International Competitiveness of Thai Higher Education, 2013-2023 From a Student Satisfaction Perspective

Abstract

To cope with the decreasing number of students and increase revenue for survival, Thai universities have been dedicated to internationalizing their degree programs for overseas recruiting, especially from China, since the 2010s. They succeeded in the China market, particularly in terms of student recruiting. According to an unofficial estimate, in 2022, around 32,000 Chinese students will be studying in public and private Thai universities. Notwithstanding, Thai universities are criticized for pursuing income by sacrificing quality, while Chinese students are regarded as their “cash cow.” Maintaining their international competitiveness while not compromising the required rate has become a burning problem for Thai universities to solve today. Taking the nine Rajamangala Universities of Technology (RMUT) as examples, the present research examines the competitiveness of Thai public universities in the international market through a SWOT analysis. However, it is pioneering in terms of student satisfaction. This research surveyed Chinese students at 3 of the 9 RMUTs, which currently host more than 300 Chinese students. The questionnaires were designed to investigate four factors: 1) admission, 2) curriculum design, 3) tuition, miscellaneous fees, and living expenses, and 4) students. Twenty-five people from these three universities were interviewed. The results indicate that Chinese educational agencies enrolled 85% of the student respondents in the studied RMUTs; they translated the curriculums from their original Thai version into English, and most responsible lecturers lacked the necessary language and academic skills to instruct and counsel postgraduate students. The agents frequently overcharged tuition in the universities' name, and the living expenses have risen over the past three years. Chinese educational agents primarily send and pay representatives to operate the student service, while the university staff either lacks English proficiency or is irresponsible in communication. The researcher argues that all this has undermined Thai public universities' competitiveness in the Chinese market in the past years and impacted the public perception of Thailand, which has always been optimistic.