided that she should grow up bilingual.
A bright young girl, she reveled in school. “I loved school. I was good at it,” she said as a matter of fact. However, she also enjoyed the family vacations, where they would all get in the car and travel throughout Europe. “You realize people eat different things, speak a different language and you become aware of cultural changes.” It is obvious that even at that stage in her life, she was very much aware of her surroundings.
When she finished school she was still undecided as to her future direction, but it was decided she should go to university to study languages. “(It was) one of the mistakes I made in life – letting other people make decisions for me,” she said. Like so many of us, she now possesses 20/20 hindsight!
However, she applied herself well and four years later emerged with her Masters degree in languages, having studied Dutch, English and German. As well as the theory of languages, she would also baby-sit for Americans in Brussels to learn the colloquial English. Marie-Therese was not a person lacking in application.
With her Masters, it seemed that teaching was the only avenue of employment and she taught at a secondary school for two years but did not really enjoy it. She then transferred to the adult education sphere and found this much more interesting. “Adults are motivated. They have invested time and money.” She also found that with adult students coming from many walks of life, as well as different countries, that she could learn something about them and their cultures in return. This took one complete decade, but then academia called again.
The University of Louvain, outside Brussels, asked her to come and teach Business Communication. “The language of business,” was how she described it. The next two decades were spent at Louvain University, where she also studied herself to gain first a PhD in Cultural Differences and then went on to complete an MBA. If this was not enough, she also worked part-time for a business college in Brussels. I did say that (now Dr.) Marie-Therese Claes was not lacking in application!
By this stage she was deeply involved in cross-cultural relations and had joined the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (better known by the acronym SIETAR). Her involvement, and her contribution to this international group, was such that she was asked to be European president.
At this stage in the interview, she launched forth into something of an academic discourse, saying, “When you speak several languages you appreciate differences. When you speak another language, you are another person. Language allows you to express things in a different way. You interpret things in a different way. Races bring language and culture, but more than 50 percent of words in any language are foreign!” To hammer the point home, did you know that ‘sugar’ was Arabic?
We had no sooner dispatched that topic, when she told me she had also been the president of the European Women in Management Development (EWMD) organization. “Women have to be very good (to overcome bias). Men lack self confidence, so they make laws to protect themselves.” I asked directly if she were a feminist. “Feminist? Of course I am – in a positive way. I’m not against men – on the contrary.” In fact, she later revealed that she had been married “to a wonderful man. He ran a language and computer school which I ran after his death.”
This in some ways precipitated her coming to Thailand, to the Asian University. She was discussing matters with a colleague from Vienna University and he mentioned the Asian University. “Why don’t you go?” said Marie-Therese. “Why don’t you go?” was his reply, and now without her partner she made the decisions to come to Thailand.
She has been here for 14 months and describes it as an interesting challenge. “Teaching in Europe and Asia is quite different. The students (here) are more dependent upon the lecturers. Because of the (Asian) respect culture, there is no spirited discussion. It is a different learning style.” However, with her vast past experience and her interest and knowledge of sociological and cultural differences and change, I am quite sure that she will more than rise to the challenge, and her students will be the winners, with enhanced, educated enquiring minds.
With her single-mindedness, at (what I thought was) the end of the interview, she said, “We haven’t talked about the Asian University yet. We (Asian University) have to come out into the open. Who are we? People don’t know it. I want to see recognition of Asian University and its high standards. Our graduating students are bilingual and I want to see recruitment days, established links with companies, internships and jobs for these high achieving graduates.”
If Dr. Marie-Therese’s students can assimilate one third of her energy and dedication, they will be the leaders of tomorrow. It is not too often you meet someone with so much intensity. An enlightening afternoon, with a very enlightened lady.