Tackling falling uni science scores

It is high time that relevant authorities and officials jointly pondered how to tackle these problems, including those surrounding the university central admissions system, once and for all - or Thailand will have no chance of taking a place of prominence on the global stage.

First year students at Kasetsart University's Faculty of Science now have a grade point average of below 2.0 in science subjects.

Of the 626 students at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Science, only four managed to get a grade of A in the general physics 1 course, and up to 202 decided to drop the course.

"Since the new university admissions system was introduced in 2006, the number of dropouts jumped threefold at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Science," Dr Sathon Vijarnvannalak, a lecturer at this prestigious institute, said.

The new university admissions system replaced the previous decades-old system, which placed students' chances of getting into their desired institute of higher education solely on the results of a single entrance exam.

Touted as a means to reduce student stress, the new system puts more emphasis on the students' grade point average and requires them to take fewer exams on advanced subjects.

The results, however, are not impressive in the eyes of science educators.

With a significant drop in the quality of students, the Science Faculty Deans of Thailand feels it has to do something before it is too late. If Thai science graduates fall behind, Thailand's competitiveness in the international world is sure to falter. "We will propose a change in the central university admissions system," Dr Supoj Harnnongbua, the dean of Chulalongkorn's Faculty of Science, said.

The proposal offers three options.

The first option would see all science faculties holding a separate entrance exam, just like medical schools do. The second option would see science faculties impose a minimum score for students wishing to further their studies in the science field. This means that students would have to take all of the tests required by the central university admission system and achieve a minimum score before taking a more specialised exam with institutes of higher education to check whether they qualify for placement.

The third option would have all science faculties prepare science tests for students to take as many times as they want. These standardised tests would be like the TOEFL exam. Students can submit their best scores to apply to their favourite institutes.

Khon Kaen University lecturer, Dr Laongsri Sanohmuang, head of the Science Faculty Deans of Thailand, said all science faculties have commented on how the new university admissions system is taking a toll on the calibre of their students.

"When compared with students recruited through direct admission, the performance of students coming from the central university admissions system is clearly lower," Thaksin University lecturer Tanapan Pattamarnon said.

According to Laongsri, the central university admissions system allows students who do well in arts-related subjects, but are just so-so in science subjects,  to sail into science faculties. The problem is that these students are unable to excel once they start their studies.

"Many students become dropouts," she said.

Laongsri insisted that this trend hurts all science-related faculties, including engineering faculties. She now plans to invite such faculties to start holding separate science exams so they can handpick the right applicants.

Problems concerning the calibre of students do not stem from the new central admissions system alone. Many top schools also say that the quality of their students has dropped since the Education Ministry began requiring them to reserve a certain number of seats for children in neighbouring areas.

With the quota requirement, schools have to recruit many students through lucky draws - which are held whenever the number of neighbouring applicants is higher than the number of available places.

In the past, these top schools could select students based solely on their academic performances.

"We need to go back to the old measure," Basic Education Commission deputy secretary-general Somkiat Chobphol said. He pointed out that by putting bright students in the same class as slower learners, the overall academic performance of students suffers.

"What happens is that bright students have poorer academic performances. We used to hope that bright students would help improve the performances of their slower-learning classmates but the result is [the opposite]," Somkiat said.

Thus, he believed the government should find other measures to help moderate students.

"Let the schools hold entrance exams to select all their new students," he insisted.

Looking at what happens, and the solutions that have been proposed, top officials should see that a holistic approach is needed. When you tackle just a part of the problem, the problem is sure to continue. But if you tackle this problem on a comprehensive scale, there is a better chance that it can be fixed, once and for all.