Teachers' council to revoke licences after university scandal

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Teachers' council to revoke licences after university scandal
By The Nation
6 May 2011

The Teachers Council of Thailand has decided to take drastic action by revoking the teaching licences it has granted this year to 535 graduates from Esarn University, which has been suspected of peddling fake certificates.

"From our ongoing investigation, most of the graduates did not buy the diplomas," TCT chairman Ongkorn Amornsirinan said yesterday.

More than 850 other Esarn graduates will also likely lose the chance to get a teaching licence.

The Khon Kaen university was found to have sold degrees, including graduate certificates in teaching, to people who did not complete the course.

The blanket approach was necessary because Esarn's University Council told the TCT by letter on April 18 that it had decided to take back all the teaching certificates it had awarded this year.

Earlier, the University Council said 1,387 of its students graduated in teaching in the 2010 academic year. Of them, 535 have received a teaching licence and many of them have also passed the government exam for new teachers.

Ongkorn said that after the cancellation, these graduates could reapply for licences later if and when the problem is resolved.

He urged all Esarn graduates to volunteer information. Those cooperating with the TCT will be considered witnesses.

"We will give one more week to others to contact us. Failure to come forward means they will be treated as accomplices," he said.

Esarn University had conducted many offcampus classes for the programme offering a certificate in teaching, but without a permit, he said.

Since these classes were considered unofficial, their students would also be in trouble, he added.

In the wake of the Esarn University scandal, the Higher Education Commission has resolved to stop the offering of offcampus courses across the country.

The commission has long been concerned about the quality of the satellite centres.

Associate Professor Kamjorn Tatiyakavee, deputy secretarygeneral of the Higher Education Commission, said the prohibition would not apply to preapproved courses now ongoing.

"Where necessary, offcampus courses can still be opened too," he said.

There is hardly any need to hold branch courses anyway, given that there are well over 100 universities in the country, Kamjorn said.

"There are enough universities to serve people across the country now."