Thai universities drop in world rankings

[webfact]

Thai universities drop in world rankings

By The Nation

 

 

THAI UNIVERSITIES have been dropping down the list of the world’s best higher-education institutes in recent years, and this downward trend has become a cause for concern.
 

“This new data signals real concerns for Thailand. Not only has the country’s leading institution dropped out of the world top 600 this year, but most other institutions have also fallen,” said Phil Baty, editorial director of Global Rankings at Times Higher Education (THE).

 

He made the comment after THE World University Ranking 2019 was unveiled yesterday at the National University of Singapore, which ranks 23rd on the list. 

 

No Thai institutes have even made it to the list of 500 best universities, let alone top 100. 

 

Mahidol University, previously deemed best in Thailand, fell from the 501-600 band to the 601-800 band this year. Chulalongkorn University, which is Thailand’s oldest university, also plunged from the 601-800 band to the 801-1,000 band, while King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thon Buri and Suranaree University of Technology have also suffered the same fate. 

 

The Prince of Songkla University, Kasetsart University, Khon Kaen University and King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang have also fared badly, dropping from the 801-1000 to the 1001+ band. 

 

 

Not all Thai institutes have followed the downward trend. Chiang Mai University, which is a reputed institute in Thailand’s North, has remained in the 801-1000 band, while King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok has also stayed in the 1001+ group. 

 

Apart from this, four Thai universities have made it to the list for the first time – Mahasarakham University, Naresuan University, Srinakharinwirot University and Thammasat University. They are all in the 1001+ band. 

 

The definitive annual listing – now in its 15th year – covers more than 1,250 higher education institutions from 86 countries, making it the most competitive listing yet. Last year, the list had 1,100 institutes from 81 countries. 

 

Baty noted that though more Thai universities were included in THE World University Rankings this year, a bigger presence on the list did not downplay the poorer rankings. 

 

Neighbouring Malaysia, meanwhile, is doing better. Its flagship University of Malaya has risen to the 301-350 band from the 351-400 band. Overall, Malaysia has 11 institutions represented in the 2019 table – up from nine last year. 

 

Meanwhile, UK’s Oxford and Cambridge remain the best two universities, followed closely by the United States’ Stanford University. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30355280

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-09-27

[Samui Bodoh]

I have told this story several times on TVF, but it is still very pertinent.

 

Years ago I saw an interview with the late Lee Kwan Yew (spelling) where he was asked if he worried for Singapore's future in relation to her much bigger and much more resource-laden neighbours. Mr. Lee smiled, looked into the camera, and said "what are their education systems like?"

 

A country's future prosperity is directly related to the proficiency of its current education system, and it is clear that Thailand's future is not going to go well. 

 

How much more evidence is needed? Effective Education reform is the single greatest need for the Kingdom of Thailand, and the current Education system is the single greatest strategic threat to its future prosperity.

 

Reform now, or watch your neighbours fly past you on their way to a prosperous future.

 

It is one or the other...

 

Literally.

 

 

 

Edited September 26, 2018 by Samui Bodoh
Lack of coffee

[Fex Bluse]

Rankings are useful but tell only a little of the story. In the case of Thailand, I think the condition of education is actually worse than rankings would uncover. 

 

I agree with the above. They need to change. First though they must accept the system is broken and that they might not be in the best position to fix it. And this is the hardest thing for them as such an admission would be a huge national loss of face. 

[zzaa09]

They better get their stuff in prime order.

Doesn't look promising, as they don't recognize the sorrowful deficiencies nor care to upgrade. 

 

 

[Thian]

This is not Thailands fault.....wait for the excuses..

[GinBoy2]

Trouble is it's pointless fixing higher education until you fix kindergarten through High School education.

That's what feeds into a decent college system, without fixing the raw material going into the college it's pretty worthless even talking about rankings.

As others have pointed out, we could talk about this ad nauseum and nothing will change.

I've said all this before, but what the heck. We'd put my stepson through Thai private schools right through HS, and looking back I think the best I did was pay for better quality friends. The education was still appalling.

