Thai university dropped from the world?s top 200



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According to the 2007 World University Rankings, published by the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES), all top 10 universities are in the USA or the UK. The number 1 university is still Harvard, which maintained its primary position for the fourth year in a row with a perfect 100 point score. The next three universities tied for second place with 97.6 points are Cambridge, Oxford, and Yale. A number of universities managed to successfully climb into the top 10, while Massachusetts Institute of Technology fell from fourth in 2006 to tenth in 2007.
So where do Thai universities fall in this list?

It is frightening to discover that in the 2007 rankings, no Thai university made the top 200. In 2005, a Thai university (Chulalongkorn University) made the top 200 for the first time by placing 121st, and in 2006, it ranked 161st. However, this year, it disappeared from the top 200.

This fact causes some people to wonder whether their desire to improve the quality of Thai universities to world class status is only a dream. A cursory analysis of Thai higher education reveals many quality problems causing the quest to upgrade Thai universities to world class level seem quite hopeless. I focus on a few primary examples of these deficiencies.

The aim to increase quantity but not quality might affect the overall quality of Thai higher education. At present Thailand has 197 tertiary educational institutes, as follows: 19 public universities (admissions are on a quota), 2 public open universities (all who qualify are admitted), 41 Rajabhat Universities (former teacher training universities), 10 technology universities, 4 autonomous universities, 32 private universities, 58 extension campuses of universities or colleges, and 31 private colleges. And this number is bound to increase in the future.

In addition, the number of students accepted into PhD programs in private and government universities is growing: 6,213 students in 2002, 7,715 in 2003, 8,264 in 2004, 10,516 2005, and 13,959

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2007-12-17