The existential threat to Thai universities

[webfact]

The existential threat to Thai universities

By Peerasit Kamnuansilpa 
Special to The Nation

 

 

Higher education in Thailand has entered a new, perilous era. Before 2007, the demand for college education was much greater than the available places.

 

This demand was sustained by high fertility rates and parents’ desire for children to join the ranks of the privileged. Since 2017, the situation has changed markedly, with demand plummeting to the point where only 230,000 out of 300,000 university seats were applied for this year.

 

Higher education in Thailand began under King Rama V, who had an earnest wish to modernise the country. In 1902, he set up the Royal Pages School, in the Grand Palace, to provide training on public administration for aspiring civil servants. In 1910, King Rama VI changed its name to King Chulalongkorn’s Civil Servants School, which the same year became Chulalongkorn University, the first in Thailand. It was followed by Thammasat in 1934, and Kasetsart, Mahidol and Silpakorn universities, in 1943. 

 

But in 1990, a sea change occurred in Thailand as the birth rate dropped below replacement levels. As a result, 17 years later the number of university applications began falling. 

 

However, demand remained high for the limited supply of seats, with only 12 per cent of high school graduates accepted into university, 

 

Each year, approximately 2 million candidates, including those who were refused previously, were waiting to gain admission. The majority of them would never have been able to enrol in a university had it not been for the Student Loan Fund (SLF), launched in 1998.

 

The SLF removed the economic barrier to children of the underprivileged, who viewed it as a route out of poverty and a potential gold mine. In the decade after the SLF began, some 106 new universities and colleges were created. About 40 per cent were upgraded from the teacher or vocational colleges while the majority were private institutions, most set up just to profit from the SLF. Currently, there are 310 higher-education institutions. Of these only 29 are premier public universities.

 

If distributed equally, each institution would receive about 9,500 students per annum – which would easily generate enough revenue for the universities. In reality, the 29 premier public universities fill their capacity first, leaving a few hundred for each established private university.

 

The situation is now worsening, with even public universities finding some of their classrooms are empty. Administrators of both public and private institutions are concerned about generating enough revenue to sustain their academic programmes. In fact, eight private institutions have recently been forced to close. In another case, a private university has been taken over by Chinese investors. This has triggered fears of “neo-colonialism” in Thailand’s education system. 

 

Meanwhile Thai higher education is in danger of further collapse, as demographic trends and poor management threaten even public universities. 

 

To avoid disaster, public universities, which are all tax-supported, need to transform themselves.

 

Where must the transformation begin? It begins within the administrative systems. First, public universities should change from their political model of management – in which a political clique seeks power to govern in order to protect its own interests – to a professional management model.

 

At almost all Thai universities, the president selects the university council members, who then appoint the president, or vice versa. The professional model of searching for the most competent person to lead the university as practised within the world’s great universities has not yet arrived in Thailand. 

 

Second, public universities need to manage their budgets more prudently. A recent study of nine public universities, seven of which are ranked in the top 10, revealed disturbing facts.

 

Over the past six to 10 years, depending on the availability of data, all of them had benefited from an increase in government allocated budget, ranging from a low of 2 per cent to as high as 30.8 per cent. At the same time, all of them have enjoyed an average annual rise in revenue, mostly from tuition fees, ranging from 1.9 to 36.1 per cent.

 

The bulk of the budgets fund two expenditures: salary and compensation, and procurements that sustain the administrative system. Yet, in exchange for that budget money, the public universities do not provide commensurate social, economic, political and scientific benefits to Thailand.

 

As Thai universities have to compete in the world rankings – which depend mainly on research output – producing high numbers of quality scientific research should be the major focus, along with teaching. Research output, such as scientific publications and awards, should be adopted as the primary criterion in appointing and rewarding faculty members and assessing the worth of keeping the schools or departments.

 

In addition to teaching, the government should mandate all universities to work with their communities through outreach services. Universities need to play a pivotal role in national development, especially in the “soft” sciences – those that prepare students to solve socio-political problems.

