Thailand's Prime Minister says universities fail reform tests

Abhisit says varsities fail reform test

• Published: 21/12/2010 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: News

Thailand's education reform efforts are being hindered by universities' failure to consider the results of external assessments, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva says.

The problem is that there is no clear process to link the findings of the National Education Standards and Quality Assessment (Onesqa) to the universities, Mr Abhisit said. That meant the recommendations could not be put into action.

Onesqa was established to evaluate the quality of universities and other educational institutes across the country every five years.

The prime minister told a meeting yesterday on the third round of the external quality assurance, which will cover 2011 to 2015, that: "Some institutes which are in intensive care [in terms of quality] often oppose and criticise the assessment's results, instead of using them to fix their problem."

He said the assessment often aroused suspicion among those who were being evaluated, as they felt its purpose was to find fault.

"It is not an easy job, but Onesqa has to overcome that difficulty in order to properly assess the institutes," he said.

"It is a worry that the overall quality of education nationwide has fallen in the past 10 years, despite an increase in resources that the government has thrown into the education system."

Some countries with fewer resources and a smaller budget had higher education standards than Thailand, he said.

"This shows the investment in our education system has been ineffective."

Mr Abhisit said the issue was not one of finances or resources.

"Our problem lies not in budgeting or human resources, and educational effectiveness does not depend on the [quality and availability of] materials, but rather on the quality of teachers."

Onesqa director Channarong Pornrungroj said new key performance indices (KPIs) had been identified to consider the difference in size of educational institutes. He admitted the two previous assessment rounds proved discouraging for those judged to have performed poorly, with some teachers resigning.

The new KPIs would consist of basic categories developed by Onesqa, specific criteria suggested by the educational institutes, and supportive KPIs designed to reflect the environment of the society in which the institutes are based.