diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index a5f71a4652..168a008809 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ phpMyAdmin - ChangeLog
 4.5.4.0 (not yet released)
 - issue #11724 live data edit of big sets is not working
 - issue        Table list not saved in db QBE bookmarked search
+- issue #11777 While 'changing a column', query fails with a syntax error after the 'CHARSET=' keyword
 
 4.5.3.1 (2015-12-25)
 - issue #11774 Undefined offset 2
diff --git a/libraries/Table.php b/libraries/Table.php
index 32da5adf1f..1a38b31ab9 100644
--- a/libraries/Table.php
+++ b/libraries/Table.php
@@ -415,7 +415,7 @@ class Table
                 $type
             );
             if (! empty($collation) && $collation != 'NULL' && $matches) {
-                $query .= PMA_generateCharsetQueryPart($collation);
+                $query .= PMA_generateCharsetQueryPart($collation, true);
             }
 
             if ($null !== false) {
diff --git a/libraries/mysql_charsets.lib.php b/libraries/mysql_charsets.lib.php
index 75dc9abf2b..2b5dd880fa 100644
--- a/libraries/mysql_charsets.lib.php
+++ b/libraries/mysql_charsets.lib.php
@@ -82,14 +82,20 @@ function PMA_generateCharsetDropdownBox($type = PMA_CSDROPDOWN_COLLATION,
 /**
  * Generate the charset query part
  *
- * @param string $collation Collation
+ * @param string           $collation Collation
+ * @param boolean optional $override  force 'CHARACTER SET' keyword
  *
  * @return string
  */
-function PMA_generateCharsetQueryPart($collation)
+function PMA_generateCharsetQueryPart($collation, $override = false)
 {
     list($charset) = explode('_', $collation);
-    return ' CHARSET=' . $charset
+    $keyword = ' CHARSET=';
+
+    if ($override) {
+        $keyword = ' CHARACTER SET ';
+    }
+    return $keyword . $charset
         . ($charset == $collation ? '' : ' COLLATE ' . $collation);
 }
 
diff --git a/test/classes/TableTest.php b/test/classes/TableTest.php
index 12880eff11..b5821dc435 100644
--- a/test/classes/TableTest.php
+++ b/test/classes/TableTest.php
@@ -682,7 +682,7 @@ class TableTest extends PMATestCase
             $extra, $comment, $virtuality, $expression, $move_to
         );
 
-        $expect = "`name` `new_name` VARCHAR(2) new_name CHARSET="
+        $expect = "`name` `new_name` VARCHAR(2) new_name CHARACTER SET "
             . "charset1 NULL DEFAULT 'VARCHAR' "
             . "AUTO_INCREMENT COMMENT 'PMA comment' AFTER `new_name`";