Universities urged to scrap their own entrance tests

In response to Education Minister Chaturon Chaisang’s policy, the Office of Higher Education Commission (Ohec) will urge universities to stop direct-admission exams from the 2015 academic year onward. 

“We will be seeking co-operation from all universities,” Ohec deputy secretary-general Varaporn Seehanath said yesterday. 

Chaturon said all parties had agreed it was necessary they solve problems related to the current university admission system. 

Under the current system, faculties of many higher-educational institutes have arranged separate exams to directly recruit their new students. 

“Students, as a result, have to shoulder higher expenses and to undergo the exam process time and again in a bid to boost their chance of getting into their preferred place of study,” Chaturon said. 

He said such a practice had aggravated the educational inequality between the poor and the rich. 

He also pointed out that the many entrance exams held by higher-educational institutes had distracted school students’ attention from their classes. 

Chaturon believed the flawed university admission system had taken its toll on educational reform too. 

“That’s why educational reform is not a success,” he said. 

Chaturon recently convened a meeting of a panel tasked with exploring university-admission methods. He said the panel had already gathered opinions and found that all believed the current admission system had caused many problems. It was thus agreed at the meeting that Ohec should ask universities to start direct-admission exams, if any, only after their prospective applicants had already completed their courses at schools for the coming academic year.

“And from the 2015 Academic Year onward, universities should not hold direct-admission exams anymore,” Chaturon said. 

He said universities that felt it was necessary to recruit new students directly should at least use the services of the clearinghouse. 

The clearinghouse uses the General Aptitude Test (Gat) and Professional and Academic Aptitude Test (Pat) scores as admission criteria. 

Chaturon said he hoped only a central admission system would exist in the future. 

“We should use the central exam with standardised test questions,” he said. He added he had already assigned the Ohec, the Office of Basic Education Commission and the National Institute of Educational Testing Service (NIETS) to jointly work on the test system. 

At present, the NIETS is responsible for organising Gat and Pat. 

Varaporn said relevant parties hoped university applicants would need to take just one exam for university admission. 

“Their scores from that exam should be valid at all universities,” she said.