Chulalongkorn University (CU) Aims To Be A World-Class University With A Mission

[webfact]

EDUCATION

Worldclass standards and boosting

By Chularat Saengpassa

Waannapa Khaopa

The Nation

Heads of Chulalongkorn University have set lofty goals

Chulalongkorn University (CU) aims to be a world-class university with a mission to help the nation develop as well as achieve world-class standards in education, CU executives said recently in an exclusive interview.

Research and education were the key to national development, CU president Professor Pirom Kamolratanakul said.

Therefore, CU had invested billions of baht in research and education to try to find solutions for many national problems and improve its teaching and learning.

"With King Rama VI's aspiration to make CU a 'pillar of the Kingdom' since it was established about 95 years ago, the most important mission of the country's first university is national development," Pirom said.

"And, we hope that our products or outputs or outcomes will meet world-class standards in terms of graduates, research, curricula and academic services."

Chula, as it's popularly known, would focus not only on reaching world-class standards but would help life the country through education, he said.

"CU was ranked 223rd by Times Higher Education - QS World University Rankings - before I was appointed as president three years ago. Later in 2009, CU's rank climbed up to 138th in the world, 20th in Asia and 3rd in Asean countries, which are our best ranks," Pirom said.

However, CU's rank dropped to 180 in the QS World University Rankings last year, when a new criteria were used for assessment as QS separated from Times Higher Education.

CU's vice president MR Kalaya Tingsabadh said: "We categorise CU as world-class in the 'national' university division, not world-class in an 'international' university division.

"So, we won't spend a huge amount of money to import excellent foreign lecturers and recruit too many international students to reach a higher rank because doing so doesn't benefit the nation."

The university also wasn't focused on having research papers published in international journals without some benefit for Thai people, she said.

"We are in the same category as the University of Tokyo, Peking University and Seoul National University, which mainly serve local students. We look up to their benchmarks and we will see how we can improve CU," Kalaya said, adding that quality assurance was a step to achieving world-class standards.

CU has plans to introduce more international programmes in the future. Some 85 of 500 courses currently available at CU are conducted in English.

"Asean University Network will be a mechanism for seeking collaboration among Asean universities. We hope to exchange students and transfer credits with them," she said, "We will focus on what is still not much available here. Our master's degree courses will also increase in number."

As research is crucial to help develop Thailand, that is its priority mission. CU is providing Bt2.2 billion for 50 academic or research development projects over a five-year period from 2008-12. The huge budget allocation is to mark CU's century celebration.

"We try to increase research papers that will benefit Thai people. So, we have spent some of that amount investing in infrastructure for conducting research. We have built new research centres, which are available for every faculty to use. In the past, each faculty did research using its own tools," Pirom said.

"If our research has quality, we will be able to be the pillar of the Kingdom within four years with an aggressive strategy to approach and help Thais."

Another Bt120 million has been spent on improving a studio for communication arts students so they can learn in a well-equipped media facility.

Pirom said many faculties had been granted money to carry out studies about biodiversity, Thai democracy and the elderly.

CU has research centres in Saraburi and Nan provinces, 81 research units and 21 centres of excellence that have done 102 projects under a Bt35-million budget each year.

The president said CU had split the country's problems into seven clusters, and would conduct research to help people resolve them. The seven sectors are food and water, alternative energy, global warming, re-emerging diseases, care for the elderly, technology for better lives and human security.

Plus, Bt1.2 billion in grants from its private company partners would also help boost its research.

As a national research university, CU was given Bt696 million to conduct research for the nation for three years.

The government had also allocated CU Bt2 billion under its Thai Khemkhaeng (Invest for Strength) programme. CU has used the budget to create value chains to help farmers create value-added products.

Chulalongkorn had produced around 100,000 graduates over its 95 years, and many of them had done a lot of things that were very useful for the country, Pirom said.

CU also offered more educational opportunities to rural or poor students. Bt203 million worth of scholarships were provided to help 8,020 students each year.

Centre of Chulalongkorn Development and Alumni Relations was raising funds from alumni and private companies to help them. It aims to draw up to Bt1 billion in donations by 2017.

-- The Nation 2011-02-21

[Credo]

Chula is a well respected University. I hope they can continue to improve and that more money will be spent on research and development.

[featography]

Chula is a well respected University. I hope they can continue to improve and that more money will be spent on research and development.

"CU's vice president MR Kalaya Tingsabadh said: "We categorise CU as world-class in the 'national' university division, not world-class in an 'international' university division."

Excuse me for asking, but how can one be world class on a national level only?

Edited February 21, 2011 by featography

[sirchai]

Chula is a well respected University. I hope they can continue to improve and that more money will be spent on research and development.

Guess it's true that it's a real good institution.