Since we always wanted him to go to college in the US both me and my wife our best to make up the gap as best we could.

My wife having been to college in the US understood A LOT better than me the pressures he would be under after he graduated HS and headed off to Chicago, given the reality of the truly appalling Thai school system.

Terrible schools are designed to process kids, so then can be processed through equally appalling Thai Universities.

There is a reason why the HiSo's send their kids overseas, doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure it out. Also the reason that Thai degrees are practically worthless outside of Thailand.

My stepson struggled mightily during his freshman year, and honestly if I had to do it all again, we should have repatriated before he entered High School.....as my wife now constantly reminds me that she 'told me so', not course that I can remember that conversation!

So, university rankings!....gimmie a break, tip of the iceberg problem

[Fex Bluse]

@GinBoy2 Completely agree. When the odd arrogant person here boasts about someone having gotten a foreign MBA, I retort with "so 2 years of good education and 16 of bad."

Edited September 26, 2018 by Fex Bluse

[mok199]

Thailand needs a complete makeover,but,BETTER ENGLISH SKILLS,is a starting point.The thai language( along with most of thailands corrupt, prehistoric ,brilliant minds) should be in a museum ,dusted off and brought out with period clothes on cultural days...''the world is turning and Thailand has fallen off''

Edited September 26, 2018 by mok199
speliings

[Zonka]

Education reform will never happen.

The Hi So's need to keep the masses ignorant so they can rip them off without them realising.

[Fex Bluse]

Just now, Zonka said:

Education reform will never happen.

The Hi So's need to keep the masses ignorant so they can rip them off without them realising.

And so they can buy somtum and sticky rice cheap. Everyone (well mainly the brown people) should know their place and be happy for the little they get 

[PatOngo]

4 minutes ago, Zonka said:

Education reform will never happen.

The Hi So's need to keep the masses ignorant so they can rip them off without them realising.

 

The problem here is that they DO realise it but are too uneducated to assess it and too filled with fear to do anything about with the threat of the hi-so controlled armed forces standing over them. I'm sure the status quo will be maintained for the foreseeable future.

[DrTuner]

Education and sakdina don't mix. One of them is losing out.

[Jessi]

This must be fake news as we all know.

 

"Thailand the HUB of Education"

[Odysseus123]

43 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Education and sakdina don't mix. One of them is losing out.

That is it-in a nutshell.

 

No-one gets rewarded on merit.

 

There is,in a sense,absolutely no intellectual competitiveness whatsoever.

[Cadbury]

This comes as no surprise and will only continue to worsen if the PM's guide to education standards are followed. There is only one value among all these which is related to education which is no. 4. The rest are just moralistic and indoctrination guidelines for teachers and students.

Ultimately in theory Thailand will become a country with people of  high morals standards and loyalty but little or no education.

                            Prayut Chan-o-cha's twelve values of education:

1. Loyalty to the Nation, a Religion, and the Monarchy

2. Honesty, sacrifice, endurance, and noble ideology for the greater good

3. Gratitude for parents, guardians, and teachers

4. Diligence in acquiring knowledge, via school studies and other methods

5. Preserving the Thai customs and tradition

5. Morality and good will toward others

6. Correct understanding of democracy with the King as Head of State

7. Discipline, respect for law, and obedience to the older citizens

8. Constant consciousness to practice good deeds all the time, as taught by His Majesty the King

9. Practice of Self-Sufficient Economy in accordance with the teaching of His Majesty the King

10. Physical and mental strength. Refusal to surrender to religious sins.

11. Uphold the interest of the nation over oneself.

[bluesofa]

To me the results they have are higher than they should be, when most of the examinations seem to be multiple choice, giving participants who know nothing some (small) chance of passing, by guessing the correct answer.

 

[Chassa]

1 hour ago, GinBoy2 said:

I think the best I did was pay for better quality friends.

 

Happens everywhere - very handy for the kid,

as long as the friends were influential too!

