Thailand Set To Be Asian Education Hub

[bangon04]

Ministry plans exhibition to push 'education foreigners'

BANGKOK: -- In response to the government's policy to promote Thailand as an international education centre, the Commerce Ministry is preparing to lure more foreign students by organising an annual international education exhibition.

The government has set a goal to transform the country to be the Asian region's education hub by next year, according to Rachane Potjanasuntorn, director-general of the ministry's Department of Export Promotion.

-- The Nation 2009-08-24

So is it "by next year" as above, or is it "in three years" as in the parallel thread??

"by next year" might seem to be a little ambitious, whereas "in three years" is bound to be an easy reach....

[ihightower]

the key words on which thai politics create their wisdom :

a hub a month

a crackdown a week

LOL good one.

[JRinger]

I would think that they need to improve the quality of their education first. What I have seen so far from universities is not very encouraging, with a few exceptions.

Teachers cancelling their classes on a regular base, not being able to discus a topic with their students, being unable to admit they were wrong etc.

.....students not allowed or encouraged to ask questions.

[TAWP]

I would think that they need to improve the quality of their education first. What I have seen so far from universities is not very encouraging, with a few exceptions.

Teachers cancelling their classes on a regular base, not being able to discus a topic with their students, being unable to admit they were wrong etc.

.....students not allowed or encouraged to ask questions.

Students graduating with Ba from computer science that has no clue as how to program...it is easy getting applicants with Ba's here, but finding anyone qualified...

[Publicus]

Certainly not as much vocabulary as native speakers and grammatically the speech is far from perfect, but they just don't shut up, and, a good thing, they don't pretend to sound like English or Americans - I find that extremely annoying.

A horribly long time ago when I was a Thai language student at the AUA there was an extraordinarily gifted linguist called J.Marvin Brown - one of those mysterious American Asia hands whom one presumed had a history in covert operations. I think he wrote the AUA Thai language course.He had perfect Thai,Khmer and Lao and perhaps other Asian languages under his belt.I remember one of his pieces of advice was to listen very carefully how educated Thais speak and copy their phrasing and intonation.In fact I think "mimic" was the word he used.Certainly he would have had no difficulty in a reasonably accomplished foreign student trying to sound like a Thai if learning Thai or a French man if learning French.In other words mimicry is part of being a good linguist.But where I agree with you is sharing the irritation if it's not done very well.My pet peeve are those Thai Inter stewardesses with imperfect English compounded by a travesty of an American accent.

Thailish.

Chinglish is even worse.

[LPCustom69]

I can't even remember the amount of "hubs" that Thailand has aspired to be in the last 2-3 years.

Ministry plans exhibition to push 'education foreigners'

BANGKOK: -- In response to the government's policy to promote Thailand as an international education centre, the Commerce Ministry is preparing to lure more foreign students by organising an annual international education exhibition.

The government has set a goal to transform the country to be the Asian region's education hub by next year, according to Rachane Potjanasuntorn, director-general of the ministry's Department of Export Promotion.

The Thailand International Education Exhibition (TIEE) 2009 will be held between October 9 and 11 at Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre.

"The department has played a key role in promoting international education business in Thailand ...to be accepted among target groups local and aboard. It has been organising TIEE to invite more international students to further their studies in Thailand. Visitors from 37 countries visited TIEE 2008," Rachane said.

This year's exhibition will be held under the concept of 'Asia's Hub of International Education' and it's expected there will be at least 12,000 visitors, both local and aboard.

Full details international education in Thailand will be provided at TIEE 2009. Leading international academic institutions nationwide will be at the exhibition venue to give information about studying at their institutions.

-- The Nation 2009-08-24

[Drumandave]

What a joke, my good friend is in ABAC international uni- doing architecture,

and he said he knows more than the tutors!

[Datsun240Z]

Hey look I can cut, now I'm a doctor lol. Seriously. As with everything, Thai's pretend they know, but really they do not. It's more face to the outside, but eventually it's the quality of the lessons and the system that counts. I don't need a hot chick to teach me english, better a fat old mom, as long as the quality is there...

