• 
• 

"This is the first problem about education that Thailand should tackle," Sheldon Shaeffer, Director of the UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, said at an international conference.

Held at the Imperial Queen's Park Hotel in Bangkok, the conference on "Reinventing Higher Education: Toward Participatory and Sustainable Development" attracted over 300 educators from 33 countries.

On how to improve highereducational institutes in Thailand, Shaeffer suggested they should improve quality assessment and research, reduce the number of unemployed graduates, and provide adequate libraries.

He also pointed out that Thai highereducational institutes should reach out more to communities.

"By working closely with local people, the staff and students in these institutions can increase their understanding of the world around them. Educators need to change their way of thinking and style of teaching to encourage greater interaction with people outside the walls of the classrooms and lecture halls so that everyone can have an equal say in the things that affect their lives," Shaeffer said.

He said educators, highereducational institutes, nonprofit organisations, independent agencies and communities should be aware that universities had an important role in shaping the future.

Shaeffer also pointed out that higher education took up a large portion of money for education in most countries.

According to the 2006 UNESCO's Education for All Global Monitoring Report, in 2003 donors contributed almost US$200 million (Bt6 billion) to postsecondary education worldwide, compared to US$90 million given to secondary education. Postsecondary education funding has increased every year since 1999 and has doubled over a fiveyearperiod by 2003.

 

The Nation