DOI: 10.14457/nida.the.2017.9
title: An analysis of quality assurance in Thai public universities: a case study of master of public administration programs

description: This study aims 1) to study the implementation of internal quality assurancesystems in the context of Master of Public Administration programs in Thailand, 2) toinvestigate the effects of the internal quality assurance system to the quality of Masterof Public Administration programs in Thailand, and 3) to propose guidelines todevelop an internal quality assurance system in the Master of Public Administrationprograms in Thailand. This study is qualitative and uses a thematic analysis ofinformation obtained through document data collection and in-depth interviews of themanagement, instructors and quality assurance implementers in case studies, whichconsist of public administration programs in 6 public postgraduate schools:Chulalongkorn University, National Institute of Development Administration, ChiangMai University, Prince of Songkla University, University of Phayao, and UbonRatchathani University.||The study reveals that the implementation of quality assurance in publicadministration programs in Thailand can be divided into 3 periods: the first was thepre-quality assurance period (1994-2007), which focused on the development ofvoluntary quality assurance within the Office of Higher Education Committee(OHEC) policy framework, the second was the OHEC manual-based qualityassurance period (2007-2014), which focused on standardization as required byOHEC, and the third period is the transitional quality assurance period (2014-present),that emphasizes international-level quality creation suitable for the organization, andfocuses on standardization and exploration for the most suitable quality assurance foreach context||The study on the effects of the internal quality assurance system to the qualityof Master of Public Administration programs in Thailand reveals that programs in thecase studies similarly define education quality in 4 aspects: graduate quality,academic work quality, instructor quality and management quality. In the case studiesaffiliated to research universities, there is a definition of international accreditationwhich constitutes an additional quality aspect. Overall, the case studies indicaterelatively low effects between their own quality and internal quality assurance, theeffect emphasizes awareness building in involved actors and the quality creationprocess in program and faculty management, rather than program output quality, suchas graduate quality and academic work quality.||The study on development guidelines for the implementation of qualityassurance in public administration programs in Thailand reveals that, at the policylevel, development of quality assurance should be continuous and clear, with abalance between quality control and institute-level quality assurance autonomy, withconsideration of the relatively high disparity between public administration programs.For the development of quality assurance criteria, the criteria should be reviewed anddefined so as to be more consistent in a public administration program learningmanagement context. At the faculty- and program-level management, it is desirable todesign a director preparatory system to instill quality assurance understanding in orderto integrate quality assurance into work aspects of the faculty or program. Also,development of information technology based on reality to allow realistic qualitymanagement and reduce paperwork and data preparation for quality assurance, anevaluation system that satisfies minimum quality assurance standards of the faculty,and the creation of personnel proficiency for long-term program sustainability, arealso recommended.