[Dakhar]

About 2 years back I sat down with Univ. Admin. wanting to start a "hub" for training Audiologists. The truth is, it is needed, in fact Singapore does not have a single program. Singapore is suposedly an icon for health care in this region....

Any how, I said any thing you need, we can help. (funding, instructors from the US, diagnostic equipment etc etc)

and of course the concept died in the water....

I guess it freaked them out, when the response was, "Sure it can be done, yes we have the means, and it will cost essentially nothing..... now you organize this..."

Poof.....

I guess the word "ogranize" scared them away. (too much work)

They latter came back and said that the concept will not work, because the courses would be held in English....

again a hub, with Thai language used as the mode of communication

[walterego]

There is nothing wrong with having goals... or in this case dreams.

[fiercesnake]

Edjumacation hub??? Seriously???!!! Oh please! As an international teacher working in a high quality international school here I can assure you even most Thais know their own system is seriously flawed. International schools here with overseas teachers hired from the developed world are a boom business, even during the credit crunch and the quality international schools still have waiting lists for kids to get in (mostly Thai).

I have seen a strong increase in Thai pushing as soon as they have even just enough money to get their kids into an international school ASAP. The reasons are clear; increased opportunity, REAL qualifications at the end of the line (if they make the grade, i.e., they can't pay someone off), prestige, and most importantly, for me, an emphasis for getting the kids to think for themselves. Though this last point is perhaps the whole crux of concern as most parents do not realize the knock on effect of getting Thais to question their own system may have far reaching effects! But slowly I am seeing change in some of the richer youth. I just hope that some of what I teach will influence more young Thais to make improvements to business and government when they are older and in power. It won't take effect now, but hopefully in the long term good farangs can make some differences.

The basic problem is their system from kindergarten to "university" relies on the old, "Be a good Thai and comply!" Methods of teaching delivery are incredibly old style and when friends have been asked by the government to give forums to improve education styles for Thai teachers the response is always the same-yim yim and take absolutely no notice of the stupid farang (xenophobic attitudes permanently brain-washed into Thai teaching mentality at ALL levels).

The bottom line is that the Thai system is completely at odds with the developed world approach of thinking for oneself. The reality is that a truly educated populous is much harder to control and hence has the potential to break the present status quo and thereby question the rich elite of Bangkok who wield much power and control over vast numbers of poor . Must keep the poor, poor! Don't question anything.

T.I.T. Ahh, I lament... I just hope none of the rich kids I teach will fall into the same trap as their rich parents when they take over in government or the big companies they will run one day. Just have to wait. But as for "REAL" education "HUB"-nooooo, sorry; what a load of rot!

[Publicus]

True.

Politicians and permanent secretaries in the bureaucracy love to throw out the old line that debate and discussion "confuses the people" and therefore should stop (if either ever does actually begin to occur).

Thai school bosses and management regularly and openly refer to Farangs as "suak" which is the ultimate intended Thai insult (lower than body excretions).

While many younger Thai parents want Western thought inbued in their children, the owners and managers of the schools want only English from us and conciously and systematically make our job tuffer than it already is. The schools work against the wishes of such parents and hide the fact as best they can.

I'll say for the umteenth time at this thread, I can't for the life of me imagine which demographic group or socioeconomic group in which country abroad would need or want to come to Thailand for an EDUCATION.

[Datsun240Z]

What I find so amazing in Thailand ( One of many things ), is almost everybody seems to have a " University degree " or some kind of Master. But when they have to show in the real world, I'm often having a laugh sorry. It seems like a rage who get's the highest ranking.

[Briggsy]

True.

Politicians and permanent secretaries in the bureaucracy love to throw out the old line that debate and discussion "confuses the people" and therefore should stop (if either ever does actually begin to occur).

Thai school bosses and management regularly and openly refer to Farangs as "suak" which is the ultimate intended Thai insult (lower than body excretions).

While many younger Thai parents want Western thought inbued in their children, the owners and managers of the schools want only English from us and conciously and systematically make our job tuffer than it already is. The schools work against the wishes of such parents and hide the fact as best they can.

I'll say for the umteenth time at this thread, I can't for the life of me imagine which demographic group or socioeconomic group in which country abroad would need or want to come to Thailand for an EDUCATION.

