70 Pad Lavankura and Rattana Lao
University (40 MOUs) are the top three universities which have signed
the most MOUs with other countries.
Although Thai public and private universities have signed multiple
MOUs with various countries and institutions, there are several problems
regarding the implementation and success of the agreements. For example,
there are limited financial resources allocated to promote the activities and
exchanges agreed on in the MOUs, there is a lack of clear policy strategy to
fulfil the agreements, and the discrepancy of academic schedules make it
problematic to encourage student exchange. An academic in a Thai public
university pointed out the discrepancy between MOU on paper and in
practice: “we have multiple international co-operations. The university and
the faculty have signed a lot of agreements and MOUs but we do not see
the implementation results or the encouragement for faculty members to
utilize them” (Interview, 2 July 2014).
SECOND-ORDER CHANGES WITHOUT FIRST-ORDER
CHANGES: QUESTIONS ON QUALITY
The previous section offers an insight into the quantitative expansion of
the internationalization of Thai higher education in terms of international
programmes, international students and the MOUs, which illustrate that
the second-order changes have occurred. This section analyses whether
there has been first-order changes to Thai higher education. While “special
units to facilitate international cooperation and exchange” (Van der Wende
1996, pp. 26–27, cited in Nilphan 2005, p. 39) have been established, deeper
integration of the internationalization processes such as the international
cadre of lecturers and international curriculums are still lacking in Thai
higher education. When considering the international programmes, Van
der Wende (1996, p. 18) found that the international content of the curricula
and teaching methods need to be taken into consideration. He further
proposed that the “content of the curriculum” is more important than
the “method of instruction”; a curriculum taught abroad, or by a foreign
guest lecturer, or delivered in a foreign language, or whose students have
attended some courses abroad are not automatically perceived as being
internationalized.
In Thailand, the MUA has attempted to promote international
programmes since the seventh higher education plan (1992–96). Such
encouragement together with the external and internal socio-economic