Lincoln (Neb.) - Oct. 9, 2000 - Under a memorandum of agreement signed last week, more than 100 faculty members and administrators at Thailand's Rajabhat Institutes could soon become University of Nebraska-Lincoln doctoral students through distance education in the education leadership in higher education program.
The five-year agreement will help the 36 institutes meet the requirements of a recent mandate from the government of Thailand that they become self-governing universities, said Alan Seagren, professor of educational administration and director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education in the UNL Teachers College.
The institutes originated as teachers colleges, some as early as the late 19th century. They expanded their missions in 1985 to offer other degree programs and were renamed institutes, but the recent governmental mandate will require even greater expansion of their offerings.
"The mandate will require the upgrading of faculty and administrators' professional qualifications," said Dilok Bunruangrod, president of Rajabhat Institute Suan Sunandha. "A number of the presidents of the Rajabhat Institutes consider the UNL distributed doctoral program as one of the potential ways to fulfill this mandate."
Seagren said there are key advantages to UNL in the agreement.
"First, it strengthens the international thrust of our programs," he said. "Our programs are enhanced by being involved with people from other countries because it gives our students a different view of the issues facing higher education. Second, we're all concerned with keeping enrollments up and the agreement links us with an enormous potential market for students."
Bunruangrod said the Rajabhat Institutes enroll 120,000 full-time
students, twice that number in evening classes, and have 6,700 faculty
members.
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