จากวิทยาลัยเทคนิคสู่สถาบันการอาชีวศึกษา : ความพร้อมในการเป็นสถาบันอุดมศึกษาของวิทยาลัยเทคนิคเชียงใหม่

Abstract

Chiang Mai Technical College started in the 2013 academic year one undergraduate program in Automotive Technologies after decades of pre-2nd sub-degree provision experiences, i.e., vocational certificate program. And although their Self-Assessment Report (SAR) undertaken in 2013 indicates in the overall sense that the college has successfully met all major requirements set by the Higher Education Commission, Ministry of Education, this and the above experiences do not automatically mean the college is now fully or adequately ready to become a full-fledged institution of higher education. Upon closer scrutiny, it was found that certain indicators of certain major requirements did not pass the rather stringent evaluation criteria. And those which did not make it happen to be those considered instrumental components of an institution of higher education. They are for instance, research, student affairs, personnel administration, faculty academic publication, and general academic atmosphere on campus, etc. These and other components-cum-indicators need to be taken seriously by all involved, especially College and Vocational Education Institution administrators if they wish to see the quality, at the higher education level, of the newly launched Automotive Technologies Program as well as others to come in the future, and of its maturation. In addition, another equally, if not more, important component more likely to determine the future course of the college-turned university, has to do with the mentality of the Program instructors. They and their colleagues have long been vocational or craft teachers teaching sub-and/or pre-degree vocational students. But now, some of them are teaching University-level, degree students. Therefore, their experiences and current mentality will have to be adjusted and adapted to suit the present classroom and College reality. At the same time, the campus academic atmosphere, typical of any full-fledged institutions of higher educations, must of necessity be created to both supplement and enrich the quality growth, of Chiang Mai Technical College as an institution of higher education in the near future.