Thai Universities Attract Students Through Exam- Sharing.

[Lite Beer]

Universities attract students through exam- sharing

BANGKOK, 13 February 2011 (NNT)-The Council of University Presidents of Thailand (CUP) has proposed sharing exam papers among universities that wish to attract students away from the mainstream entrance examination, in a bid to save students the hassle of having to apply for multiple examinations.

Director of Suranaree University of Technology Prasart Suebka, who chaired the CUP meeting, said high school students striving for tertiary education are going through the trouble of having to take multiple exams to increase their chances of getting into university.

Under the normal examination, Mattayom 6 students will have to sit through grueling hours answering series of questions of no less than 5 subjects in pursuit of chances to being admitted to university of their choice. Students are asked to name their three most-preferred universities in their application forms before taking the tests.

Having to compete with students from all over Thailand, they are left with little confidence whether or not their score will meet the requirements of the top university of their choice. They then apply for a direct admission at a university that supports such program. As far as the trend goes, students tend to apply for the direct admission at as many universities as their time allows.

In an effort to relieve the stress, universities accepting new students through their own examinations will be consulted regarding the exam-sharing idea. A feasibility study will be carried out if the proposed scheme is found to be practical.

-- NNT 2011-02-13

[animatic]

They only now are thinking an SAT type exam for all students to show to all schools is a good idea? Ho can they be so slow on the uptake considering this is internationally pretty standard stuff, and then expect to educate a whole nations students... ? The mind boggles.

[a99az]

Oh my, what a good move in the right direction. All they need now is a national curriculum and tests to be set by the Min of Ed and Thailand could have it half right.

[givenall]

They only now are thinking an SAT type exam for all students to show to all schools is a good idea? Ho can they be so slow on the uptake considering this is internationally pretty standard stuff, and then expect to educate a whole nations students... ? The mind boggles.

As long the education in Thailand is about business, nothing will change, even if they have SAT grade, it would still be about who can pay more

[otherstuff1957]

There are already national university entrance exams. The problem is, the tests are unrealistically difficult for graduates of typical Thai schools and are also so poorly written (at least the English ones are!) that the universities don't trust them as accurate gauges of actual ability or knowledge. Consequently, many universities have come up with their own entrance exams: for instance, the CUTEP for Chula or the TUGET for Thammasat. This article says that the various universities are thinking of sharing their private entrance exams.

This would be a huge boon for students from poorer families, as the students have to pay for each test that they take, so if they could take one exam for a group of universities, they could just take (and pay for) one exam.

Of course, the ideal solution would be for the national exams to be well enough written to be respected and used by all Thai Universities! However, expecting competence from the MOE is probably unrealistic.

[geriatrickid]

The exams referenced are better than the idiotic U.S. SATs which have been shown to be biased. The SATs are a waste and I hope Thailand never goes down that road.(I was 17 when I wrote the SATs, not that I even wanted to go to the US for university and my results were mediocre, yet I ended up with a few diplomas from some highly rated schools, so pfft on the SATs.)

I recall my undergrad applications, which fortunately didn't require sitting for exams. One app that was used for multiple universities. It streamlined the process and made it affordable and less stressful. Grad school was a different scenario and my father paid out a small fortune for all the schools I applied for. Even way back then the fees were the equivalent of 2000-4000 baht for some faculties and I think his comment was that if one of the dozen or so schools I applied for didn't accept me, I had better reconsider my decision as to not pursuing a military career or go back to manual labour.