Higher education ‘stuck in outdated mode’ despite ‘4.0 era’: lecturer

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Higher education ‘stuck in outdated mode’ despite ‘4.0 era’: lecturer
By CHULARAT SAENGPASSA
THE NATION

 

Dr Supot Hannongbua

 

BANGKOK: -- MOST PARTS of the higher education sector are stuck in an outdated 1.2 version, even as the ambitious Thailand 4.0 serves as a future benchmark, a prominent university lecturer has said.

 

Dr Supot Hannongbua, who teaches at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Science, said that within the country’s higher education system, learners should be able to become innovators in the 4.0 era. 

 

“But apparently, most students are stuck in the outdated version. Just 20 per cent of students can seek more knowledge from online media, which is in the 2.0 version only,” he said. 

 

But he said, the 2.0 version was still an improvement on the 1.0 period when lecturers had to “spoon-feed” students with knowledge. 

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30304674

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-01-23

[SoFarAndNear]

Difficult to get more Innovators in a copy paste society.

 

[boooker]

Education start with willigness and great teachers....BA...MBA degrees are sometimes stunnig peoples whom are out there with not more then a colledge knowledge.

1.0...2.0...4.0 

[Briggsy]

The majority of the private universities and the government Rajaphat institutions are little more than degree mills and networking opportunities. This is incentivised by profit and student demand for the degree. Thus there would be resistance to the reforms suggested by the lecturer.

 

If you want an improvement in standards in any organisation, educational or otherwise, you need the following :-

1. Clearly defined goals

2. Quantifiable, measurable targets

3. The political will to make it happen, including in this case the head of the university, the MoE, government, etc.

4. The correct tone and example set at the top.

5. Independent auditing and assessment of the progress or lack of it.

6. Carrots and sticks.

 

Many, if not all, of these factors are wholly or partially absent.

[mok199]

I am allways upset to see any countrys education system suffer because of politics, corruption or just fear.,but,in my humble opinion Thailand  is stuck..but they can always use ''saving face''as an excuse for not embracing the challenges and ultimately rewards, moving forward brings.thais need to learn to except critisizm..thais didn't invent the wheel (although many would like you to believe they did)...so much potential here,sad to see it lost on false senses of pride..stop trying to keep our children down..the end...peanuts gets you monkeys..sawadee no crap

[SaintLouisBlues]

9 minutes ago, mok199 said:

I am allways upset to see any countrys education system suffer because of politics, corruption or just fear.,but,in my humble opinion Thailand  is stuck..but they can always use ''saving face''as an excuse for not embracing the challenges and ultimately rewards, moving forward brings.thais need to learn to except critisizm..thais didn't invent the wheel (although many would like you to believe they did)...so much potential here,sad to see it lost on false senses of pride..stop trying to keep our children down..the end...peanuts gets you monkeys..sawadee no crap

Nothing to do with pride - the Thai ruling class sees no value in educating the peasants to think for themselves

[arrowsdawdle]

30 minutes ago, SoFarAndNear said:

Difficult to get more Innovators in a copy paste society.

 

 

Especially when it not allowed to ask professors questions for fear of making them lose face if they don't know the answer. The local solution, sell degrees and diplomas. And that ladies and gentleman is your Thai 4.0 education. Afghanistan, Somalia, and Antarctica must be 4.0 as well.

[The Old Bull]

The problem is the old model , that the young should learn off the old, that works for the arts. In the technology field those qualified and have the knowledge are not much older than the students. This is a tough one for Thai educators to get their head around.

[Srikcir]

2.0 is optimistic

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2016-2017 list the 980 top universities in the world

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2017/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats

Thailand: one university in 501-600 ranking group; four universities in 601-800; one university in 801+

Top 50:

North America (US & Canada) 28

Europe (incl. UK & Scandinavia) 15

Selected Asia (Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan & China) 6

Pacific (Australia) 1

 

 

[BlindMagician]

They keep talking about knowledge. They need to move up the hierarchy of Bloom's taxonomy.