 

Each university also needs to adapt to suit its communities’ needs. The key to the success of the world’s great universities is autonomy of decision-making for the appropriate university unit – not trying to centralise education policymaking at the highest university level. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30354844

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-09-20

[Samui Bodoh]

Good editorial.

 

"...At almost all Thai universities, the president selects the university council members, who then appoint the president, or vice versa. The professional model of searching for the most competent person to lead the university as practised within the world’s great universities has not yet arrived in Thailand..." 

 

The quote above is a microcosm of Thailand itself; a closed loop of people hoarding benefits at the cost of everyone else and the country itself. Why is Thai Governance so bad? Look no further than the training that future leaders receive.

 

"...Second, public universities need to manage their budgets more prudently. A recent study of nine public universities, seven of which are ranked in the top 10, revealed disturbing facts....

...The bulk of the budgets fund two expenditures: salary and compensation, and procurements that sustain the administrative system. Yet, in exchange for that budget money, the public universities do not provide commensurate social, economic, political and scientific benefits to Thailand...."

 

Again, a microcosm of Thailand itself. University budgets (and later Bureaucracy budgets) utilized mainly for the benefit of the university administrators (later Bureaucrats). When one asks why there is so much corruption within the Thai government, the answer is clearly that they learned it by example from their university days.

 

"...Yet, in exchange for that budget money, the public universities do not provide commensurate social, economic, political and scientific benefits to Thailand..."

 

Again, a microcosm of Thailand. In exchange for the budget, does the bureaucracy provide...? Nope, It is a self-sustaining privilege factory for its members; free health care, a job for life, generous pension, few (if any) responsibilities, etc etc etc.

 

"...As Thai universities have to compete in the world rankings... the primary criterion in appointing and rewarding faculty members and assessing the worth of keeping the schools or departments...."

 

Again, Thai governments 'compete' in world rankings; Health Care provided, Maternal Births/Deaths, Life Expectancy, Income Distribution, level of services, GDP, etc are all indicators of a country and its government. And, based on the indicators, Thailand lags...

 

An excellent Editorial, and one that has many, many lessons for the country as a whole. It is not a scientific fact, but the quality of a University system is, in my view, an excellent leading indicator of a country's future success.

 

Thailand's future? It could and should be looking better...

 

 

 

[zzaa09]

Less politics. 

More quality practice. 

[Lunchbob]

I wonder what private school was purchased by Chinese investors. The "working with the community" mandate is a failure. They mostly ask for English classes. You know the learn to speak English over the weekend model. Also, this mandate to infiltrate locally screws up admissions. 

[Khun Paul]

Everybody I know in the Academic world, states quite categorically that Thai degrees are not worth the paper they are written on, those who take an English Major the vast Majority have a hard time even speaking English. I once had to tutor a young man who by luck had obtained a placement in a Engineering Uni in Australia, he needed help in his written English and knew he had to present a biopsy of his life in English upon joining, after three lessons he decided he knew enough, after joining the Unjiversity he was sent back to Thailand as his English was not acceptable , his aim was to get his Masters in Australia, as he had a BA from Thailand . he ended up with not getting his masters and the Thai University was written to by the Australian on e has to how he gained his BA. 

 

That is the Major problem, Thai Unis have almost NO CREDIBILITY 

[Chassa]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Higher education in Thailand has entered a new, perilous era. Before 2007, the demand for college education was much greater than the available places.

Thaksin era??

[Pilotman]

Have met two young ladies who 'purchased' their degrees from local Thai universities having  attended some classes but never taken any kind of exam.  As usual here, the  authorities turn a blind eye to rampart corruption and piss poor teaching (if you can call it that) and fail their own people.in the process. Went to talk to a local English teacher in the local High School some time back, the woman couldn't string any few words together that made sense.  

[peterpop]

Do you think anyone in the various anti corruption agencies actually reads reports in English about corruption.  The most blatant corruption that I see almost daily is when I exercise my dogs at the Chiang Mai University agriculture campus near Mehia.  Every year a new building that remains empty.  This for the last 10 years to my certain knowledge.  An animal experiment building, a Radio Frequency rice sterilising plant, a biogas demonstration unit, a Weather observation building [huge], a cafe !!!, a tutorial block [vast] and now the prestigious Northern Science Park and more.  All empty and deteriorating.