But what's a World Class Standard School in the Isan? What about a Nigerian World Class Standard School for drug smugglers? :jap:

[Credo]

I think one is the School of Hard Knocks and the other is the School of (doing) Hard Time.

[marc651]

"So, we won't spend a huge amount of money to import excellent foreign lecturers and recruit too many international students to reach a higher rank because doing so doesn't benefit the nation."

This vision could be called narrow minded, nationalist and even a bit xenophobic. Anything that doesnt directly benefit "the nation" is not worth investing in. The criteria used to decide what actually "benefits" the nation seem a bit questionable too (apparantly international staff, international research ... do not benefit the Thai nation)

As long as they actively aim to keep the gifted non-Thai students, lecturers and international research out, they will remain limited and not live up to their capacity. Needless to say, the real top ranking universities do the opposite and actively look for international cooperation - a base ingredient for academic excellence.

Also note how he first he brags about how they climed in the international ranking. Then, as they dropped again he explains that is fine, as they want to be "world class" at a national level. How does that work, to be international top class, nationally ?

[jjjbkk]

"So, we won't spend a huge amount of money to import excellent foreign lecturers and recruit too many international students to reach a higher rank because doing so doesn't benefit the nation."

This vision could be called narrow minded, nationalist and even a bit xenophobic. Anything that doesnt directly benefit "the nation" is not worth investing in. The criteria used to decide what actually "benefits" the nation seem a bit questionable too (apparantly international staff, international research ... do not benefit the Thai nation)

As long as they actively aim to keep the gifted non-Thai students, lecturers and international research out, they will remain limited and not live up to their capacity. Needless to say, the real top ranking universities do the opposite and actively look for international cooperation - a base ingredient for academic excellence.

Also note how he first he brags about how they climed in the international ranking. Then, as they dropped again he explains that is fine, as they want to be "world class" at a national level. How does that work, to be international top class, nationally ?

I could not agree more with your assessment. The view of the top administrators that foreign instructors, researchers, and students provide no benefits to the Thai university system is very disturbing. Yet, at the same time they are planning to expand their international programs because they want to become more...international??? Also, I find it strange that the nation's top university isn't interested in having its faculty publish in international journals. The peer-review process encourages quality and innovation--which seems to be what the university is looking for. I am scratching my head over this entire article.

[thunder30101]

Its just all part of the grand illusion of progress that is prevalent here in thailand. Its really too bad that the so-called top rated uni here would write such crapola. I feel so sorry for thailand when 2015 comes around.

[lannarebirth]

I think Chul's progress towards their goal will be inversely proportional to the number of Chula grads they hire as professors.

[marty147]

Do I recall an announcement that Thailand wanted to be an EDUCATION HUB!!!???

Something of a contradiction that they don't want any foreign staff or students.

Maybe I'm missing something....

[lannarebirth]

Do I recall an announcement that Thailand wanted to be an EDUCATION HUB!!!???

Something of a contradiction that they don't want any foreign staff or students.

Maybe I'm missing something....

I don't see where it needs much in the way of foreign staff, except maybe a few deans, what it mostly needs is foreign educated Thai professors.

[richard10365]

Do I recall an announcement that Thailand wanted to be an EDUCATION HUB!!!???

Something of a contradiction that they don't want any foreign staff or students.

Maybe I'm missing something....

I don't see where it needs much in the way of foreign staff, except maybe a few deans, what it mostly needs is foreign educated Thai professors.

I totally agree with the earlier comment that Chula is sounding a bit xenophobic. I think this backwards thinking might be considered a marketing blunder as the world sees Thailand's best university being led by someone with such narrow vision. I think their world rankings will drop next year.

I'm in my 3rd year of study at Payap University in Chiang Mai and we have a mix of foreign and Thai instructors. Some of the foreign educated Thai instructors are good and some are not.

For some of these Thai professors, if they stick to teaching Thai students, I guess they are doing pretty good. Although I have not been in a Thai classroom studying a Thai curriculum. I am more or less guessing based on how confident they appear when they walk into an international classroom to teach an international curriculum. The mentality that Thai professors are gifts from God does not go over as well when the classroom that is full of international students. At Payap, the mix of Thai and international students is about 52% Foreign and 48% Thai. So the influence and opinions of the international students are considerations our instructors have to deal with.

They also think since they graduated from an international university somewhere in the world at some point in their life, their English skills are good enough to teach. The sad reality is nothing could be further from the truth. I have always felt that if non-native English speakers have to take an English test to study a curriculum that is taught totally in English, the instructor should as well if they are not a native English speaker.

On the other hand, Thai professors that have lots of experience in the field which they are teaching are actually some of the best instructors I have ever had. When I say experience, I don't mean academic or research experience. I mean experience actually doing the job for which they have their degree in. Some academic and research based professors are disappointing as their main concern seems more about how much money they can get from the school or government to conduct their research. Teaching in a classroom is a distant second priority to them. Too many instructors doing massive amounts of research makes me think a university will have problems with the quality of their instruction.