[avander]

I realise this is secondary education but seems indicative of the entire system here.  My 14yo Thai daughter was told she had to have her beautiful long hair cut by the principal of her school, a Government school with a good "English programme" that we pay more for.

It is a generally reasonable school comparable with many lower priced International schools.

I was flabbergasted but apparently if we didn't get it cut the school threatened a hatchet job.  A new rule in the government school system apparently. I understand about cleanliness and all but this is ridiculous and harks back to the early 1900s. They should be focused on improving the quality of education here  not turning out lookalike robots and points to the OP news piece.

[mtls2005]

Best to move it back to 0.5, better for the ruling elite.

 

"...harks back to the early 1900s "

 

Yep, that's the plan. Maybe just learn to count to ten (history), sing a few patriotic songs, march in a few parades, learn some cheering, maybe a class in whistle-blowing.

[connda]

2 hours ago, Briggsy said:

The majority of the private universities and the government Rajaphat institutions are little more than degree mills and networking opportunities. This is incentivised by profit and student demand for the degree. Thus there would be resistance to the reforms suggested by the lecturer.

 

If you want an improvement in standards in any organisation, educational or otherwise, you need the following :-

1. Clearly defined goals

2. Quantifiable, measurable targets

3. The political will to make it happen, including in this case the head of the university, the MoE, government, etc.

4. The correct tone and example set at the top.

5. Independent auditing and assessment of the progress or lack of it.

6. Carrots and sticks.

 

Many, if not all, of these factors are wholly or partially absent.

7. The will to allow students to fail of their own accord.

8. The will to reward excellence and nurture truly motivated students.

 

One of the main problems here are that the current crop of educators learned in the 'old system' and literally don't have the ability or skill sets to take new students to the next level.  Example: I use to teach English to Thai educators whose university major was English.  The vast majority of these educators barely had a rudimentary understanding of the English language, and yet these are now the educators tasked with teaching the current generation of students English at the University level.  Talk about the blind leading the blind! 

[SaintLouisBlues]

9 minutes ago, connda said:

... to take new students to the next level. 

...  Talk about the blind leading the blind! 

English Cliches 101

[connda]

13 minutes ago, SaintLouisBlues said:

English Cliches 101

In informal writing, cliches are useful in a lazy sort of way.  I not writing a university dissertation.  I'm simply sitting here in my PJs with a cup of coffee knocking out a quick opinion.  So, why not.  <wink> 

[connda]

2 hours ago, SaintLouisBlues said:

Nothing to do with pride - the Thai ruling class sees no value in educating the peasants to think for themselves

Hence funding and resources for education tend to flow to the big cities with the scraps and leftovers trickling down to the villages.  Yeah.  The kids of rice farmers remain rice farmers, or ya baa addicts and criminals. 

[TheFishman1]

TIT

[George Graham]

If the quotes in the article are accurate, this man is an idiot.

[Eric Loh]

Debates and discussion among students scare the living hell out of Prayut and gives him reoccurring nightmares. What Thailand need is a continuity in elected government to make those serious education reform.     

[Eligius]

38 minutes ago, George Graham said:

If the quotes in the article are accurate, this man is an idiot.

Yes, he must be an idiot - if he does not know that stimulating critical thinking and analysis in today's Thailand are totally and utterly 'verboten' (despite the empty and mendacious rhetoric of the 'leaders'). 

 

You cannot have critical thinking without critical questioning - and as we all know, there is just so much now in Thailand that cannot (on pain of imprisonment) be questioned or critically commented upon. 

There are even things I (and other posters) would love to say here but cannot - as we don't relish the prospect of languishing in a Thai jail for a decade and more.

