QUALITY ASSURANCE POLICIES IN THAI HIGHER EDUCATION by Malinee Rattananuntapat Bachelor of Social Work, Thammasat University, Thailand, 1998 Bachelor of Arts, Ramkhamhaeng University, Thailand, 2002 Master of Public and Private Management, National Institute of Development Administration, Thailand, 2002 Master in Higher Education, University of Aveiro, Portugal, University of Oslo, Norway, and University of Tampere, Finland, (Joint Program), 2008 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of School of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education University of Pittsburgh 2015 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF EDUCATION This dissertation was presented by Malinee Rattananuntapat It was defended on November 10, 2015 and approved by Dr. Maureen W. McClure, Associate Professor, Administrative and Policy Studies Dr. W. James Jacob, Associate Professor, Administrative and Policy Studies Dr. Stewart E. Sutin, Clinical Professor, Administrative and Policy Studies Dissertation Advisor: Dr. John C. Weidman, Professor, Administrative and Policy Studies ii Copyright © by Malinee Rattananuntapat 2015 iii QUALITY ASSURANCE POLICIES IN THAI HIGHER EDUCATION Malinee Rattananuntapat, EdD University of Pittsburgh, 2015 This dissertation explores the perceptions of university administrators concerning internal quality assurance policies administrated by the Office of the Higher Education Commission (OHEC) and the external quality assurance policies administrated by the Office for National Education Standards, and Quality Assessment (ONESQA) in Thailand’s higher education. A pre-developed questionnaire and guided interview questions for the telephone interviews were developed to investigate the administrators’ perceptions toward four aspects of the policy implementation: 1) the current practices of national quality assurance policies, 2) the major components of institutional quality assurance, 3) the roles of state governments and national quality assurance agencies, and 4) the policies’ recommendations. The 80 completed questionnaire surveys of overall surveys distributed to 153 targeted higher education institutions were returned for an overall response rate of 52.3% in addition to 6 administrators participated in the interviews. The findings in this study revealed a consensus exists among the administrators about the current practices of national QA policies. In general, the administrators showed positive perceptions on the presence and objectives of the policies and desire for improvement on the policies’ administration. The major components of institutional quality assurance for Thai higher education derived from analysis of the administrators’ perceptions encompassed QA process, QA system, QA people, budget investment, and QA outcomes. The findings revealed that most iv administrators held positive views toward the existing role and functions of OHEC and expected OHEC to focus on being a quality management supporter and increasing the effectiveness of the policy administration. Meanwhile, the perceptions toward the ONESQA’s role and functioning were somewhat negative, and many administrators supported ONESQA to seriously reinforce its role as an external QA agency. The statistically significant associations found in this study suggested that public and private universities may view the major components of institutional quality assurance and the existing roles of OHEC and ONESQA differently. The findings also confirmed that quality awareness and collaboration in higher education institutions were very important for the success of the policy implementation. Based on the result of this study, a model for effective QA policy implementation in the Thai higher education system was proposed. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................... XVIII 1.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 RESEARCH PROBLEM ............................................................................................. 1 1.2 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY ....................................................................................... 4 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ......................................................................................... 6 1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ............................................................................ 6 2.0 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ..................................................................................... 8 2.1 THEORETICAL CONCEPT OF QUALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION ........... 9 2.1.1 Definitions of quality ........................................................................................ 9 2.1.2 Quality in higher education ........................................................................... 11 2.1.3 Measurement of quality in higher education ............................................... 17 2.1.3.1 Reputational studies ............................................................................ 17 2.1.3.2 Objective indicator studies ................................................................. 18 2.1.3.3 Quantitative correlate studies ............................................................ 20 2.2 MAJOR COMPONENTS OF INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY ASSURANCE ..... 22 2.2.1 Basic elements of quality assurance model .................................................. 22 2.2.1.1 Self-assessment .................................................................................... 23 2.2.1.2 External review ................................................................................... 24 vi 2.2.1.3 Decision-making and public reporting .............................................. 25 2.2.2 Quality assurance process .............................................................................. 27 2.2.2.1 Purpose of quality assurance ............................................................. 28 2.2.2.2 Areas of assessment for institutional quality .................................... 29 2.2.2.3 Approaches to institutional quality assurance ................................. 32 2.2.3 Current development of quality assurance practices .................................. 33 2.2.3.1 National qualifications frameworks .................................................. 34 2.2.3.2 Quality assessments............................................................................. 36 2.2.3.3 Public provision of information ......................................................... 37 2.3 ROLES AND FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES AND NATIONAL QUALITY ASSURANCE AGENCIES ...................................................... 38 2.3.1 Relationships with higher education institutions in the process of quality assurance ..................................................................................................................... 39 2.3.2 Functions to be performed ............................................................................. 42 2.3.3 Accountability of the national quality assurance agencies ......................... 44 2.4 CHALLENGES AND DIFFICULTIES IN QUALITY MONITORING IN ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS .......................................................................................... 45 2.5 BEST PRACTICES AND LESSONS LEARNT FROM DIFFERENT NATIONAL QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEMS ........................................................ 49 3.0 THAILAND’S CONTEXT ................................................................................................. 52 3.1 HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM IN THAILAND ............................................... 52 3.2 NATIONAL POLICIES ON QUALITY ASSURANCE ........................................ 59 3.2.1 Internal quality assurance ............................................................................. 60 vii 3.2.2 External quality assurance ............................................................................ 67 4.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................... 73 4.1 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................. 73 4.2 DATA COLLECTION ............................................................................................... 75 4.2.1 A national survey ............................................................................................ 76 4.2.2 Telephone interviews ...................................................................................... 78 4.3 POPULATION ........................................................................................................... 79 4.4 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT .................................................................................... 80 4.5 DATA ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................... 83 5.0 DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS.................................................................................. 86 5.1 PARTICIPANT DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION ........................................... 86 5.2 THE ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL QUALITY ASSURANCE POLICY IMPLEMENTATION ........................................................................................................ 90 5.3 THE ANALYSIS OF PARTICIPANT PERCEPTIONS ........................................ 96 5.3.1 The current practices of national quality assurance policies ..................... 96 5.3.1.1 Reasons for implementing quality assurance