[NorthernRyland]

Can anyone summarize what's wrong with Thai universities? I assume their broken considering the broken work ethic I observe but I'm curious what they're actually doing.

[GinBoy2]

14 minutes ago, genericptr said:

Can anyone summarize what's wrong with Thai universities? I assume their broken considering the broken work ethic I observe but I'm curious what they're actually doing.

Now, my son never went to a Thai university, but he did go through the grade school system. 

 

Now he speaks, writes and reads perfect English, thats because of me and my wife, rather comical when I would read the ‘corrections’ in his English homework book, which is sort of symptomatic of the whole system.

 

If my wife and I hadn’t, and we’re not teachers, filled in the gaps, I would guess he would have graduated High School with something equivalent to a 9th or 10th grade US education. No where near where you would need to be to succeed, or even pass an entrance exam, to any Western university.

 

So Thai universities are calibrated to that calibre of incoming students, hence they always going to be mediocre

 

 

[RichardColeman]

[NorthernRyland]

4 minutes ago, GinBoy2 said:

If my wife and I hadn’t, and we’re not teachers, filled in the gaps, I would guess he would have graduated High School with something equivalent to a 9th or 10th grade US education. No where near where you would need to be to succeed, or even pass an entrance exam, to any Western university.



That's actually not too shocking to be honest. There's a similar gap between Black and Latino students vs White and Asian students in the US and it persists across generations and educational spending.

 

The question is, are the schools challenging the kids properly or are the kids not up to the challenge?

[macgver]

I am surprised that Ramkhamhaeng University is not in the ranking. In fact, when compared with graduated students from Chulalongkorn and Ramkhamhaeng, Ramkhamhaeng students can perform the work much more better ... they are result-oriented.

 

Chula is hard to get in, but easy to pass the exam.

Ram is easy to get in, but very difficult to pass the exam. 

[GinBoy2]

5 minutes ago, genericptr said:

That's actually not too shocking to be honest. There's a similar gap between Black and Latino students vs White and Asian students in the US and it persists across generations and educational spending.

 

The question is, are the schools challenging the kids properly or are the kids not up to the challenge?

Thing is, he wasn’t going to some underfunded school in ‘the hood’, this was as good as it gets in Thailand.

 

Thai education in general is designed to simply regurgitate information, very little if any critical thinking goes on. 

Conformity and obedience are the key parameters, as laid down by the Great Leader....although this problem predates him by decades

[khunpa]

We all learn from our mistakes.

 

But when mistakes are not recognized and attempted to be improved, it will always keep going backwards.

 

The “Loss of face” concept wins again.

 

 

Edited September 27, 2018 by khunpa

[NorthernRyland]

1 minute ago, GinBoy2 said:

Thai education in general is designed to simply regurgitate information, very little if any critical thinking goes on.

I've seen doctors and physical therapists in Thailand who have been annoyed at my asking so many questions and challenging them on points. One PT even specifically pointed out I wasn't like his Thai patients because I actually wanted to understand what we has telling me. Go figure.

 

Thais generally think it's a bad idea to question authority (don't want to be "stubborn" now do we!) so good luck teaching kids critical thinking after you've primed them to shut and listen from a young age.

[trainman34014]

''It's become a cause for concern'';   for who exactly ?    It's of no concern to the arrogant rich in this country, who know full well that they will continue to dominate as long as Education Standards remain the same or keep falling.

 

Meanwhile; in response to this latest list there will be more blustering and bullshit from the Guardians of The Elite.  Next year will show a further downward slide.

[fxe1200]

I remember some years ago, when a university in the North of Thailand was caught to have sold more  diplomas than they had students for 30 to 50 thousand THB a piece.

[Bjorn Adal]

Just as expected...

[Esso49]

3 hours ago, Thian said:

This is not Thailands fault.....wait for the excuses..

Correct it is not Thailand's fault,  its all those other nasty foreigners educating their own people too well ????

[Lupatria]

4 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

Reform now, or watch your neighbours fly past you on their way to a prosperous future.

 

It is one or the other...

It's the other already!