Costs

                                   RUMINATION ON HOW UNIVERSITIES WILL SURVIVE

Four incidents conspired to focus my thinking on the desperate straits of higher education as we get to the end of the first quarter of the 21st century.  I heard of increasing closings of colleges and universities in the USA.  The Bangkok Post published an op-ed piece on the massive failure of Thai universities to stay competitive in the region.  This weekend is our university’s 42nd annual commencement.  We have begun a new phase of recruiting international students (from within and from outside Thailand) for our university.

Without overwhelming this essay with statistics, I still feel the need to cite a few, in order to see where we are going.

·         The number of degree granting institutions of higher education in the USA dropped from 4726 in 2012, to 4298 last year. 

·         The cost to be a full-time, in-state student at a public institution was $7605 per year, on average, or $11,990 for out-of-state students. 

Business administration courses of study continue to be the most popular in most countries.  So, let’s compare costs between US and Thai institutions.

·         The annual tuition for bachelor’s degrees in business administration in the USA was $9970 at public institutions for in-state students and $25,620 for out-of state students.  At private non-profit institutions the tuition averaged $34,740.

·         At Payap University the published cost for the International Business Management program is $4475 (based on this month’s currency exchange rate) for international students and about $3,130 for Thai students.

·         The cost at Chulalongkorn University for the BBA degree is $1133 per year for Thai students and $4,100 for international students.

·         The cost at Assumption University for the same program is $4098.

·         The cost for international BBA students is $1333 per year at Rajapat Chiang Mai University.
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These are the best figures I could ascertain.  They help in doing a comparison between costs for students from the USA.  Many Thai universities are considering how they might recruit students from overseas with our attractive tuition and fees as well as lower cost of living.  In order to do that the quality of instruction and educational activities must approximate stateside levels.  Instructors’ English proficiency must be close to that of “native speakers.”  The social and recreational options must be attractive.  And free time options must at least not be a problem.  These things cost more.
In the long run it is word of mouth that will attract students and sustain this recruitment source.  For the short run it can be helpful and even necessary to establish agreements with partner institutions and organizations where Thai universities, like ours, provide educational services including full courses, semesters abroad, double degrees and other advantages.  Our location in Chiang Mai, which is a cultural intersection, can be important.

But these plusses, as we like to think of them, can be obliterated by the challenges facing all Thai higher education, as well as higher education elsewhere.  In the educational ethos of the near future, already breaking upon us, institutional survival and relevance will not depend on simply recruiting students from overseas to sit in our classrooms and laboratories learning in the time-honored tradition.  People learn in different ways than they used to. Universities and colleges must be educational innovators.   It will cost a lot for universities to get over the habit of waiting for the new students to flock to our gates.

A seminar conducted by Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok a week ago highlighted the challenges.

·         Digital technology enables people to learn anywhere and anytime.

·         “Students will be able to study in multiple modes, switching seamlessly between on-campus, mixed or wholly online study, to suit their lifestyles and fit learning around work and other activities,” Piriya Pholphirul, director of the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida) Graduate School of Development Economics, said.  Flexible learning will be available on-demand, 24 hours a day, and will be tailored to what students want to achieve, he said.

·         Thai universities must improve their standing on the global stage or students will turn their backs on them.

·         It is estimated that a person makes 3 major career changes during their working years.  Life-long learning is becoming mandatory.
 
In the USA, right now, a generation is entering the workforce who will have to spend their whole lives in it.  My generation, now mostly retired and rapidly becoming deceased, was able to accumulate resources to depart from the workforce at an age (around 65) when we could count on several years of activities unrelated to economic security.  That is being wiped out for future generations.  The education that used to suffice for a lifetime of gainful employment is obsolete.  No profession, even now, allows professionals to function for 40 years without re-training.  Changing professions is even rougher.  Education and work will be linked inseparably and educational institutions may or may not fill the new need.  Educational costs for those who need to keep up will be on-going.

As it happens, the educational establishment is its own enemy.  The main obstacle to doing what Piriya predicted is the government’s control system.  Every time some innovation is introduced, such as semesters abroad were a few years ago, the objection that made most of the efforts impossible was that such things were against regulations and would undermine the university’s quality and therefore the university’s accreditation.  Distance learning is facing the same hurdles.  It doesn’t matter that this student generation doesn’t learn in the old way anymore, the system makes change almost impossible.  It’s not that we do not know how to teach better, it’s that we are not allowed to do it.

I am beginning to think that only open rebellion against the system and its guardians is what it will take.  The cost to those who dare to rebel could be substantial.
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On Saturday evening, November 16, the 42nd graduating class of Payap University is receiving diplomas with all the rights and privileges thereunto appertaining.  These graduates are among the last to be marching proudly to the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” wearing medieval academic garb, expecting that they are becoming secure by degrees.  The world is changing too fast for long-term security.  Some of these graduates will be the innovators and technicians who find out how to do education differently and some will try to leave the world of academia with a firm farewell.

If our university has done a good job up to commencement time for these students, and if we are able to manage the challenges of transforming Payap University into an educational institution for a technology-assisted future, the university will be here when they need us.