I know, they have to spend their budget or lose it.  What nonsense.  Any audit... not in my lifetime.  All those kick backs.  The only part of the Campus that works and is clearly profitable is the ''planting of experimental crops'' area.  A new covered market has been built by this area to sell the crops... very nice too.  I wonder where the profit goes? 

[rickudon]

Quote

As Thai universities have to compete in the world rankings – which depend mainly on research output – producing high numbers of quality scientific research should be the major focus, along with teaching. Research output, such as scientific publications and awards, should be adopted as the primary criterion in appointing and rewarding faculty members and assessing the worth of keeping the schools or departments.

I do have an issue with this. The primary purpose of a university is to EDUCATE, not do research. Research is all about prestige. In the UK, because of this focus on research output, the best professors do very little teaching. In my day we were taught, now half of lectures are just recordings, teaching is to onerous.

 

Being realistic, a University with modest funding cannot do much original research, it is better to capitalise on the work of the prestigious few and concentrate on how to put such research to use. Teach well, show students how to use their knowledge, and the investment in education will pay off.

[LazySlipper]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

The existential threat to Thai universities

The threat actually started the day they opened the first university and has continued to unleash unqualified, uneducated people into the population at large.

[Pedrogaz]

Having funded a nephew and niece of my wife to attend university here in Thailand, I am appalled at the standard of teaching they have received and at the low level of education they have attained. Pitiful....but thankfully quite cheap.

[Briggsy]

1 hour ago, peterpop said:

Do you think anyone in the various anti corruption agencies actually reads reports in English about corruption.  The most blatant corruption that I see almost daily is when I exercise my dogs at the Chiang Mai University agriculture campus near Mehia.  Every year a new building that remains empty.  This for the last 10 years to my certain knowledge.  An animal experiment building, a Radio Frequency rice sterilising plant, a biogas demonstration unit, a Weather observation building [huge], a cafe !!!, a tutorial block [vast] and now the prestigious Northern Science Park and more.  All empty and deteriorating.

I know, they have to spend their budget or lose it.  What nonsense.  Any audit... not in my lifetime.  All those kick backs.  The only part of the Campus that works and is clearly profitable is the ''planting of experimental crops'' area.  A new covered market has been built by this area to sell the crops... very nice too.  I wonder where the profit goes? 

Ha ha, I too live near a large government university campus. Every year a new 8-storey building goes up without fail. The occupants seem to be packs of feral dogs rendering them off limits for humans.

[irwinfc]

34 minutes ago, rickudon said:

I do have an issue with this. The primary purpose of a university is to EDUCATE, not do research. Research is all about prestige. In the UK, because of this focus on research output, the best professors do very little teaching. In my day we were taught, now half of lectures are just recordings, teaching is to onerous.

 

Being realistic, a University with modest funding cannot do much original research, it is better to capitalise on the work of the prestigious few and concentrate on how to put such research to use. Teach well, show students how to use their knowledge, and the investment in education will pay off.

i totally agree with your assessment. i work for a top uni here and the lecturers are all to preoccupied with research that they barely know how to teach. one might think that teaching comes naturally for researchers. they are two distinct, yet related professions. and those who can teach, don't even care if the students learn. don't even talk about standards because they don't exist here.

[ReMarKable]

One of the problems with Thai higher education is it is almost impossible to fail.  I applied to one Thai private university and was told I could only fail 25% of the students.  The department head could fail 50%.  So best for students to not take any classes from department head.  The importance of the parent of the student applying is also an important factor, just as in leading universities in the USA, where idiots like George Dubya and Trump got admitted through connections.

