Thai education roadshow to be held in China

Higher Education Commission (HEC) secretarygeneral Sumet Yaemnoon said yesterday that 17 institutes will take part in this year's Thai edu?cational exhibition.

HEC would also arrange for them to learn about the admin?istration and teaching guide?lines of Chinese institutes.

The commission aimed to boost the number of foreign stu?dents studying here from about 30,000 currently to 100,000, he said.

From July 2007 to July 2008 there were 16,310 foreign stu?dents at 96 Thai universities, he said, with 9,973 of them in 62 staterun universities.

The majority of foreign stu?dents here were Chinese and Mahachulalongkorn Rajawittayalai University was the staterun institute with the most foreign students, followed by Mahidol and Burapa univer?sities.

The private institute with the most foreign students was Assumption University fol?lowed by Rangsit University and Mission College. Thai lan?guage was the most popular course followed by Business Administration and English. Most foreign students used per?sonal fund to pay tuition fees.

Sumet said last year's road show managed to recruit 529 foreign students, so it was a channel to promote Thai high?er education.

HEC also invited Education Minister Jurin Laksanawisit to preside over a ceremony to pres?ent Thai books to the Sirindhorn Thai Centre, he said. There would also be a Thai speech contest and Thai quiz so Chinese students could test their language skills.