Just to make sure I understand you correctly, do you mean 'seuak' เสือก which is a vulgar insult meaning f***ing nosy.

[PeaceBlondie]

Edjumacation hub??? Seriously???!!! Oh please! As an international teacher working in a high quality international school here I can assure you even most Thais know their own system is seriously flawed. .........

T.I.T. Ahh, I lament... I just hope none of the rich kids I teach will fall into the same trap as their rich parents when they take over in government or the big companies they will run one day. Just have to wait. But as for "REAL" education "HUB"-nooooo, sorry; what a load of rot!

ThaiVisa post of the month. Please re-read.

[animatic]

True.

Politicians and permanent secretaries in the bureaucracy love to throw out the old line that debate and discussion "confuses the people" and therefore should stop (if either ever does actually begin to occur).

Thai school bosses and management regularly and openly refer to Farangs as "suak" which is the ultimate intended Thai insult (lower than body excretions).

While many younger Thai parents want Western thought inbued in their children, the owners and managers of the schools want only English from us and conciously and systematically make our job tuffer than it already is. The schools work against the wishes of such parents and hide the fact as best they can.

I'll say for the umteenth time at this thread, I can't for the life of me imagine which demographic group or socioeconomic group in which country abroad would need or want to come to Thailand for an EDUCATION.

Just to make sure I understand you correctly, do you mean 'seuak' เสือก which is a vulgar insult meaning f***ing nosy.

Sounds about right.

God help the dedicated farang teacher who knows his subject,

because he embarrasses many of the Thai teachers,

so rather than make the most of an asset, it is thought better to

stifle the individual who makes the others look bad in comparison.

Hammer down the nail that stands out. Uniformity and good feeling,

wins out over good education and creating creative individuals.

SOP method to mediocrity.

[poldebol]

Ramkhamhaeng seems to have built up a substantial international institute. I have no connection with them, but was looking at their website recently for someone who was interested in a course there. They have a lot of visiting professors from the US and European countries. http://www.iis.ru.ac.th/IIS/professors.htm

They'd better grab one of those visiting professors to give their website a proofing then.

Our current about 1,500 students come from 50 countries (in 2007). All together make it a unique international program for a very affordable tuition fee.

In some courses are even 50% foreign students from different countries.

I know it's the policy of the forum not to denigrate too much but I feel that a supposedly respected seat of learning which proudly boasts of it's western professors teaching English that can't even present a grammatically correct website either can't be bothered to check it's own work or has nobody capable of checking the work.

I find it rather pathetic really and a sad indication of the state of education in Thailand.

When my daughter is old enough to study M.4 or above she's on the first plane out of here.

All due respects to the teachers on this forum though. I know the majority of them are doing their best under the circumstances.

Some time ago I checked the english pages of the sites of a few Thai universities. I sent them an e-mail about a few english mistakes I found (I am not a native english speaker). I did not receive one answer. Last time I checked, the mistakes were still in place.

[poldebol]

Any person with a normal portion of good sense can see the main problems of the educational system in Thailand.

Thai people are as intelligent as other people. They can detect these problems as wel.

Many Thai people go to study abroad, among them educationalists and psychologists.

We can easily assume that there is enough knowledge in Thailand about the lack of quality in the educational system.

I feel that the most logical conclusion is that there is not enough political determination to upgrade the educational system in Thailand.

To declare another hub will not change the situation.

[Datsun240Z]

Some time ago I checked the english pages of the sites of a few Thai universities. I sent them an e-mail about a few english mistakes I found (I am not a native english speaker). I did not receive one answer. Last time I checked, the mistakes were still in place.

Some time ago I checked the English pages of the sites of a few Thai universities. I sent them an e-mail about a few English mistakes I found (I am not a native English speaker). I did not receive one answer. Last time I checked, the mistakes were still in place.

Edited August 30, 2009 by Datsun240Z

[DragonQuest]

ignorance is bliss

[Publicus]

True.

Politicians and permanent secretaries in the bureaucracy love to throw out the old line that debate and discussion "confuses the people" and therefore should stop (if either ever does actually begin to occur).

