Thailand Campus Falters

[LaoPo]

I thought this would be the best Forum to post, but if the Mods wish to relocate it, please do so.

Thailand campus falters

Enrollment at WUT continues decline as new director takes reins of campus

By: The Journal Staff

Issue date: 4/26/07 Section: News

THIS STORY IS THE FIRST OF A TWO- PART SERIES

Since opening in 1999, Webster University Thailand has narrowly dodged a tsunami, a coup and various bombings around the country - but it has not been able to fend off falling enrollment and financial instability.

Grant Chapman, associate vice president for Academic Affairs and director of international programs, said WUT's finances have been inconsistent.

"Ideally, we'd like it balanced," Chapman said. "Some years, it's out of balance as far as money coming and going."

The Thailand campus is located in Cha-Am, which is about three hours south of Bangkok, the country's capital. The campus' four main buildings span more than 60 acres. Students are housed in nearby Hua Hin, a city known for its resort atmosphere. The Cha-Am campus serves undergraduate students, whereas Webster's Bangkok Center provides classes for graduate students.

Continues here:

http://media.www.webujournal.com/media/sto...s-2880174.shtml

LaoPo

Edited May 23, 2007 by Maestro
Font formatting codes used for entire post removed for better readability.

[Scott]

I have friends who work there--all Thais--I hope it continues to operate.

[PeaceBlondie]

The article says Webster has an enrollment of 193, including 35 graduate students. That's a very, very small university. Divide it into four years, several subject major fields, the courses needed for general education and for your major - too small. I think my alma mater had 600 undergraduate students when I graduated, and there were courses you needed for your major field that were only offered in the fall of odd numbered years.

[Ijustwannateach]

They were blowing a lot of dough on advertising, too, for awhile- full trains on the BTS with Webster ads...

"S"

[aussiestyle1983]

Sounds like a combination of a real uni and a diploma mill................

I wonder how far they would go to make maney?

[Simmo]

The Webster students I met around town when I lived in Hua Hin where obnoxious know it alls or Daddy's little rich girls.

[PeaceBlondie]

We had one post, and a comment on that post, which probably amounted to libel, so they were removed. And, two more self-edited deletions. In case you were wondering about the disappearing comments.

[griser]

I am from the city in America that Webster Uni is located and I can tell you that its NOT a degree mill, far from it. Its a rather well respected four year and post grad institution.

However, I'm not sure how close the ties are between the St.louis, missouri UNI and the Bangkok Uni are.

Greg

[dada]

Well there are a few English errors in the above posting but with 268 views here on Thai Visa thats about 100 higher than the enrollment of the school named.

But thats still not as many views as they got on the sky train advertising mentioned by the other poster!

[Ijustwannateach]

We encourage those posters who wish to post details about the dirty laundry within schools to go to TEFLwatch rather than post here.

[dada]

I'm with Griser above.

Webster has good rep at least in St Louis. I have seen favorable write-ups about their business model, all their different campuses and the success of the intl operations.

I must agree IJWT the poster 2 notches above was a wee bit out of line.

I guess it stops short though of getting pulled?

Its sort of valid though if someone was considering going there as a student or to work and did not know any better.

Whats TEFL watch have a bad schools list or something?

Sounds like Webster will be looking for some new teachers, HR etc though, either that or just going ahead with shutting down.

The article says there is new director.

So I would think with a new boss, and the campus faltering so badly, he would addressing major organizational change.

It does not sound to me like they have a winning team in place over there, so just by changing the person at the top, it is not going to somehow magically right the ship.

The new person has a tough task ahead of them and is going to have to become a gardener and pull out some weeds

[dada]

I have friends who work there--all Thais--I hope it continues to operate.

Does it deserve to operate?

Rats on a sinking ship comes to mind?

Do they give good customer service?

Who actually manages this school is it foreign mgt, under Thai mgt? are the Thais just victims here,as in they happen to work there? and the foreigners are screwing things up?