 

So for a 'scholar' from Chula (one of THE bastions of the 'keep the masses dumbed down and servile' Establishment) to come out with this drivel is beyond farcical. Talk about living in an ivory tower! I'd like to see how much questioning he actually allows his students to do. What if the nature and practice of Democracy comes up in his class? What if Autocracy comes up? What if political propaganda comes up? What if .... well, I can't even mention it (and nor can the students or the teachers). You get my point!

[chilli42]

Agree the education system is broken here in Thailand regardless of what version they think they are running.  That said, is broken just about everywhere in the world (including N America and most of Europe) barring a few countries.

 

 

[aussiandrew]

4 hours ago, Briggsy said:

The majority of the private universities and the government Rajaphat institutions are little more than degree mills and networking opportunities. This is incentivised by profit and student demand for the degree. Thus there would be resistance to the reforms suggested by the lecturer.

 

If you want an improvement in standards in any organisation, educational or otherwise, you need the following :-

1. Clearly defined goals

2. Quantifiable, measurable targets

3. The political will to make it happen, including in this case the head of the university, the MoE, government, etc.

4. The correct tone and example set at the top.

5. Independent auditing and assessment of the progress or lack of it.

6. Carrots and sticks.

 

Many, if not all, of these factors are wholly or partially absent.

Well written and this could also clearly apply to any businesses in Thailand.

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, The Old Bull said:

The problem is the old model , that the young should learn off the old, that works for the arts. In the technology field those qualified and have the knowledge are not much older than the students. This is a tough one for Thai educators to get their head around.

The solution is to get the "old" to pass-on knowledge & educate the new student teachers of the future..
the problem is that most old teachers are protectionists, fearing the younger smarter generation..

they hold onto their knowledge & burden the young with rubbish, hence the new generation is less able to do anything in the future'

result is an education system going in reverse.

[RawboneFunksta]

American universities and increasingly European institutions are just as awful but in different ways.

The proliferation of 'studies' course like Gender studies, Women's studies and the like are simply irrelevant in preparing students for any role, even a social role in the world outside. History and Politics taught within these programs are one sided and lean heavily on Marxism. The snowflake generation is the result.

Increasingly we are seeing young people who 'think they know everything', 'imagine they are owed everything' but can do very little that contributes to society or western civilisation. At least Thai students learn respect if not much else.

[Krataiboy]

With most jobs, white as well as blue collar, due to be taken over by robots or computers in the next few decades, the whole purpose of education (to train large numbers of us to work for a select few who will live at a far higher standard than the rest of us) needs to be re-thought - not just in Thailand but across the whole world.

 

The current educational template has changed little in essence since the Industrial Revolution for which it was designed to churn out conformist little cogs for the dark satanic mills. It is already hopelessly out of step with the high-speed march of technology and will become more so as the century unfolds.

 

With three youngsters still in the Thai education system, I am almost tearing what's left of my hair out with frustration at the failure of educators worldwide to even address, let alone find a solution to, the problem of what to do with a generation of children being trained in skills they won't need for jobs that won't exist.

 

Small wonder homeschooling is becoming so popular.

[hotchilli]

10 hours ago, Briggsy said:

The majority of the private universities and the government Rajaphat institutions are little more than degree mills and networking opportunities. This is incentivised by profit and student demand for the degree. Thus there would be resistance to the reforms suggested by the lecturer.

 

If you want an improvement in standards in any organisation, educational or otherwise, you need the following :-

1. Clearly defined goals

2. Quantifiable, measurable targets

3. The political will to make it happen, including in this case the head of the university, the MoE, government, etc.

4. The correct tone and example set at the top.

5. Independent auditing and assessment of the progress or lack of it.

6. Carrots and sticks.

 

Many, if not all, of these factors are wholly or partially absent.

A lot of truth stated here, I've taught students & Thai teachers from all of the above... especially Rajabaht Uni

just a cover for copy & paste degrees.

[fruitman]

12 hours ago, SoFarAndNear said:

Difficult to get more Innovators in a copy paste society.

 

 

Exams are multiple choice so it's more a gambling game to them. Nobody fails though, i wonder how they do that.