Development communication studies originated in the U.S. It is understandable, therefore, that countries seeking to establish development communication studies of their own engaged in considerable borrowing of theories and methodologies from the U.S. However, it has ultimately become necessary to adapt these borrowed materials to make them more responsive to the specific needs of those countries. Thailand, which was until recently an underdeveloped country and only now is beginning to emerge as a Newly Industrialising Country, has gone through this borrowing process since the start of its development communication studies programs in the late 1970s. The direct borrowing stage lasted from that time until approximately the mid-1980s. Until then, teaching, research, and academic staff training in development communication in Thailand relied heavily on U.S. sources. After the mid-1980s, however, an indigenous development communication research agenda began to be established. Where the earlier programs, texts, and research basically reproduced mainstream U.S. approaches based on the development modernization paradigm, Thai programs have since begun to focus more clearly on the specific Thai experience. Although rural development research in the areas of agriculture, public health, and education remain in the forefront of Thai research, newer concerns reflecting contemporary social problems, such as women's issues, AIDS, the environment, and the uses of new information technologies, are becoming important research topics.