Types of Abbreviated Words or Acronyms Used in the Assumption University Community

Many types of words are abbreviated or used as acronyms; those of common usage in the Assumption University community are listed below:

A. Words Associated with the Name of Persons

  1. Social Titles: Mr., Mrs., Dr. (these are never spelled out)
  2. Academic Titles: Prof., Assoc. Prof., Asst. Prof., A. (for Achan*)
    * ‘Achan’ is the Thai word for instructor. Spelling of all Thai words, except personal names, in this publication follows the Royal Institute’s System of Transcribing Thai Words into Roman Letters Based on Sound Transfer.
  3. Religious Titles: Rev. Bro. (but the Reverend Bro. Prathip Komolmas, or Rev. Bro. P. Martin Komolmas; never Reverend Komolmas, or the Reverend Komolmas)
  4. Degrees following a full name that is not preceded by a title: Narong Chomchalow, Ph.D., not Dr. (or Mr.) Narong Chomchalow, Ph.D.
  5. Titles of religious order following a full name: Rev. Bro. P. Martin Komolmas, f.s.g., Sister Bede Sullivan, O.S.B.

B. Words Associated with the Names of Organizations, Agencies, etc.
Abbreviations are commonly used for the long names of organizations, agencies, etc. Every letter is capitalized and written in solid (no space) when the abbreviation is used as the acronym. Note: no full stops (.) are used in the acronyms, e.g. ABAC, ABACA.

C. Degrees Offered
These are abbreviations of the degrees offered by Assumption University. It should be noted that there is still inconsistency in abbreviating the degrees offered by various faculties, schools, programs, etc. of Assumption University; some use periods for abbreviated words (e.g. M.S., Ph.D.) while others do not (e.g. MA, PhD); some use a hyphen to separate level and discipline (e.g. MA-ELL, MS-TS); some put the abbreviated discipline in bracket [e.g. MS (IEC)]. Even for the same degrees published in the same publication, there is a difference in writing these degrees; for example, Master of Business Administration in Technology Management has different abbreviations, namely: MBA-TecM, MBA.TecM. For the sake of consistency, the author of this publication takes the liberty of writing these degrees in the same format using the following guidelines:

  1. For the Degrees: Use capital letters for all abbreviations by writing them with no space or full stop, e.g. BA, BS, MA, MBA, MS, except for a few conventional words in which small case letters are also used, viz. Arch. (Architecture), Ed. (Education), Eng. (Engineering), Sc. (Science), Ph. (Philosophy). Note that a full stop is used at the end of the abbreviated words with small case. Please note also that there are many ways to write abbreviations of a bachelor’s and master’s degrees, namely:
    Bachelor’s Degrees:
      BArch. = Bachelor of Architecture
      BA = Bachelor of Arts
      BBA = Bachelor of Business Administration
      BEng. = Bachelor of Engineering
      BG = Business Administration - General Course
      BNS = Bachelor of Nursing Science
      BS = Bachelor of Science (American System)
      BSc = Bachelor of Science (British System)
    Master’s Degrees:
      MA = Master of Arts
      MBA = Master of Business Administration
      MEd. = Master of Education
      MEng. = Master of Engineering
      MM = Master of Management
      MS = Master of Science (American System)
      MSc = Master of Science (British System)
      LLM = Master of Law
         
  2. For the Discipline of the Degrees: Use capital letters for all abbreviations by writing them with no space or full stop, e.g. IB, CIS, EA, except for a few conventional words in which small case(s) is/are also used, viz. Ed (Education), Tec (Technology), Te (Tele-, as in TeC = Telecommunications). Please note the following:
    • In contrast to the abbreviated degree with small cases, a full stop is not used at the end of the abbreviated word containing small case letters.
    • Management is abbreviated as:
      M as in MSc.FM (Master of Science in Financial Management), or
      Mgt. as in MSc.Mgt. (Master of Science in Management).

  3. For the Full Degree: Write the abbreviated degree, followed by a single space and the abbreviated discipline, e.g.
      MA TRM = Master of Arts in Tourism Management
      MBA TecM = Master of Business Administration in Technology Management
      MEd EA = Master of Education in Education Administration
      MEng PE = Master of Engineering in Power Electronics
      MM OD&M = Master of Management in Organization Development and Management
      MS IT = Master of Science in Information Technology
      MSc TecM = Master of Science in Technology Management

D. Other Uses of Letter(s) to Signify Certain Meanings:

(i)
Grading System: A letter is used to represent the level of grade, e.g. A is excellence, B is second, C is third; each letter may be modified with a plus or minus sign to specify subdivision of the level, e.g. B+ is higher than B, while B is higher than B-.
(ii)
Sequence of a Group: The first few letters of the English alphabets are used to signify the sequence in a group; A represents first, B for second, C for third.
(iii)
Buildings: The first or first few letters of the building are used; e.g.
A
 = Assumption Hall (or Administration Building)
D
 = De Montfort Hall
ST
 = St. Gabriel Hall
(iv)
Miscellaneous items: (See list below)

There are many other categories of abbreviations such as units of measurement, hours of the day, days of the week, months of the year, Latin words, chemical elements, physics terms, names of the countries, etc. But these are general abbreviations and not specifically related to Assumption University, thus are not included herein. The readers are advised to read the guideline on “How to Use Abbreviations”, published in the inside front and back covers of the AU Journal of Technology 5(3): January 2002 as a guideline for writing abbreviated words.

The University Information Center Assumption University
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E-mail: journal@au.ac.th