Critics say too many institutions geared for profits,not student quality.
Many universities and their councils are said to have abused their authority in an attempt to compete commercially, causing graduate quality to slip. Their independent recruitment of students and launching of academic programmes are causing an unbalanced workforce for the country. Some universities are like rubber stamps - only approving what they are proposed.
To cope with such problems, the Council of UniversityCouncil Members of Thailand was recently set up.
And, its president Chumphon Phornprapha says the new council will develop the university councils' role because it had the mandate to control the general affairs of the universities. The council would guide them on how to use their authority to improve academic quality and offer a variety of ideas on how to overcome their problems.
The council is waiting for the personnel of 166 private and public higher education institutions in the country to apply as its members, which were expected to reach 4,000.
It will hold the first meeting on the role of university council members in driving education reform so they can share their experiences and work together on July 19 at Chulabhorn Research Institute's convention centre.
Chulalongkorn University lecturer Sompong Jitradab Angsuwathin said the quality of graduates had fallen, as universities were not competing to boost education quality but to make a profit.
"Almost 140,000 new graduates from last year are at risk of being unemployed," he said.
"The universities ignore their responsibility to develop society. They conduct research for commercial benefit while their councils do not perform their duties appropriately. They abuse authority, conspiring with universities to seek profits," he said.
Somwang Pitiyanuwat, a former director of the Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment (Onesqa), said he noticed that new private universities were springing up in almost every province and questioned their quality.
Privy Councillor Kasem Watanachai, a former education minister and president of the Chiang Mai University Council and Rajamangala University of Technology Suvarnabhumi, said not only were some private universities providing educational services for commercial gain, but also some public universities or those under state control.
Kasem and Sompong urged the Higher Education Commission (Hec) to come up with a national labour force plan for the long run and implement financial measures to control student recruitment and the opening of academic programmes.
However, Somwang urged giving councils more power depending on their educational maturity.
"Why don't they, the ministry, use financial policies? If any university recruits too many students for any field of study with sufficient graduates, they will not be subsidised for the number of superfluous students by the Budget Bureau," Kasem said.
Ministerial regulations are needed to give more authority to Hec and enable it to control those councils improperly using their power. Hec should strictly examine new universities more frequently than old private and state universities with good records.
"It's time for Hec to organise discussions among university councils' approvers of academic programmes so they can share their procedures for approving new programmes to find the best procedures as models," he said.
Somwang said councils should not be given absolute power. Those with high quality as assessed by Onesqa should be given more decisionmaking power, but others with low quality should not have the same degree of power. Those with low quality were considered as lacking in maturity and probably abused authority.
At a meeting among academics and senior education officials in February to discuss education reform, several urged the Education Ministry to seek collaboration from universities and their councils in order to recruit students for each field of study and open new academic programmes that suited the demands of employers in the country.
Deputy Minister Narisara Chavaltanpipat also participated in the discussion. She agreed to push this recommendation.
"Decentralising administrative power to universities and university councils has made central educational organisations weak. I'll ask them to cooperate with the ministry to adjust the numbers of students to be recruited in each field of study.
"A measure that counts how many students in each field of each university will affect their educational quality assessment results will be set up," she said.
Box
Under the Act that establishes a particular university, the powers of the university council include the following:
Issuing policies and approving development plans regarding research, academic services and the conservation of Thai culture and traditions.
Issuing rules and regulations for the university or assigning other institutions under the university to do so for specific matters.
Proposing the establishment, combination and closure of institutes in the university.
Allowing the university to develop curricula in line with the policy of the university and standards defined by the Higher Education Commission.
Approving graduation certificates for students completing each level.
Appointing and relieving vice presidents, deans, deputy deans, directors and department heads to and of their positions.
Proposing to His Majesty the King the appointment and dismissal of the president and professors.
Passing regulations for the university's fiscal management.