Whats the story Larry.

If their good people I feel sorry for them.

Edited May 2, 2007 by dada

[Scott]

I don't know a lot about the University, but more than some posters. I've had two friends who attended graduate school at Webster's in Thailand (they had grad programs operating here in Thailand). One person flunked out, but was given a lot of help and support by the teachers and other personnel--including a second chance to complete the course work. He didn't and was failed--no 50%, no mai pen rai. The other person completed his degree--but the work was quite difficult.

One problem for a lot of students is that they seem to have a fairly high standard. In the cases I am citing, neither student realized just how hard the work was going to be and the standards were high--they also had all the resources they needed, books, internet, on-line consultation as well as in person consultation, individual attention from teachers etc. (Of course, with small numbers the last is easy to achieve).

My guess is that given the overall state of the Thai education system, a lot of students aren't ready for a University such as Webster.

The management (to the best of my knowledge) has always been Western administration--including some from Europe.

A lot of students attended (or wanted to attend) because they wanted to get into the US campus, and thought Webster would be a good place to start.

As for the dirty laundry, I am sure there is plenty. I've never known of an educational institution that didn't have it's fare share.

At any rate, I am not that close with some of the people from there anymore, but I hear from them occasionally--they are Thai staff by the way--administrative assistants, recruitment personnel etc. In general, they were a pretty good bunch of people--at least as friends. I am sure there are some turncoats in the bunch.

Oh, and one last note, a number of years ago, they had an employee who had AIDS--not HIV positive, but full-blown AIDS. The Administration kept him on the payroll and held his job--even though it looked like he wouldn't recover. The rest of the staff was informed that the University would not discriminate nor discharge infected people. Eventually, he did return to work. At that time, HIV positive status was enough to get you thrown out of any job in the country.

Obviously, the school has management issues, probably high tuition fee, a need for better recruiting etc. If it didn't, it wouldn't be in trouble. I, however, highly doubt that it is a diploma mill. If it were, it would be a success story.

[Ijustwannateach]

Since my helpful hints were ignored, I'll now be deleting posts and distributing warnings. May I suggest that recent posters to this thread read the Thaivisa Forum Rules and the Teacher's Forum Guidelines. We're not joking about spam or about making unsubstantiated libellous remarks. Take it to Teflwatch.

[dada]

Since my helpful hints were ignored, I'll now be deleting posts and distributing warnings. May I suggest that recent posters to this thread read the Thaivisa Forum Rules and the Teacher's Forum Guidelines. We're not joking about spam or about making unsubstantiated libellous remarks. Take it to Teflwatch.

The link to Webster's own Media source should not have been deleted even if you had a problem with the other allegations.

It was Webster St Louis covering itself in its own legitimate Media coverage.

[PeaceBlondie]

Since my helpful hints were ignored, I'll now be deleting posts and distributing warnings. May I suggest that recent posters to this thread read the Thaivisa Forum Rules and the Teacher's Forum Guidelines. We're not joking about spam or about making unsubstantiated libellous remarks. Take it to Teflwatch.

The link to Webster's own Media source should not have been deleted even if you had a problem with the other allegations.

It was Webster St Louis covering itself in its own legitimate Media coverage.

dada, don't tell moderators how to moderate. When clearing a thread which has several bad posts, we don't need to edit. One more comment about moderation will get you a very long holiday.

[Ijustwannateach]

I'll delete the entirety of any message that breaks forum rules as I wish- editing is for posters that I feel have made good-intentioned errors. If you wish your posts to remain intact/present, you'll abide by those rules- which also, incidentally, have rather strict provisions against discussion of moderation publicly. I really, really suggest that you (particularly) read them- they're linked at the top of every page of Thaivisa. I won't be discussing it with you any more.

If you think you have a legitimate news link to post here, you're welcome to try again without the unwelcome stuff.

"S"

P.S. thanks, PB!

[anthonyaus]

There are 180 students at Webster Thailand waiting for the teacher to appear.

