With its favourable location and high population base, Thailand normally would be considered the perfect country to set up a campus of a foreign university, but the reality has proved otherwise.
In Asia, Singapore boasts 16 campuses of foreign educational institutions, followed by China with 13 and Malaysia with 9. Thailand and South Korea have just two foreign university campuses each, according to “Higher Education in Asia: Expanding Out, Expanding Up”, published by the Unesco Institute for Statistics in 2012.
As one of the two international institutions that chose Thailand, Webster University based its decision on the longstanding, strong and close relationship between Thailand and the United States.
“It is among the region’s largest economies and is one of the original Asian Tigers,” said Grant Chapman, associate vice-president for academic affairs and international programmes at Webster University, which was founded in 1915 in St Louis, Missouri.
Through a foreign campus in Thailand, the university not only broadens its students’ international experiences, but also expands the academic horizons of its faculty and staff, he added.
A big unknown for foreign universities contemplating a move abroad is gauging actual student demand. The authors of the Unesco report say it is a challenge “understanding different rules and regulations, examining the needs of the students and the employers, selecting programmes that are appropriate to local needs … [and] are aligned with the national policies of the country”.
However, such challenges are “exciting aspects of being a global player”, they added.
Two years ago Thailand almost became home to a third foreign institution, the UK-based University of Central Lancashire. However, inability to secure the land in was seeking for its campus on Rama II Road in Bangkok caused officials to abandon the plan for Thailand and looked to previously untapped Sri Lanka instead.
As a leading country in Southeast Asia, Thailand has higher potential to attract students both from a large domestic pool as well as from neighbouring countries including Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, due to its lower cost of living than Malaysia.
However, red tape and cumbersome procedures for obtaining the necessary licences from the country’s Ministry of Education to set up campuses have prompted many universities to seek the easier route of establishing partnerships with local institutions.
In its latest reform plan covering 2008-22, the Office of the Higher Education Commission seeks to increase foreign student enrollment in higher education in Thailand from 20,000 to 100,000 students.
However, lack of policy cohesion and frequent changes in government reduce the likelihood of such targets being met.
As well, English is the language of instruction for most foreign universities and while it is taught from an early age in Thailand, the standard is poor and few secondary school students have the English skills sufficient to qualify for a foreign university.