For example, I had one instructor tell us he had gotten 10 million baht from the Thai government before to do his research. But in the classroom he was a teaching disaster. Hopefully the negative comments given during the student evaluation will keep him from ever teaching international students again.

Only time will tell what direction the Thai education system will go. However, I do hope it moves in a positive direction. I do love this country and want the best for it. It's not perfect but it is the place that I call home.

[lannarebirth]

I'm not sure that what goes on at Payap is indicative of anything that happens in academia.

[richard10365]

I'm not sure that what goes on at Payap is indicative of anything that happens in academia.

Perhaps you don't know anything about Payap.

[lannarebirth]

I'm not sure that what goes on at Payap is indicative of anything that happens in academia.

Perhaps you don't know anything about Payap.

Sorry, meant to be PM

Edited February 23, 2011 by lannarebirth

[Credo]

In a good university, the nationality of the professors would not matter. It is the qualifications that are important.

[brfsa2]

Seriously, Chula wants to have a high standard internationally but dont want to be judged internationally?

That is total arrogance, so typical of high-so people.

Chula will not have the standard of international university anytime soon with this attitude in mind.

Im a engineering student at assumption University, ABAC. In thailand the only 'almost' international University is ABAC.

It's a hard university. The curriculum is strict and some teacher have so much ego and arrogance that it makes it impossible to pass.

But most teachers are excellent. The facilities are the best you can get in thailand.

and the most important, in ABAC they have the obligation to listen to foreigners. not like other places where foreigner is only there to pay bills.

The deans are very good, and all the staff speak english well enough.

you can work at the university during and after studies.

There are some mind blowing teachers who studied in the US and now are professors at ABAC.

Those teachers understand how foreigners feel and think, because they were a foreigner once.

and ABAC is the only university where African students are well accepted and can graduate... Any other university in thailand no way. there are over 100 african students right now

ohh, and at last:

Almost every year Abac Debating Club beat the shit out of chula and every other "university" in thailand... why is that? you guess.

Most of "international" Universities in thailand are total BS, easy to get A and pass... just want money.

This is from my full experience.

Edited February 23, 2011 by brfsa2

[brfsa2]

ohh, and at last:

Almost every year Abac Debating Club beat the shit out of chula and every other "university" in thailand... why is that? you guess.

link : http://globaldebateblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/wudc-format-makes-splash-at-chula-iv-in.html

and http://globaldebateblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/asia-embraces-wudc-format-stages.html

Edited February 23, 2011 by brfsa2

[richard10365]

Seriously, Chula wants to have a high standard internationally but dont want to be judged internationally?

That is total arrogance, so typical of high-so people.

Chula will not have the standard of international university anytime soon with this attitude in mind.

Im a engineering student at assumption University, ABAC. In thailand the only 'almost' international University is ABAC.

It's a hard university. The curriculum is strict and some teacher have so much ego and arrogance that it makes it impossible to pass.

But most teachers are excellent. The facilities are the best you can get in thailand.

and the most important, in ABAC they have the obligation to listen to foreigners. not like other places where foreigner is only there to pay bills.

The deans are very good, and all the staff speak english well enough.

you can work at the university during and after studies.

There are some mind blowing teachers who studied in the US and now are professors at ABAC.

Those teachers understand how foreigners feel and think, because they were a foreigner once.

and ABAC is the only university where African students are well accepted and can graduate... Any other university in thailand no way. there are over 100 african students right now

ohh, and at last:

Almost every year Abac Debating Club beat the shit out of chula and every other "university" in thailand... why is that? you guess.

Most of "international" Universities in thailand are total BS, easy to get A and pass... just want money.

This is from my full experience.

I think it's great that you feel you are at a good university based on your experience. However, if that is the only university you have studied in, I hardly think you are qualified to speak on the conditions of all the other universities in Thailand.

Some of your claims are a bit outlandish. How can you say your university is the only university where African students can attend and graduate? We have students from 30 different countries at Payap University in Chiang Mai. We don't discriminate on students from any country and I have not heard of any other universities that have discriminatory policies that do discriminate.

I can only speak about the university where I have studied for the last 3 years and can honestly tell you "A's" are not given away as you have suggested. I have seen many students fail because the difficulty of different courses.

I do agree that Chula is a bit arrogant in what it has said in the opening post but I also know that many poor students study there as well. I use to teach English as a volunteer in Sa Kaeo. I had someone who helped translate for me as I was the only foreigner in this particular area in Sa Kaeo. This person had a younger sister who studied from the time she woke until late at night when she went to bed. She ended up getting a scholarship from Chula and is now about to graduate with a science degree. She already has a job with a good company. Chula might be arrogant but it is still a good school producing highly capable graduates. ABAC is a good university and I think my university is also a good university too. It's not perfect but it is getting better.

