Second-Order Change Without First-Order Change 65
provided policy requirements on what constitute international programmes.
The MUA/OHEC thus imposed four conditions on the public universities
as requirements to establish international programmes. These are:
- The proposed curriculum should already be part of the higher
education development plan. If it is not, the university must consult
the MUA in order to adjust it according to the plan. - The proposed curriculum’s structure and standards must be in
accordance with the MUA’s regulations. - The proposed curriculum must be approved by the university council
or institution council before taking effect. - When the curriculum has been approved, the MUA must be informed
within thirty days from the first day of approval. All documents
related to the curriculum must be sent to the MUA in accordance with
the MUA’s regulations; the MUA will then process this document
and forward it to the Office of Civil Service Commission (OCSC),
which will consider and certify the qualifications of graduates from
that curriculum accordingly (MUA 1995, p. 2).
Although these guidelines empower the MUA/OHEC to control the
approval of international programmes, their implementation have left much
flexibility and autonomy to the institution. The following sections will map
out the quantitative expansion of international programmes in Thailand.
Twenty Five Years of Expansion:
Analysing the Policy Change
This chapter argues that the internationalization of Thai higher education
has brought about second-order changes, while bypassing first-order
changes. It will illustrate that the expansion of international programmes,
international students and international collaborations have proliferated in
the past twenty-five years. Meanwhile, little, if at all, has changed in terms
of educational effectiveness and efficiency. In fact, one can argue that the
emergence of international programmes has hindered the effectiveness and
efficiency of the existing Thai programmes because of the scarce supply
of qualified professors and lecturers to handle increasing workloads.
Due to excessive and increasing demands for international and English
programmes, the Thai state and universities looked for changes at the