Any Takers?

[anthonyaus]

Insurance snafu leaves students without net

by The Journal Staff in News

THIS STORY IS PART TWO OF A TWO-PART SERIES Health insurance for Webster study abroad students in Thailand during spring 2007 has been plagued by confusion and miscommunication.

http://www.webujournal.com/

[anthonyaus]

Now here's some quality stuff about the parent organization of one Thailand's finest schools.

Do they do this in Thailand too?

Just asking?

Feds uncover $625,000 fraud at WU

Former Webster employee allegedly created fake companies to collect university money

By: Anna Forder

Issue date: 1/25/07 Section: News

Former Webster employee Malcolm Murphy was arrested by the U.S. Attorney's Office Dec. 6 and charged with one count of mail fraud for allegedly devising a scheme that cost the university $625,000.

http://media.www.webujournal.com/media/sto...u-2671595.shtml

[anthonyaus]

(deleted as an irrelevant repeat of a previous link)- Anthonyaus, we don't need an update every time an anonymous handle posts comments on a news article which has already been linked to the board- that's spamming and flooding. - IJWT

[LaoPo]

New Rector at Webster University, Thailand

Bangkok, Thailand, May 23, 2007 --(PR.com)-- Webster University, St. Louis, USA, announces a change of leadership at its Thailand Campus. The new Rector is David Morgan, who rakes up his tenure following the return to the US of former Rector, Kit Jenkins, who served in Thailand for three and a half years.

The Rector will be based at the Cha–am campus of WUT and will be responsible for undergraduate and post graduate degrees there, and at the WUT Bangkok Center.

Prior to his appointment in Thailand, David Morgan was both a principal Lecturer and a Senior Administrator in Higher Education in London, U.K., where most recently, he served as Interim President/ CEO of Regent’s College, London. His particular academic interest is in Curriculum Development.

About Webster University Thailand

WUT is the Asian Satellite campus of Webster University, Worldwide, St. Louis, USA, and a very successful American University founded in 1915. The main campus of WUT is located near the beautiful beachside resort of Hua Hin/Cha-am, with a branch campus in Bangkok at the WUT Center.

Undergraduate and post-graduate degree successfully completed at WUT carry American Accreditation and, furthermore, are Accredited by the Thailand Commission of Higher Education.

The majority of students complete their accredited degree at WUT. However, all students are encouraged to consider the opportunity afforded by Webster University to take parts of their degree at Webster University campus in Europe or the U.S.A.

WUT provides degree in:

Business/ Management

Psychology

Media Communications

International Relations

Computer Science

All programs are taught in the English language and students are expected to sharpen their critical thinking and presentational skills as they prepare to seek employment in the multinational environment.

Source:

http://www.pr.com/press-release/39572

LaoPo

[Chingatchgook]

Laopo are you a Webster Booster?

Hmmm a new leader, a change agent perhaps.

Seems like this school should be a big success.

Webster worldwide is an excellent business model

Does Morgan have enough power and leadership ability to make the necessary wholesale player changes and field a better team?

I heard the faculty and HR dept called the shots on that campus and that the director is more of a figurehead. Maybe this is changing.

Sounds like its time for some feifdoms to be torn down. Get rid of the people responsible for the 180 student enrollment

This school is expensive. Is that why the enrollment is so low?

What do you get for your for money if you go there instead of some other school?

Sure you get an American degree but who delivers the product?

The MBA is one of their flagship programs.

Are the faculty American, or quality internationals?

Where are they educated? Name Western schools? Surely not India or the Philippines.

[Ijustwannateach]

Posters on this thread have been warned previously about spamming, flooding, and posting links to other discussion forums rather than news topics. Yet another one of these posters has now received disciplinary action. Since a number of posters on this topic seem disinclined to behave (my apologies to those who are) I am now closing it. If any poster feels that new information of importance has arrived, they may PM me or PB and we will consider re-opening the thread. Otherwise, the subject of Webster is now closed.