Second-Order Change Without First-Order Change 71
demands led to the rising number of international programmes in
quantitative terms. For a while, the MUA was undecided on what the
“international programme” in Thailand should look like. This reflects the
classic problem of Thai state’s higher education policymakers who want
to move the sector towards global trends and meet the growing needs of
the business sectors by promoting the establishment of new programmes,
but they have no clear mechanism to balance the quantity growth with
the quality dimension.
In 1999, the MUA published a guideline booklet for universities on
“international and foreign language programmes provision”. In that
booklet, it divided the term “international programme” into two main
categories: the first was the “international studies programme” which
focused on the economics, culture and politics of different countries and
the second was the “international programme”. The second category is
the programme that covers all disciplines, not limited only to specific
international subjects in the social science area. For the second category,
the MUA further defined them to be:
- curricula which are open to both domestic and foreign students;
- curricula with international content;
- curricula in which lecturers have experience in the subject and
excellent capability in the language of instruction; - curricula in which supporting facilities such as textbooks, and
information technology should be up to date, allowing students to
enjoy maximum benefits; - curricula incorporating academic activities designed to promote
the international dimension such as student and lecturer exchange
programmes, cross-cultural activities and international cooperation
with foreign institutions; - curricula which include academic cooperation with foreign
institutions (MUA 1999).
The above list shows the objectives of the Thai state regarding international
programmes. However, it is difficult to make all international programmes
in Thai universities to strictly abide by the above objectives. This is because
along with the above objectives, the MUA also defined the term “foreign
language programme” as “a programme using any foreign language
as a medium of instruction”. As such, the latter programme definition