[Pilotman]

4 hours ago, Pedrogaz said:

Having funded a nephew and niece of my wife to attend university here in Thailand, I am appalled at the standard of teaching they have received and at the low level of education they have attained. Pitiful....but thankfully quite cheap.

cheap yes, but it doesn't  do their prospects any good in the long rum.  My daughter (mixed race Brit/Thai ) is at a UK university. We never even considered for a moment her staying here to be 'educated' , so she went to a Brit High School, did her A Levels and then on to Uni. 

[Sakeopete]

Thai education LOL my step-son who couldn't even pass high school got a bachelor degree attending classes on the weekend only. He missed half those days yet still graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2 years.

[zydeco]

5 hours ago, rickudon said:

I do have an issue with this. The primary purpose of a university is to EDUCATE, not do research. Research is all about prestige.

Research is about staying current in your field. If you can't stay current in your field, you can't teach.

[madmitch]

1 hour ago, Sakeopete said:

Thai education LOL my step-son who couldn't even pass high school got a bachelor degree attending classes on the weekend only. He missed half those days yet still graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2 years.

Two years? Most students spend four years, or even longer and still come out with a piece of paper that's worthless outside Thailand. 

[zzaa09]

7 hours ago, Khun Paul said:

Everybody I know in the Academic world, states quite categorically that Thai degrees are not worth the paper they are written on, those who take an English Major the vast Majority have a hard time even speaking English. I once had to tutor a young man who by luck had obtained a placement in a Engineering Uni in Australia, he needed help in his written English and knew he had to present a biopsy of his life in English upon joining, after three lessons he decided he knew enough, after joining the Unjiversity he was sent back to Thailand as his English was not acceptable , his aim was to get his Masters in Australia, as he had a BA from Thailand . he ended up with not getting his masters and the Thai University was written to by the Australian on e has to how he gained his BA. 

 

That is the Major problem, Thai Unis have almost NO CREDIBILITY 

What might be more shameful is that the Thai educational authorities are completely oblivious to the fact that their university systems are nearly second rate, preferring to exist within their realms of rhetorical fantasy. In defence, some Thai university programs excel by countering quality hard science curriculum but fail miserably throughout - generally speaking. 

What is definitely never mentioned in critique regarding Thai educational processes will be the all-purpose political repression that is encased throughout all levels - from primary through tertiary pursuits. Less noting, how instructors/teachers are homogenously trained and rarely have opportunities to break on though, as such applies to encouraging independent and critical thought throughout their extended studies activities. The cycles just repeat themselves, digging deeper their sublime fancy.

[Sir Dude]

Quote

The professional model of searching for the most competent person to lead the university as practised within the world’s great universities has not yet arrived in Thailand. 

No sh#t there. The prospects of meritocracy developing here in many/any areas is sadly a long way off and there seems to be little inclination to even give token lip-service to it. The present flawed system here is very deeply entrenched and the patronage system isn't going away anytime soon.

[zzaa09]

49 minutes ago, Sir Dude said:

No sh#t there. The prospects of meritocracy developing here in many/any areas is sadly a long way off and there seems to be little inclination to even give token lip-service to it. The present flawed system here is very deeply entrenched and the patronage system isn't going away anytime soon.

Too true.

Sadder yet, is that they don't have the ability to recognize as such. 

And the cycles will continue.

[marcusarelus]

The article writer is in error.  Research only 20%  https://www.topuniversities.com/qs-world-university-rankings/methodology

 

Not all ranking services are weighted to research.

Edited September 20, 2018 by marcusarelus

[seminomadic]

Peerasit has done his research, and it's a great analysis, but s/he sure as sh!t hasn't spent any time working in a university

 

1) You're a middle class kid asking Santa for 5 Maseratis if you think you can get "quality scientific research [as] the major focus...along with [better] teaching." You don't get that. At this stage in Thailand's development, you just . don't . get . to . have . that....

 

Thailand needs to choose:

sacrifice the quality of the kids' education for the sake of just getting on the board with research development profile in Asian universities **in MAYBE a generation from now**

OR

give the kids the kind of education that isn't archaic, isn't holding them back, leaves them with some desire for further/lifelong learning (acknowledge this is an issue with tertiary ed globally), and doesn't simply fossilize their mostly docile nature into adulthood, and allows them to possibly "provide commensurate social, economic, political and scientific benefits to Thailand" as a result of said improved education and analyic thinking

 

You have to PICK ONE of these.

