'Cash For Thai University Degrees' Racket To Be Exposed : Activist

[webfact]

'Cash for degrees' racket to be exposed : activist

By Sompoch Sombat

The Nation

Khon Kaen - A criminal action is set to be taken against a private university in Khon Kaen province for "selling" bechalor's degrees to hundreds of buyers each for Bt100,000, an activist representing teachers in both private and government schools said yesterday.

A criminal action is set to be taken against a private university in Khon Kaen province for "selling" bachelor's degrees to hundreds of buyers for Bt100,000 each, an activist representing teachers in both private and government schools said yesterday.

The issue has become known after a large number of victims, mostly officials with local administrative bodies, demanded the money back from an unnamed lecturer at a private university. They claimed they had not been given the degrees and GPA records after paying the lecturer Bt100,000 apiece, said Auychai Watha.

The practice of "degree selling" has become adopted widely in many provinces where expansion of local administrative bodies is underway, following the decentralisation mandated by the Constitution. Officials with such organisations, prompted by regulations for higher qualifications, have been acquiring advanced degrees or career training, with many choosing to buy instead of earning them through graduate study.

The suspect lecturer has contacted some victims and vowed to return the money following demands and a threat to file lawsuits; but he has never said when, or whether it would be the full amount.

Auychai - who also campaigns against outside bodies taking over the authority to manage and provide education from the Education Ministry- said many victims were afraid of disciplinary action or being exposed for buying the degrees.

He called on them to come forward or file criminal actions against the person in question or fellow officials who persuaded them to buy the degrees, collecting a commission in return.

The Northeastern University, a private university in the province, said it had regularly turned down offers by people wanting to buy degrees. Rector Siwasis Chamchong said it was known widely among Khon Kaen residents which campus had been implicated. "The deals are made through acquaintances in many provinces where this university has campuses. Everyone knows about it," he added.

"With Bt100,000 as the price for a degree, persons who recommend successful purchases earn 40 per cent in commission," he added.

-- The Nation 2010-10-08

[TAWP]

Spend 4 years and pay 3-8k per semester or pay for the paper right away for 100k...with possibly the same amount of knowledge retained...what is the problem?

[Bagwan]

Spend 4 years and pay 3-8k per semester or pay for the paper right away for 100k...with possibly the same amount of knowledge retained...what is the problem?

If somebody with recognised influential status is involved there is no probrem.

[asiawatcher]

I employed an MBA grad on arrival in 2000 at a good salary and after a month things were fine until I asked her to set up a chart of accounts! The response was 'What's that?" So on asking how she got her degree the answer was 50% attendance and 50% pass mark. Maybe things have changed!!! So if she turned up and slept - then handed in a bad thesis, which she obviously did - she still would get a pass and a degree.

When I see the continuing ceremonial handouts every few weeks in papers I can't help buy laugh as they are about as worthless as bus tickets and issued the same way. These kids do get 'some' education and they believe what they ARE learning is good. But by international standards unless they are Chula grads, I would be highly skeptical of their ability to apply what they have learned or rather be able to quantify what they claim to have learned. Whilst there are good and bad in Thai universities standards, something such as this guy selling 'paper' to allow Thai's to get further up the food chain is not much different from my MBA grad! The person at the top does not necessarily have any qualifications for the job they are empowered to handle.

[Buchholz]

For those wishing to help the school, this is on NorthEastern University's Campus Outreach website:

You can pray for the NEU team and ministry by choosing the “Prayer Requests” link on the navigation menu.

http://thailand.campusoutreach.org/northeastern-university-neu-

There are a lot of Christian fundamentalist farang staff there at the university, such as:

Marc and Sherry Lewis are Georgia (USA) natives who love Jesus and the great commission. Marc's campus focus is on the Northeastern University campus in Khon Kaen. The staff team at NEU spend the majority of their time building friendships with students in order to share the gospel with them, lead them to Christ, establish them in their faith and train them to be multiplying disciples. God has begun a good work at NEU that is only the beginning and foundation of what is to come.

[geriatrickid]

If the allegations are true, then the anger shouldn't just be directed at the degree mill.

The issue has become known after a large number of victims, mostly officials with local administrative bodies, demanded the money back from an unnamed lecturer at a private university. They claimed they had not been given the degrees and GPA records after paying the lecturer Bt100,000 apiece, said Auychai Watha.

The people that were willing to pay for the diplomas were part of the conspiracy. All officials that possess a bogus diploma must be terminated from their positions and should face sanctions.

Of course that will not happen.

Unfortunately, while crap like this continues and no one in a responsible position acts, all of Thailand's universities suffer and the academic credentials of Thai professionals,and university graduates is impugned. The government cannot sit with its thumb comfortably buried in its plump butocks.

