Uni exam system a burden, says Ohec
Dumrongkiat Mala
The Office of the Higher Education Commission (Ohec) has called on universities and colleges nationwide to reschedule their direct-admission exams to allow students to save time and money.
Ohec deputy secretary-general Soranit Silatham said the direct-admission exams conducted by various universities are scattered all year round, forcing students to be absent from classes as they travel to sit the exams.
If the universities they apply for are far from home, they must pay for food, transport and accommodation, which is costly.
"Many students spend a lot of time on several direct-admission exams," Mr Soranit said.
He added students from rich and middle-class families can afford to attend many direct-admission exams. Even when they have secured a place in a university, they carry on sitting other exams in the hope of getting into a more prominent university.
Also, some students stop paying attention at school altogether and solely focus on their admission exams.
"Imagine how much parents must fork out if their children apply for Chiang Mai University, Khon Kaen University and Songkhla University. How many days must he or she miss school classes?" Mr Soranit said.
The Quality Learning Foundation says the application fee for each exam is at least 700 baht.
"I've heard many parents complain they have spent nearly 100,000 baht for the direct-admission exams because they need to take many separate trips to the universities," he said.