Offcampus schemes lack in quality

"Most of these institutions have competed to attract students to the point that they relax their recruitment criteria. In the end, the quality of their programmes suffers," chief researcher Kittichai Wattananikorn told a seminar yesterday.

Many of them were also quick to close down their offcampus programmes after finding that they made little money, he said in presenting the results of the survey of 30 such programmes from 24 universities.

"Some offcampus programmes are launched even before they receive approval from the university's council," he said.

"Some are conducted at facilities where there is no library or lab for students."

Several universities used lecturers from their main campus for the offsite programmes, burdening them with heavy workloads.

"When the lecturers are busy, they will become less focused on research," he said.

The Higher Education Commission should introduce a framework for offcampus programmes, he said.

"While the offcampus programmes should be flexible, their quality should not be lower than what is offered at the universities' main facilities," he said.

Sumet Yaemnoon, secretarygeneral of the commission, called on the public and students to alert his agency if they found any substandard offcampus programmes.

"Please tell us and we will take action," he said.

When applying for any offcampus programme, students should demand to see evidence of approval from the university's council, he said.

A university must seek permission from its council before introducing any new offcampus programme, then the council has to check the quality of the new programme and file a report to the higher education office within 30 days.

"We will also monitor the quality of these programmes," Sumet said.

Each programme must have at least five permanent lecturers. For bachelor's degree courses, the lecturers must hold a master's in a related field. For MA courses, they must hold a relevant doctorate degree.

The offcampus programmes, if conducted well, would be good for the country's educational system.

"Offcampus programmes offer educational opportunities to people with time or travel constraints," he added.