Edited October 8, 2010 by geriatrickid

[geriatrickid]

I employed an MBA grad on arrival in 2000 at a good salary and after a month things were fine until I asked her to set up a chart of accounts! The response was 'What's that?"

I do not think any MBA graduate would understand the request. Do you mean a spread sheet listing? What info did you want in the chart? Providing clear and comprehensible instructions to personnel is a key part of getting things done.

[Thaddeus]

So, what I gleaned from the article is that, if the people who had paid for their qualification had received them, then there wouldn't have been an article.

Is that about right?

[craigt3365]

Not much different from buying your job...army, police, customs department, etc....

But the crazy thing is the employers know the degrees are fake and hire these people anyway!

[Buchholz]

So, what I gleaned from the article is that, if the people who had paid for their qualification had received them, then there wouldn't have been an article.

Is that about right?

Yep, it would seem so. They are asking for refunds of the bribe money they paid when the bribed-for services were not fulfilled.

[Buchholz]

He called on them to come forward or file criminal actions against the person in question or fellow officials who persuaded them to buy the degrees, collecting a commission in return.

Marc and Sherry Lewis are Georgia (USA) natives who love Jesus and the great commission.

Marc and Sherry may wish to consider rephrasing their intro.

Edited October 8, 2010 by Buchholz

[Just1Voice]

I have met 5 people, 2 of which I know personally, who have Masters in English, and not a single one of them can sit down a write a simple paragraph describing what they did today.

I teach English in my home for free to those who truly want to learn. I currently have 8 "students". A successful business man, his wife and their two teen daughters from 9-10, a woman lawyer and her niece from 4-5, and another business woman and her daughter from 5-6. I have developed work books that start with very basic conversational English, which are written using English, phonetic Thai and actual Thai script. All of the children, aged 13, 12, 9, tell me they learn better, and faster, with the way I teach than they do in school.

When my wife's boss at New York Life Insurance saw a copy of one of my work books, he asked her if I could do the same to teach their agents, so now I'm working on one geared more towards helping them in that particular field, and will have it completed by the end of the month.

While memorization is part of the learning process, after the first week, the last 10 minutes of each lesson are devoted to talking to them in English, and getting them to reply to my question, also in English, from the things they have learned. This makes them actually THINK about their answers, and the correct way to reply.

I try to make it fun, with lots of laughter and joking, and as far away from the "Thai education system" as possible, and you know what? It's working great.

I strongly encourage others to do the same thing with those around them. Do it for fun and do it for free. Trust me, you'll feel good about it at the end of the day.

If anyone is interested, and wants to see what I use as an example to start their own teaching, pm me with email address.

[Buchholz]

I teach English in my home for free to those who truly want to learn.

I strongly encourage others to do the same thing with those around them. Do it for fun and do it for free.

and do it with a work permit.

[needforspeed]

I have met 5 people, 2 of which I know personally, who have Masters in English, and not a single one of them can sit down a write a simple paragraph describing what they did today.

I teach English in my home for free to those who truly want to learn. I currently have 8 "students". A successful business man, his wife and their two teen daughters from 9-10, a woman lawyer and her niece from 4-5, and another business woman and her daughter from 5-6. I have developed work books that start with very basic conversational English, which are written using English, phonetic Thai and actual Thai script. All of the children, aged 13, 12, 9, tell me they learn better, and faster, with the way I teach than they do in school.

When my wife's boss at New York Life Insurance saw a copy of one of my work books, he asked her if I could do the same to teach their agents, so now I'm working on one geared more towards helping them in that particular field, and will have it completed by the end of the month.

While memorization is part of the learning process, after the first week, the last 10 minutes of each lesson are devoted to talking to them in English, and getting them to reply to my question, also in English, from the things they have learned. This makes them actually THINK about their answers, and the correct way to reply.

I try to make it fun, with lots of laughter and joking, and as far away from the "Thai education system" as possible, and you know what? It's working great.

I strongly encourage others to do the same thing with those around them. Do it for fun and do it for free. Trust me, you'll feel good about it at the end of the day.

If anyone is interested, and wants to see what I use as an example to start their own teaching, pm me with email address.

All of the children, aged 13, 12, 9, tell you that they learn better, and faster, with the way I teach than they do in school. You missing one point there are (my childrens school) 30 students a classroom while you teaching almost one on one, can't compair.

Second your students who get this English lessons from you for free, never going to tell you (The teacher) that they learn F*&^CK all with you, big change that your students say the same to there English teacher at school.

Your students are not a reliable source.

[jcbangkok]

Spend 4 years and pay 3-8k per semester or pay for the paper right away for 100k...with possibly the same amount of knowledge retained...what is the problem?

