Thailand not among world’s top universities

[Juan B Tong]

11 hours ago, seminomadic said:

In other news, the sky is blue.

Correction:  the sky and sea are blue.

[zyphodb]

Well, well, well...

 

No surprises there then.....

[newatthis]

Instead of education, scholarly research etc, the ratings criteria obviously has to be changed to uniforms.

[Ridler]

Is anyone really surprised that there are no Thai universities on the list? And it doesn't matter to anyone in Thailand as it was not a Thai report so means absolutely nothing to anyone in Thailand 

[Sydebolle]

Basics of education usually should look as follows.

In a professional Kindergarten (note, it is an invention from Germany) children learn social behaviour in a group, agree to disagree, accept that others might be better in certain things as well as inter human values. No ABCs nor mathematics; it is playing and developing individuality.

Primary school (6 years) teach basics in all subject; as of the 4th/5th year a second language - normally English. Secondary school (3-4 years) goes into higher education, possibly a third language and special courses, which then allows a student to carry on with a vocational path (apprenticeship programmes) - while smarter and/or keener students alternatively proceed then with university and go through BA, MA and PhD programmes. 

5% of kindergarteners make it to university and there is a small single digit percentage of kids which repeat a class or even fail. 

 

Here it is about face and I hardly came by a BA graduate with some basic logic thinking abilities; lets forget about language skills. But as long as the powers-to-be smoke screen education with titles, degrees and graduation exercises taking upto three days to learn how to receive a degree ........ the expectations are accordingly. 

You cannot build a roof on a misconstructed supporting structure. You cannot expect the best as long as there is a financial key involved which results in, more often than not, almost illiterate rich-kids roaming in fancy cars and night clubs while smart cookies from the countryside have never stood a chance from the moment they were born. 

Those in charge of changing/improving the education system are those directly benefitting momentarily from an uneducated crowd of future voters in a rigged electorate.

If everything would be brought to a screeching halt today and changed against proven tools, teachers and systems ........ then it would still take a minimum of two generations to benefit of the impact and, I for one, regret to assume that Thailand has outlasted its opportunities and is now already at the shorter end of the stick. Compare Thai students regionally and you will be surprised, what Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines are turning out into the work force these days ........ 

 

[Gerard052]

10 hours ago, Cadbury said:

Great contribution. Really original stuff. Can't count the number of times I have seen that worthless comment. We are talking about education in Thailand not the drugs you might normally use.

You must be one of the new young generation Thaivisa members referred to by Thaivisa bossman Dan Cheeseman?

`If you don't like my comments just don't read them.  Have a nice day.  And by the way where is your contribution Mister Know it All?

[mikebell]

Only money talks in Thailand.  Most colleges/universities are businesses; that is their primary function is to make money; if some improvement in educational levels takes place, well that's a surprising bonus.

Then worthless  degrees are presented meaning another drain on family resources requiring journeys/hotel expenses as the degrees are presented at out-of-the way universities often by royalty (in my step-daughter's case the present king.)  The family are not allowed into the hall but must wait outside in the baking sun for the proud moment when their off-spring emerges.  The precious paper has less value than toilet tissue when it comes to finding jobs; prospective employers (in my family's case - school principals) are only interested in what's in it for them rather than taking the best candidate.

[impulse]

While there may be a significant difference in the quality of the education, the top universities make it on the list because of the contacts people make and lifelong relationships they form at university.

 

It's a vicious cycle- Thai schools won't attract top talent (student or faculty) until they get on the list.  And they won't get on the list until they attract top talent.

 

[bbi1]

C'mon don't be silly. I for one am shocked by this news, I'm totally flabbergasted. Every time I get into a taxi the tax driver tells me "Thailand No.1" and then gives me the thumbs up.

Edited June 16, 2017 by bbi1

[impulse]

4 minutes ago, bbi1 said:

C'mon don't be silly! Every time I get into a taxi the tax driver tells me "Thailand No.1" and then gives me the thumbs up.

 

That's strange, because the (very competent) Thais I work with are quick to acknowledge that Thailand has its faults, and are very willing to discuss -in respectful terms- what those faults are.  Along with the cultural and political origins of those faults.