Thai school bosses and management regularly and openly refer to Farangs as "suak" which is the ultimate intended Thai insult (lower than body excretions).

While many younger Thai parents want Western thought inbued in their children, the owners and managers of the schools want only English from us and conciously and systematically make our job tuffer than it already is. The schools work against the wishes of such parents and hide the fact as best they can.

I'll say for the umteenth time at this thread, I can't for the life of me imagine which demographic group or socioeconomic group in which country abroad would need or want to come to Thailand for an EDUCATION.

Just to make sure I understand you correctly, do you mean 'seuak' เสือก which is a vulgar insult meaning f***ing nosy.

Yes, I'm sure you present the precise transliteration, thanks. The system of transliteration needs major revisions throughout on the scale of the S Korean model that was completed about eight years ago.

That of of course is another matter that needs proper discussion at perhaps another thread. For the moment, I understand "seuak" also to mean something along the lines of 'tramp' and a fundamentally rootless person of no value. Given that interpretations also can vary within a reasonable range, that may need some attention as well.

[Xangsamhua]

Thai school bosses and management regularly and openly refer to Farangs as "suak" which is the ultimate intended Thai insult (lower than body excretions).

The online Thai2English dictionary renders เสือก (sueak) as follows:

[ V ] be nosy ; pry ; snoop ; poke ; stick one's nose into someone's else's affairs/business

[ V ] butt in ; intrude

[ V ] push ; shove ; drive ; thrust

If the term is used by Thai admin (and I'm not aware of it having been used in any of my dealings with them over a long time), I expect they'd be using it to refer to the well-known Thai perception of Westerners that, given the opportunity they'll want to take charge.

Thai admin and teachers (some years ago) have freely expressed to me or in my presence their concerns about foreigner assertiveness and activism, but not used that term. I'll have to listen out for it.

[animatic]

Thai school bosses and management regularly and openly refer to Farangs as "suak" which is the ultimate intended Thai insult (lower than body excretions).

The online Thai2English dictionary renders เสือก (sueak) as follows:

[ V ] be nosy ; pry ; snoop ; poke ; stick one's nose into someone's else's affairs/business

[ V ] butt in ; intrude

[ V ] push ; shove ; drive ; thrust

If the term is used by Thai admin (and I'm not aware of it having been used in any of my dealings with them over a long time), I expect they'd be using it to refer to the well-known Thai perception of Westerners that, given the opportunity they'll want to take charge.

Thai admin and teachers (some years ago) have freely expressed to me or in my presence their concerns about foreigner assertiveness and activism, but not used that term. I'll have to listen out for it.

Well having stood in 7/11 and many other 'queues',

this could be used to describe 80% of all Thais over 12 years old.

8 year olds you expect this from....

Last week I was waiting 10 minutes for a taxi outside a hospital exit,

and limped, in a knee brace, up to a taxi that finally arrived,

some guy who JUST walked up, pushed and shoved me, and

THRUST, being a great word for it right past me and tried to take my taxi.

He actually was in the car. The doorman was silent...

No sense of lining up, nor fairplay, and past someone limping in a hospital front door.

I did say something, and he got out of the taxi, and I could care less about

his loss of face... when you are in pain, rudeness of such a high level gets much less tolerance....

But that encapsulates the concept well. เสือก (sueak)

Of course HE probably thought the same of me... TOUGH.

Part of the edu. problem is the teacher's education is similar to the students, and so they maintain the same bad habits.

What makes this a fun and interesting place to live, also makes it harder for the students to get ahead.

An that might easily explain the more free thinking and successful Thais wanting to get their children into

international schools, because the general level and 'method of discourse', is more like the greater world

that the children will be interacting with. A Thai child of the classic system is not well prepared for

REAL western unis, some thrive, some just spin wheels in silence till they leave.

It's not the degree paper that is really important, but the functional knowledge,

and ability to think on your feet and out of bad situations, or take advantage of good ones,

which is the REAL important part of a great education.

Every time I meet a really free thinking Thai artist or unique mind doing something truly different,

I applaud, mentally because they were against such odds to do it.