Doing Business In Thailand: Thai education system

February 6 2012 Categories: Understanding Thailand No comments yet

Is Thailand’s standard of education Good?

Having spent 10 years ago a full 18 months teaching and lecturing in Thai schools and government universities and having continued, from time to time, lecturing at Thai universities I had a look at the system from the inside and based on this personal experience I would say that Thailand has overall a good education system.

I mean there is certainly way for improvement but it could be worth.

What are the shortcomings of Thai education system?

While there are several good school and universities here, the main problem of the educational system is its Thainess. While the concept of Thainess is a good concept in itself, it has an undesirable effect on education.

Thainess frowns on confrontation, rebellion and questioning. Students in France are expected not only to listen to their teachers but also to participate with them and question them.

A student in Europe will not be frowned upon if he/she asks a question or a clarification from a teacher or even disagree with his teacher.

In Thailand, he/she will be frowned upon.

When I was teaching, I was always surprised that my students were all always answering yes whenever I was asking if they understood my explanation. It was looking like I was a good teacher.

For a time I didn’t do anything until the one day I asked the question “what did you understand?” and discovered that most of them did not understand anything at all and were simply too shy to ask questions.

Another thing I discovered is that if I wanted to get my students to role-play or to question established concepts I had to give them time to prepare firsthand because questioning things is not something they are used to. Teach them this and you will be surprised of the result.

Are Thai students well prepared for their job?

Mostly not, but it is not a shortcoming specific to Thailand. Thai education system like many others does not match the needs of businesses. An education system that frowned upon personal initiative does not prepare well students for their working life.

Also, there are not a lot of practical formations (such as secretaries or assistant managers as they are called nowadays and so on…). I mean a bachelor degree in English does not make a good secretary or assistant. Those kinds of job are vitals but no one is trained for them anymore. But as mentioned above this is not only a problem in Thailand.

It is surprising to see the efforts wasted on french language. Thailand is one of the rare non-francophone countries where French language does so well. French faculties within Thai universities have more importance that they should and Thai faculties keep producing more French teachers than they really need which keep feeding the system. I mean I’m French, I wrote my first book and blog in English, that say something about the importance of french language.

Does Thai selection process favors a certain kind of students?

The Thai education favors tidy, methodical and focused people and discriminates against freethinkers.

To be accepted into a Thai university students have to pass a series of tests with multiple choices answers. This kind of exam favors women who are more mature, tidy and methodic than the average male teen. Young women mature quicker than men and are more focused and often do better than their male counterparts at these tests.

This is one of the reasons why there are many more women than men in Thai universities. I’m not ashamed to say that I would never have survived the Thai selection system and would never have been able to enter a Thai university.

Another peculiarity of the local university education system is that once a student enters into a university he/she is assured to get his/her bachelors or masters degree.

At the time, I did my bachelors degree in law in Geneva, we did not have an entrance exam and the program was over a four-year period with three series of exams. We had two years to pass the first series of exams. We were 650 freshmen in my first year out of which only around 150 successfully passed to the first series of exams. Out of the 150 that passed those exams only 25 succeeded in their first year (the rest took the full two years to complete the first series of exams).

Such a selection process is absent in Thai universities. Once you are in you are safe.

Note that foreign expatriates do not need to worry, as there are several International Schools and Universities all over Thailand to cater for the needs of their kids.

Is the alumni system well developed in Thailand?

I studied law at Geneva’s faculty of law. Not sure what you remember of your university years but in my case it is a quite a bland memory. Out of 650 students that started their first year with me I’m still in contact with only one friend and we barely exchanged one email per year.

In Thailand they have this alumni system that will regulate the life of any Thai that has ever been in a university or the military or police force. You belong to a year (university) or to a Class (military and police officers) and this tag will be a part of who you are. Networks will be built on the basis of the year or the class you belong.

Every Thai will have a member of his class that has become a lawyer a policeman, a military officer, a judge, a prosecutor, a banker or a doctor… Every time a Thai needs a favor he knows that he will be able to contact his class or year mates and they will be there for him. This system is actually why so many conflicts can be solved discretely behind the scenes. Overall the year and class system is good.

Note: This post is an excerpt of Rene Philippe Dubout next book: “How to Invest Safely Into Thailand” to be published in January 2010

About the Author:

The author Rene-Philippe DUBOUT is a lawyer since 1990 when he was admitted to Geneva bar (Switzerland). He practiced as a litigator there for 10 years until he moved to Thailand in 1999. In 2002 he founded with a group of Thai lawyers Rene Philippe & Partners Ltd a local law firm that specialized in Cross Borders Investments and Real Estate. He has been lecturing in several Thai Universities and a speaker to numerous conferences and seminars. He is the author of a must read book:”How to Purchase Real Estate Offshore Safely: The Case of Thailand”.

http//:www.renephilippe.com

Originally posted 2009-08-13 23:03:16.

Doing Business in Thailand