Good luck with your studies.

[SomTumTiger]

Besides, Mahidol is the best ranked university in Thailand anyway, .

[madjbs]

University ranking is not very accurate at all as it depends on the program really.

Oh and ABAC is far from the best uni in Thailand. The reason there are so many African students there is because they accept anyone as long as they pay the fees. Not because they are the only ones who accept them, that is ridiculous.

[Willbkk]

I agree with the views of previous corespondents that the comments of the VP were a misguided marketing blunder, bordering on xenophobic. Chula's many talented and dedicated ajarns and students from overseas, who contribute to the university's work and international standing, deserve more respect.

The comments are all the more extraordinary coming from a linguist, from whom one might reasonably expect a more enlightened perspective than more closeted academics without her own considerable linkages to the international academic community.

Perhaps what matters more than words is how Chula walks the talk. For example, its "zero tolerance to plagiarism".... Ahem, s'cuse me!!?

Last year a plagiarism scandal erupted when an ex-Chula student - who happened to be an official at the Ministry of Science and Technology- was found by an internal investigation to have plagiarized his PhD thesis in large measure. A year later, his degree and job still remain intact.

Witness the recent "Dr Googleberg" scandal in Germany, in which the charismatic Defence Minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg was found to have plagiarized his PhD thesis. The University revoked his degree within weeks, forcing his resignation.

Chula's failure to do likewise is a slap in the face to all honest students who slave away to earn their degree. It is a slap in the face to all honest academics who work hard to contribute to the university's intellectual standing and reputation. And it is a slap in the face to Thailand, eroding as it does the credibility of any kind of degree from any institute of higher learning in the Kingdom.

When will Chula wake up and realize that if it aspires to global standards, it must embrace them, abide by them and be prepared to be judged by them?

[SomTumTiger]

I agree with the views of previous corespondents that the comments of the VP were a misguided marketing blunder, bordering on xenophobic. Chula's many talented and dedicated ajarns and students from overseas, who contribute to the university's work and international standing, deserve more respect.

The comments are all the more extraordinary coming from a linguist, from whom one might reasonably expect a more enlightened perspective than more closeted academics without her own considerable linkages to the international academic community.

Perhaps what matters more than words is how Chula walks the talk. For example, its "zero tolerance to plagiarism".... Ahem, s'cuse me!!?

Last year a plagiarism scandal erupted when an ex-Chula student - who happened to be an official at the Ministry of Science and Technology- was found by an internal investigation to have plagiarized his PhD thesis in large measure. A year later, his degree and job still remain intact.

Witness the recent "Dr Googleberg" scandal in Germany, in which the charismatic Defence Minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg was found to have plagiarized his PhD thesis. The University revoked his degree within weeks, forcing his resignation.

Chula's failure to do likewise is a slap in the face to all honest students who slave away to earn their degree. It is a slap in the face to all honest academics who work hard to contribute to the university's intellectual standing and reputation. And it is a slap in the face to Thailand, eroding as it does the credibility of any kind of degree from any institute of higher learning in the Kingdom.

When will Chula wake up and realize that if it aspires to global standards, it must embrace them, abide by them and be prepared to be judged by them?

At Mahidol, we use anti-plagerism service called. turnitin.com Works great, and all theses are required to be screened wtih it.

[Jawnie]

As long as less than 20% of classes are conducted in English, CU can only help Thailand. This is paramount to saying that Thailand already knows everything and has all the answers - yeah, right.

Such a narrow educational focus is not necessarily good for Thailand and doesn't really help the nation. It guarantees that Thailand will lag behind the rest of the world by virtue of this misplaced self-reliance.

Thai culture is very curious in this regard. Yes, it is unique and valuable, and should be retained as much as possible. But, the government and educational community don't understand that Thai-language only students can not, and will not, ever excel outside Thailand. In a sense, they are doomed to live and stay in Thailand - with its monarchy, military government, and pay-for-votes democracy. That is not a recipe for world-class anything.

You can't expect to have an international or world class university to grow out of an education system focused on or taught in Thai language. The other countries cited - Japan, China, and Korea - each have governments whose educational policies aggressively pursue both English language study and study abroad for integrating skills and knowledge from all over the world.

There is no need to have an explicit goal of "helping the nation" as it appears nothing more than insular and xenophobic. Your Thai children, students, businesspeople, artists, etc., should be encouraged to study English and study broad. CU must open its doors to the world, not see it as something "other". Thailand is a unique country and culture with much to share. It's children and professionals will return to help the nation on their own, once they gain something new and of value to contribute. The government should not be dictating such narrow education standards.