 

2) If you're oriented toward the "primary criterion" of research output, you're always going to be playing catch-up. The system is going to get more and more bent with who can boast the most 'research citations' and the flim-flammery that has been exploding in the last decade or so. You can pay people to 'like' your posts on social media and youtube to falsely increase your profile. It's coming with citations if it isn't already here. Playing this game of points for research to increase the perceived value of your university is wrong as it sacrifices the kids. Professors go jetsetting all over, presenting papers and it's not uncommon for them to be doing by cancelling classes - "the university's paying for me to go present my paper in Japan! Free trip! I get an audience! Just gotta cancel 3 days of class is all. No biggie." When you iterate that hundreds/thousands times over, that's a BIG cut into the students' time that they're supposed to be taught. Again, this is a global issue and I'm repeating what I said in the 1st point about sacrificing the quality of kids' education to be in some outfit's ostensible research ranking system...

 

but it needs to be said again, and again, and again. Thailand COULD take the lead in terms of increasing the quality of education by focusing on the professional development of teachers, really taking notes from other more developed countries' playbooks, but that's me asking my wife for a maserati for my bd.

 

[Pilotman]

14 hours ago, zzaa09 said:

Too true.

Sadder yet, is that they don't have the ability to recognize as such. 

And the cycles will continue.

Oh they know, they are not that thick, they just dont care. Thailand lives in its own bubble of corruption, arrogance, nepotism and inefficiency and it doesn't give a toss for what the Western World thinks, not so long as it attracts investment from other  Asian Nations..  Cue,  arrange everything for  'quality Asian tourists' and investors and sod the rest.  Ah well, its their country, up to them I guess. 

[marcusarelus]

1 hour ago, Pilotman said:

Oh they know, they are not that thick, they just dont care. Thailand lives in its own bubble of corruption, arrogance, nepotism and inefficiency and it doesn't give a toss for what the Western World thinks, not so long as it attracts investment from other  Asian Nations..  Cue,  arrange everything for  'quality Asian tourists' and investors and sod the rest.  Ah well, its their country, up to them I guess. 

Good thing.  You gotta laugh. 

[NeoDinosaw]

6 hours ago, marcusarelus said:

Good thing.  You gotta laugh. 

You gotta laugh at this submission by a second rate Thai student. He uses a graph with data that ends in 2013 for an assignment in 2018 - what a moron !!  Just copied the easy-to-find graph on the Internet. Didn't bother the update the data base and re-plot the graph as a smart westerner would do.  He would have failed the assignment for  living in the past.

[marcusarelus]

4 minutes ago, NeoDinosaw said:

You gotta laugh at this submission by a second rate Thai student. He uses a graph with data that ends in 2013 for an assignment in 2018 - what a moron !!  Just copied the easy-to-find graph on the Internet. Didn't bother the update the data base and re-plot the graph as a smart westerner would do.  He would have failed the assignment for  living in the past.

I just love it when they bite. 

[zzaa09]

Smart Westerner.

Wouldn't that be a term of contradiction?

[marcusarelus]

2 minutes ago, zzaa09 said:

Smart Westerner.

Wouldn't that be a term of contradiction?

https://iq-research.info/en/average-iq-by-country

[NeoDinosaw]

1 minute ago, marcusarelus said:

I just love it when they bite. 

Now we have 2 lots of data about Thailand GDP which are not comparable.  The original showed the amount of GDP in billions of USD. The New data presents annual growth rate of Thailand GDP.  The good student (from a western university) would have re-calculated the  second set of data  to give  GDP in billions of USD  and re-drawn the graph. But the stupid third rate student from and inferior university in a foreign country prevents this being done because there is a total lack of information for the years 2014-2016 inclusive.  I guess this is not surprising because they must allow anybody who can pay into his university  - not surprising that his homeland is headed down the toilet.