I am paying 30,000 a semester for my daughter to go to Bangkok University.

[mca]

"With Bt100,000 as the price for a degree, persons who recommend successful purchases earn 40 per cent in commission," he added.

And after a few minutes of intense concentration said " Which according to my calculations is 50000 baht"

[tomyummer]

Is anyone surprised? Buy a degree, driver's license, house registration, passport.....Thailand, the land of choices.

It's just as bad when you have to pay an 'administrative fee' to get your kid into primary schools in Thailand as well. Local and international schools do it equally where in the past it was 'under the table' but now is an actual recognized line item and requirement. And yet these schools don't produce the smart and creative kids that should reflect the price of the tea money and tuition. Education in Thailand is the pits with no other options unless you can afford Singapore. Such a travesty and embarrassment.

I believe the tuition for schools like Phillips Exeter or Andover and even the famous Obama's Punahou School in Hawaii is lower than the likes of Pattana or ISB. Add in the extra tea money and even the Satits are more.

[Fookhaht]

I have met 5 people, 2 of which I know personally, who have Masters in English, and not a single one of them can sit down a write a simple paragraph describing what they did today.

That's probably because we who have taught in English Master's programs here in Thai universities are not allowed to give any student below a B grade for any course.

If you insist on giving poor-performing students the grades they deserve, they later get "magically" changed by someone in administration. Or, you are forced to teach the same course again, without pay, to the students who earned a C grade or below. If you continue the practice of giving less than B grades, you can count on the result that your own contract will not be renewed the next time around.

That's the system.

One consequence is that many well-qualified English-native-speaker instructors opt out of teaching in the program, as I have done myself. The other result is reflected in your above post.

Edited October 8, 2010 by Fookhaht

[evanson]

How about a 'Cash For Absolutely Anything' in this country thread.

[mark45y]

I employed an MBA grad on arrival in 2000 at a good salary and after a month things were fine until I asked her to set up a chart of accounts! The response was 'What's that?"

I do not think any MBA graduate would understand the request. Do you mean a spread sheet listing? What info did you want in the chart? Providing clear and comprehensible instructions to personnel is a key part of getting things done.

I wouldn't get too carried away there. I chart of accounts is a pretty simple request. I would expect anyone who has been to a business school of any kind to understand the term. How you want it set up is secondary. Use a computer or do it long hand in any event a chart of accounts is something available in any business. If an MBA didn't understand the term they are not an MBA in any normal sense of the word.

[Buchholz]

Local and international schools do it equally

And yet these schools don't produce the smart and creative kids

the likes of Pattana or ISB

While ISB and the international schools are certainly expensive, they, and a number of others (but not all) do an excellent job of producing "smart and creative kids" if their university acceptance following graduation is any indication. A number of other indicators, such as parental satisfaction and Western accreditation, would support that as well.

http://www.isb.ac.th/University_Acceptances2/default.aspx

[Fookhaht]

I employed an MBA grad on arrival in 2000 at a good salary and after a month things were fine until I asked her to set up a chart of accounts! The response was 'What's that?"

I do not think any MBA graduate would understand the request. Do you mean a spread sheet listing? What info did you want in the chart? Providing clear and comprehensible instructions to personnel is a key part of getting things done.

I wouldn't get too carried away there. I chart of accounts is a pretty simple request. I would expect anyone who has been to a business school of any kind to understand the term. How you want it set up is secondary. Use a computer or do it long hand in any event a chart of accounts is something available in any business. If an MBA didn't understand the term they are not an MBA in any normal sense of the word.

Wikipedia: "Chart of accounts (COA) is a list of the accounts used by an organization. The list can be numerical, alphabetic, or alpha-numeric. The structure and headings of accounts should assist in consistent posting of transactions. Each nominal ledger account is unique to allow its ledger to be located. The list is typically arranged in the order of the customary appearance of accounts in the financial statements, profit and loss accounts followed by balance sheet accounts."

Pretty simple, really.

[sillyman99]

I strongly encourage others to do the same thing with those around them. Do it for fun and do it for free. Trust me, you'll feel good about it at the end of the day.

If anyone is interested, and wants to see what I use as an example to start their own teaching, pm me with email address.

Actually, you, and anybody else that follows your example could be arrested for breaking the law for working without a work permit.

Be careful when giving details here.

[geriatrickid]

I employed an MBA grad on arrival in 2000 at a good salary and after a month things were fine until I asked her to set up a chart of accounts! The response was 'What's that?"

I do not think any MBA graduate would understand the request. Do you mean a spread sheet listing? What info did you want in the chart? Providing clear and comprehensible instructions to personnel is a key part of getting things done.

