From The Nation Saturday 3rd Feb:
Kingdom 'could become international education hub'

Commerce Ministry permanent secretary Karun Kittisataporn said Friday that Thailand
has a high potential to be the international education hub of Asia.
>>Potential & actual realisation are very different
He was addressing the opening ceremony of the Thailand International Education Exhibition 2007 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre.
>>The blind leading the blind.
The ministry expects that students' enrolment for international courses and schools in Thailand will
grow by 510 per cent this year from last year's total revenue of Bt10 billion,
thanks to the government's encouragement of more international programmes to open here.
>>The programs are already beginning to run into trouble - as they are useless window-dressing. Overpriced & staffed with Tinglish-speaking under-qualified Thai lecturers.
Karun said the government
is trying to develop educational systems to cope with international standards. The plan is to
convince Thai students to choose international programmes here rather than going to study abroad. The idea is also to attract more foreign students to enrol in international programmes in the Kingdom.
>>Very few, if any, Thai lecturers have the academic experience required to run successful international programs, simply because they do not write academic papers & copy everything they know off the back of others.
Since the launch of the educational development policy, the number of Thai and foreign students enrolled in international programmes in Thailand has increased from 63,754 in 2004 to about 80,000 students last year.
Of this amount, 60,000 are Thai students who are enrolled in the international institutions instead of spending their money overseas.
>>Home consumption does not true international statistics make