Thailand Gets Low University Ranking

Via: City News – Chiang Mai

CityNews – A recent report by Universitas 21, a leading research group that ranks universities, put Thailand in 41^st place out of 48 countries for the standard of university education.

The rankings are based on 20 components that include government investment and also investment by the private sector. USA, Sweden, Canada, Finland and Denmark were the top five countries, while in Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore were the highest ranked but failed to get into the top ten.

The results are based on what each country “provides” in quality education, not results achieved by an aggregate of institutions in a country. For more information on how the results were compiled follow the hyperlink above.

Thailand universities, according to Webometrics, that collates data based on performance, quality of education and some other non-academic variables, ranks Thai universities quite low on a global scale. The highest ranked is Kasetsart University in Bangkok at 140, Chulalongkorn is second at 173, while the highest ranked northern university is Chiang Mai University at 236.

Other northern schools of higher education fall a long way behind in the 1,500+ region.

 http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=302

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personal thought:

And when you see similiar studies for high school students, you can see it is NOT improving.

pity

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Thai students rank 8th in classroom manners

Via: ThaiVisa.com

Thailand has been included in the list of top ten countries whose students have the very best classroom manners, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Japan was found to have students with the best classroom manners, followed by students from Kazakhstan, China (Shanghai), Hong Kong, Romania, South Korea and Azerbaijan. Thailand was ranked eighth in the list, followed by Albania and Russia.

It can be seen that seven out of the ten nations are in Asia while the other three are in Europe. Among the rest on the list, England was in the 28th place, above France and Italy.

The study conducted in 2009 found that students worldwide talked or interrupted classes less compared with those in 2000. It was earlier worrying that students worldwide would talk or interrupt classes more; however, the survey has proven that students have improved their manners.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/469844-thai-students-ranked-8th-in-classroom-manners/

Sounds like a great place to come and teach, huh?

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Well hang on, you might want to read some of the comments:

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“Is this survey for schools only?

Do most of the Thai kids become misbehaved when they start university?

They chat on phones, answer phones

Talk to each other

Walk off in the middle of the class to smoke

Are absent every other day

Come to class late

Don’t do their assignments

Some even apply/ repair their make-up in class among lots of other things

And all this in the middle of a lecture

It will be a bad thing to generalize as I have had a few really good Thai students.”

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This is a fairly new topic on the board, and it will interesting to read the other comments; but I suspect this one, will be fairly typical.

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Well, if the students are so well mannered, they must be doing well on the test scores, right?

Actually, not so good.

http://seattle99.wordpress.com/2011/04/16/thailand-downhill-for-our-education-system/

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Thailand – ‘downhill for our education system’

Via: Bangkok Post

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It is more than a SURPRISE and QUITE a SHOCK when the results of the nationwide O-Net test, which measures students’ basic knowledge in various subjects, shows that on average Thai students fail miserably, especially in the important subjects such as English and mathematics, noted Thai Rath.

Out of a mark of 100, here is the average of each subject scored by students countrywide:

Thai language – 42.61

social studies – 46.51

English – 19.22

mathematics – 14.99

science – 30.90

physical education and health studies – 62.86

arts and crafts – 32.62

career and technology – 43.69

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Thai Rath posed questions to education critic/academic Assoc Prof , Faculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University.

Q: As an academic on education, how do you feel about the nationwide O-Net result?

A: “The failure has been consistent for the last three years which is the period of transition from the previous education reform to the present one. . . .”

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You can read the rest of the interview with Dr Sompong Chitradap, here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/232140/downhill-for-our-education-system

Thailand to hire 300 native English teachers

BANGKOK: — The Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec) will seek a Bt350million budget to hire 300 native English-speaking teachers for its primary and secondary schools to tackle the shortage of English teachers, a senior official said yesterday.

According to the proposal, the native speakers would each get about Bt1 million (+/-$33,000USD) per year – a salary of Bt83,000 (+/-$2,700USD) per month – compared to the Bt9,000 (+/-$300USD) per month drawn by Thais teaching English.

Obec chief Chinaphat Phumirat said the foreign teachers would be from the United States, Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, India and the Philippines.
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/455841-thailand-to-hire-300-native-english-speaking-teachers/

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Personal opinion:

1) I think the RATES are MUCH TOO HIGH; especially if they recruit ‘Native English Speakers’ from India and the Philippines.

btw: ‘Native English Speakers’ from India and the Phillipines’ ; well, good luck with that!

2) I think it ‘might’ be a good idea to hire 300 native English teachers.

However, I can’t help but wonder if instead of teaching primary/secondary students, if it would be more beneficial to help the ‘Thai university education majors’ with their English, and HOW to teach English.

3) For the U.S. cadidates, if for no other reason than ’screening’, the Office of Basic Education could/should co-ordinated with the Peace Corps.

http://www.peacecorps.gov/

and last but not least,

4) Thai colleges and universities graduates thousands of teachers every year, and I have my doubts that this ‘proposal’ is ‘politically feasable’.