I wouldn't get too carried away there. I chart of accounts is a pretty simple request. I would expect anyone who has been to a business school of any kind to understand the term. How you want it set up is secondary. Use a computer or do it long hand in any event a chart of accounts is something available in any business. If an MBA didn't understand the term they are not an MBA in any normal sense of the word.

I have an MBA.

I do not understand what a chart of accounts is supposed to mean.

Based upon my employment criteria, employer and peer reviews I am judged competent to perform my job and receive a large salary with performance bonuses. And yet, I had no idea what was meant by the reference to a chart of accounts. Sorry,

[mark45y]

I employed an MBA grad on arrival in 2000 at a good salary and after a month things were fine until I asked her to set up a chart of accounts! The response was 'What's that?"

I do not think any MBA graduate would understand the request. Do you mean a spread sheet listing? What info did you want in the chart? Providing clear and comprehensible instructions to personnel is a key part of getting things done.

I wouldn't get too carried away there. I chart of accounts is a pretty simple request. I would expect anyone who has been to a business school of any kind to understand the term. How you want it set up is secondary. Use a computer or do it long hand in any event a chart of accounts is something available in any business. If an MBA didn't understand the term they are not an MBA in any normal sense of the word.

I have an MBA.

I do not understand what a chart of accounts is supposed to mean.

Based upon my employment criteria, employer and peer reviews I am judged competent to perform my job and receive a large salary with performance bonuses. And yet, I had no idea what was meant by the reference to a chart of accounts. Sorry,

I have had a lot of businesses and worked for a lot of businesses over the past 40 years. Restaurants, hospitals, manufacturing, oil and gas supply and maintenance and many more. They had one thing in common. They all had a chart of accounts. If a person does not recognize the term a one second search on google will rectify the lack of knowledge.

Google. A list of all account names and numbers used in a company's general ledger.

I assume you understand what a general ledger is.

[Fookhaht]

I employed an MBA grad on arrival in 2000 at a good salary and after a month things were fine until I asked her to set up a chart of accounts! The response was 'What's that?"

I do not think any MBA graduate would understand the request. Do you mean a spread sheet listing? What info did you want in the chart? Providing clear and comprehensible instructions to personnel is a key part of getting things done.

I wouldn't get too carried away there. I chart of accounts is a pretty simple request. I would expect anyone who has been to a business school of any kind to understand the term. How you want it set up is secondary. Use a computer or do it long hand in any event a chart of accounts is something available in any business. If an MBA didn't understand the term they are not an MBA in any normal sense of the word.

I have an MBA.

I do not understand what a chart of accounts is supposed to mean.

Based upon my employment criteria, employer and peer reviews I am judged competent to perform my job and receive a large salary with performance bonuses. And yet, I had no idea what was meant by the reference to a chart of accounts. Sorry,

That definition from Wikipedia stump ya?

[hammered]

There are far more prestigious unis doing the same or simlar for the elite. Just think back to a certain ex-PM and how his son caught cheating still graduated and then there was the daughter...... Dealing with that kind of abuse of power and lack of fairness vis-a-vis the elite and rich and everyone else is as important as the 100,000 for a degree racket

[ThaiRich]

I employed an MBA grad on arrival in 2000 at a good salary and after a month things were fine until I asked her to set up a chart of accounts! The response was 'What's that?"

I do not think any MBA graduate would understand the request. Do you mean a spread sheet listing? What info did you want in the chart? Providing clear and comprehensible instructions to personnel is a key part of getting things done.

I wouldn't get too carried away there. I chart of accounts is a pretty simple request. I would expect anyone who has been to a business school of any kind to understand the term. How you want it set up is secondary. Use a computer or do it long hand in any event a chart of accounts is something available in any business. If an MBA didn't understand the term they are not an MBA in any normal sense of the word.

I have an MBA.

I do not understand what a chart of accounts is supposed to mean.

Based upon my employment criteria, employer and peer reviews I am judged competent to perform my job and receive a large salary with performance bonuses. And yet, I had no idea what was meant by the reference to a chart of accounts. Sorry,

I don't have a MBA and I understand what he wants. He wants a chart listing all accounts both payable and receivable showing cashing flowing in and out of the business. DUH>>>

[Thaddeus]

I assume you understand what a general ledger is.

General Ledger, is he the Thai bloke with all the medals in charge of the library.

[Thai at Heart]

I was just thinking, has there been a single story in the last 6 months that has been untouched by corruption, violence or government incompetence or forgetting that, simply a successful story?

I don't want to get into the realms of viewing the world through only rosy tints, but where are the good stories in Thailand in the last 6 months or so?

And no, I don't include Mr. Happy Toilet as a happy story because of the family he comes from.