COPING WITH CHALLENGES

Thai educators and policymakers are well aware of the problems that have been bedevilling the country's educational system. Some of these problems may be relatively easy to tackle, others may require years or decades of hard work. To cope with the changes that the AEC will bring to theThai higher education sector, the Ministry of education's Office of Higher education Commission (OHEC) has hit the ground mining by laying out several strategies for short-term improvement.

The strategies include efforts to increase Thai graduates English language proficiency and professional skills for work in multicultural environments. They include initiatives to boost the quality of research, instruction and innovation at Thai colleges and universities. And they include projects to promote Thailand as a regional education hub for students from neighbouring countries as well as from across the region. Such ambitious plans will entail reforming the teaching of foreign languages; boosting cultural exchange programs; and facilitating the mobility of students both "vertically" (moving abroad for a higher degree) and "horizontally" (Studying abroad for a term or terms as part of a degree).

Efforts are also under way to revise and update local curricula according to international standards. Meanwhile, more and more educational institutions are also placing an emphasis on improving their students analytical and problem-solving skills to better equip them for the challenges of work in the international knowledge economy. Leading the pack is Chulalongkorn University, one of the Kingdoms most prestigious institutions, which has launched several international study programs to prepare both its faculty and its students for the formation of the AEC next year, with a special focus on areas of science, engineering, and health.

Other universities are seeking to boost the qualifications of teachers at various levels of tuition from kindergarten up. Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University has embarked on a project, hand in hand with 14 primary schools, aimed at improving the skills of teachers of English at those schools by help of training courses offered loots through the universitvs Foreign Language Center and its international College. English will become the official language of ASEAN next year so proficiency in the tongue will be increasingly required of Thai students, teachers and professionals alike.

In a further benefit to Thailands educators and students, the AEC will facilitate academic conferences, symposia, study programs and cultural exchanges. All in all, plenty of exciting new developments lie in store for the Kingdom and many local educational institutions are gearing up for the challenges and opportunities ahead. Simply getting by with the same old habits that have proven to have failed the country's students en masse will no longer do.