Surviving specialist board members of the National Institute of Educational Testing Service (NIETS) have resigned en masse, saying they wanted to clear the way for the examination body to be restructured.

Acting chairwoman Khunying Sumontha Promboon said the four remaining specialist board members submitted their resignations at Monday's meeting. Sumontha herself resigned immediately after this year's Advanced and Ordinary National Educational Tests marking fiasco.

The outgoing board members would remain in their posts until new executives are appointed. Sumontha urged caretaker Education Minister Chaturon Chaisang to swiftly find a new NIETS chairperson and specialist board members.

This year's O-Net and A-Net exam bungle disrupted as many as 300,000 12th-grade students over a period of many weeks.

The exams are the main criteria for admission into tertiary education. It was the first year for the exams.

The meeting on Monday discussed next year's O-Net exam and resolved to move testing forward a week to February 17 and 18.

This would give NIETS more time to mark papers.

Sumontha admitted this gave schools less time to complete class courses, but she anticipated no problems.

NIETS and the Basic Education Commission would compile a database of 12th-grade students that would avoid this year's identification shambles.

Sumontha did not rule out a University Presidents' Council proposal that the A-Net exams be run by the universities, but said NIETS deserved a second chance to get it right. Parents and students would regain trust in NIETS if future exams went smoothly.

Sumontha defended the ranking of schools by O-Net scores, saying it encouraged them to improve.

The chairwoman also rejected recent claims that as many as 136 schools may have inflated grade-point averages (GPAs) to help students win university places. GPAs included marks for practical work and personal behaviour, while O-Net exams tested only knowledge. Discrepancies were to be expected, she said.

Meanwhile, changes to testing for direct university admission have been announced.

According to University Presidents' Council chairman Dr Pratya Vesarach, a service-delivery unit (SDU) would manage these exams.

The Office of Higher Education Commission (Ohec) would establish the SDU.

Applicants for direct admission have just one choice of university. They cannot attempt to gain admission via the central admission system.

In the central-admission system applicants rank four school choices. Exam performance and school grades determine which university they qualify for.