Chulalongkorn University drew with Thammasat University 1-1 in the Chang U-Champion Cup University Football Match.
21/04/2022
the workshop to enhance the quality of the curriculum to meet AUN-QA standards
22/04/2022
Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi (RMUTT) as one of Thailand’s educational institutions facing four Covid-19 epidemic waves within two years has been revolutionizing itself to meet the digital transformation requirements including investment in digital infrastructure such as online learning and teaching. Thus, having to meet the evolving expectations and needs of change in global digital education, RMUTT is able to push itself to flourish successfully during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the President of RMUTT Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sommai Pivsa-Art revealed, “We are adapting well and being placed among Thailand’s top innovative universities in digital transformation era.”
“When looking into the past, you will always see more young people going into the university but it won’t be the same anymore. You will be seeing mature students going to university or college. It is all about everyone and that ‘s why we are here to support continuously”, added the President.
With or without Covid-19 pandemic, world of education is transforming itself, however; with the pandemic, the transformation has been getting faster than ever before. Therefore, the President of RMUTT Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sommai Pivsa-Art attempted to respond to the quick needs of change as he revealed, “At first, we actually believed the pandemic would be staying with us until 2020. But we were wrong, the adverse situation continued until late 2021. Our RMUTT must react quicky and this is how we resolve the situation. We opened our class both online and some offline. Since we had faced the situation before in 2020, we are able to cope well in 2021 so as our lecturers, staffs and students. As a science and technology-based university, we are capable of adapting ourselves easily and successfully to the circumstances. In particular our students are becoming more into independent learners and practitioners.”
He added, “During the first phase of the pandemic, we had to stop everything for our safety but after Thailand’s government eased nationwide COVID-19 controls, we were able to come back to our headquarters and work. At the time, our university members follow university policies on research work, as well as maintain a positive work culture with communities and private companies. Regarding the university budgeting management, we have university council committees provide advices and assess our financial management to ensure successful outcomes during fiscal year 2021.”
Dr. Sommai continued, “Approved by RMUTT members of university council, the strategies that aim to improve our academic studies in 4 areas including Agriculture and Food, Digital and Technology, Logistics and Hospitality, and in particular in the area of Science and Health where RMUTT holds specific expertise. Currently our nursing program has already certified by Thailand Nursing and Midwifery Council. The success of our nursing program has been related to an increasing number of nursing student enrollments as well as the quality of the program itself so as other programs in the university. Hopefully, this achievement could fulfil a shortage of nurses in Thailand.”
“For 9 RMUTs’ academic strategy, we all try to find our weaknesses and strengths and turn them into 3 core areas and strategy including Agriculture and Industry, Digital and Technology, and Innovation so the targets could be met as soon as possible in compliance with Thailand’s National Strategy Plan”, said the President.
The Credit Bank
Even though, a number of universities in Thailand are having concern with undergraduate enrollment falling, RMUTT has been preparing itself to face the issue for a very long time. The idea of getting higher number of undergraduates enrolled in the university was not the only priority since RMUTT truly believe that every one deserves a place to study whether they are 12th graders from high school, students from higher or lower vocational colleges, senior citizens without higher education experience or those currently working but need to further their education. “The Credit Bank System” can link the collection and transfer of credit between courses of study and between higher education institutions. Since RMUTT has established cooperative education in 2003, the university is able to create a platform for cooperation in digital credit system adoption to promote life-long learning. Currently, RMUTT has more than 100 academic programs and students will be able to collect credits from these courses in university’s academic credit bank including popular programs in engineering and Thai traditional medicine.
The university opened the system to students in various disciplines to the collection and transfer of credit between courses of study available for both online and onsite learning. In case we found students who are truly gifted, we will allow them to do the equivalence test that may save their time of study and if they are ready, we will give them chances to be a lecturer in our university. I really believe that it will definitely be beneficial for all of us in so many ways. Regarding the credit bank, our 9 RMUTs are within the same interconnected credit bank system which means that all students of RMUTs will be able to collect and transfer their credits. You could study in any courses available in any of the 16 campuses of 9 RMUTs. As you can see, even if we have been expanding into 9 RMUTs but the system is interconnected since the beginning making it much easier to transfer credits among the universities.
The Path to Becoming “Practitioner” University
All of our academic courses are adapted to match the national strategy meaning all of our students will be able to find jobs available in the market and at the same time, our courses also would also be able to meet the demands of the establishments. In 2020, we have 8 academic programs, 20 programs in 2021 while in 2022 we do have a staggering 40 programs. Fortunately, students who graduate from these programs will be equipped with great academic and practical experience that could meet the demand of the market. Students will need to have their practical experience at the designated establishment from Monday to Thursday while they will have their academic classes on Friday and Saturday. 20,000 THB will be funded monthly to every student who participate in the program. Students will be required to take the examination at the university. After they graduate, all of them are guaranteed to be employed in private companies with the starting monthly salary of 25,000 baht.