 

Of course, that could come down to the difference in the English proficiency of taxi drivers vs professionals working for English speaking companies.

 

Edited June 16, 2017 by impulse

[richard10365]

Most posters are making too much from this survey.

 

The rankings are based on the views of  EXPERIENCED PUBLISHED SCHOLARS,  who are asked   To offer their views on the standards of teaching and research in their disciplines and in institutions that THEY are familiar with.  The responses were then used to determine which universities were considered the most prestigious. 

 

In 2017, there are more than 25,000 universities spread out in 196 countries around the world. In this world, there are 591 million people who are between the ages of 18 and 22 that are old enough to attend a university (not considering all the older students). Not everyone can attend the best universities. 

 

From the 25,000 universities, there were 10,566 responses from 137 of the world's countries. In other words, if the people who were asked to take this survey, do not know about a university, then they can't offer an opinion on it. If people are familiar with research from a particular university,  they might be able to have an opinion on that university.

 

My first point is, most Thai academics don't speak English well. Most of their research is in Thai. This means it only get's read by other Thai researchers. Thai research and any particular reputation a university may have because of its ability to produce research would generally be unknown to the experienced published scholars who may have participated in this survey.  It does not mean that Thai universities don't know how to teach or do research; however, it may infer that Thailand low English ability among its academic community makes it higher education system appear weak compared to other universities around the world.

 

Point number two is, if your university wasn't mentioned, it doesn't mean it's not a good university that doesn't have quality graduates or a good research program. It means from the 25,000 universities around the world, your university is not known well among famous and experienced published scholars who took this survey. 

[Yme]

What a totally useless piece of 'journalism' by The Nation. Not even a mention of where any of the Thai universities sit. 

Thailand Higher Education: Like Lipstick on a Pig
 

In Thailand, home to some of the regions most established (and expensive) higher education institutions the 2018 QS International University Ranking presents far from cheery reading.

Thailand’s number one university, the 100-year-old Chulalongkorn University (CU), leads Thailand universities into this years list with a global ranking of 245. An increase of seven places above its ranking in the 2017 QS International University Ranking, ‘Chula’ also claims the title of Asean’s sixth highest ranked university.

Source  University Rankings: Malaysia Emerges as Higher Education Hub – Singapore's Nanyang Dethrones
 

[hugh2121]

"The world’s three most famous universities"

Silly me, I thought it was about the best universities rather than the famous ones.

[IMA_FARANG]

The universities may not be highly ranked, but if you look at the results more  closely you will see Thai STUDENTS  that are admitted each year to  prestigious universities internationally.

It just goes to show you that good Thai students will often rise above their poor schools

 

[Moti24]

"Thailand not among world’s top universities"

 

Mai Bpen Rai!  The tourists are coming in their droves!

 

[retarius]

Quelle surprise! Obviously they are misunderstanding the exceptional quality of Thai educmacation? Perhaps other countries don't think wrongly that respect for the hierachy should be a key educmacational aim?

[Redline]

Thailand is doomed.  For the plethora of problems and issues that Thailand faces, there are tried and proven solutions for.  There is neither the want nor will to solve or fix them.  The unwillingness to be serious about all of these issues, ignore the voices of reason and knowledge, refusal to obtain outside professional and proficient expertise, will result in the slow suffocation and downward spiral that that we are witnessing.  This country was the poster child for SE Asia at one time~sad because it still should be.

[chainarong]

Not surprised,  U only have 2 c the intelligence of the Junta...........................................

[lvr181]

The Government can bulls hit all the population some of the time, or some of the population all of the time but not all of the population all the time (although they are trying very hard to do so)!

And they are certainly NOT going to convince the rest of the world at all.

[Na Lee]

It's an outdated survey based on the wrong questionaries. Chula uni is the best in the world.! Because Thailand IS the world outside Thailand there is nothing.

Sent from my BLL-L22 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[ben2talk]

On 6/15/2017 at 7:12 PM, YetAnother said:

so where were they ranked ?

I just don't get it. I'm sure that most people in the civilised world think about names like จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย - or maybe มหาวิทยาลัยสงขลานครินทร์

 

Obviously someone in the Ministry is spending more time rewriting history to pay attention to this.

Edited June 16, 2017 by ben2talk