Reducing Road Accidents through Correct Enforcement

Reducing Road Accidents through Correct Enforcement

Dr.Kriengsak Chareonwongsak

Senior Fellow, Harvard Univerisity’s Center for Business and Government

            As drunk driving is one cause for car accidents, campaigning to eradicate this problem       is therefore an important necessity. While alcohol checkpoints can help to reduce accidents, many other accident factors are also involved that require investigation and resolution. Bangkok’s accident statistics collected in January 2008, for example, discover other accident causes to be excessive speed (18.83%), sudden driving interferences (17.17%), failure to signal (3.65%), driving in the wrong lane (2.82%), failure to heed stop signs (2.69%), not keeping in the left hand lane (1.76%), unprofessional driving (1.76%) and failure to give way (1.76%). These statistics do not differ greatly nationwide.

According to statistics, lack of discipline to keep traffic rules is a significant cause of accidents. In addition, not only is there a loss of life and property for accident victims, but their family members and relatives are also certainly affected. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, a disciplined observance of traffic rules should be seriously enhanced.

However, in addition to arranging rule-drills for people, especially juveniles, the discovery of a solution to control or punish those who break the rules would also be significant, also requiring rapid and effective attention. For example, in 1989 a policy was established to catch speed riders in every city area in Victoria, Australia, with cameras installed to detect cars driven at high speed. Due to this policy, the accident rate was reduced by 30%.

It is therefore necessary to solve Thailand’s road accident problem using law reinforcement against high speed riders and those who break traffic rules. This can be achieved using such technology as a camera watch system linked to electronic gadgetry that can issue tickets and extend the validity of road licenses. Such measures should be combined with a “drive without drink” campaign in order to reduce the occurrence of road accidents. 

Restrictive legal measures combined with the attentiveness of traffic police are very important so that all drivers will be helped to respect each other while driving on the road. Road safety in Thailand will then proportionately increase.

Impelling professors towards more research

Impelling professors towards more research

Dr.Kriengsak Chareonwongsak

Senior Fellow, Harvard Univerisity’s Center for Business and Government

           

The Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE)’s annual seminar explores ways to improve educational quality in the United Kingdom. In mid December 2007, it focused on a growing trend in the UK, in which professors are neglecting their research in favor of their lectures only.

In this seminar, Stephen Court, Senior Research Officer at the University and College Union (UCU), warned that if professors with doctorate degrees continued to avoid research, knowledge development at the tertiary level would be seriously threatened. He pointed out that during the past 10 years, the number of professors who only teach has increased from 12,000 to 40,000. He gave the examples of University College London and University of East Anglia, which used to be known for their emphasis on research, but now have lower research outputs. Dr. Court added that a mere 50 to 100 years ago, the academic culture demanded that professors engage in both research and lecturing, but he observed how this culture is less dominant than it used to be.

This situation is also occurring in Thailand, where professors engage in relatively little research. The Office for National Educational Standards and Quality Assessment (ONESQA) reports that between 1999, when education reform was introduced by the National Education Act, and 2005 very little research has been produced by institutes of higher learning. Professors produce an average of only 0.10 research papers per professor per year, even in universities with reputations for rigorous academic standards.

If professors neglect research, our institutes of higher education will eventually become known for their poor quality because professors are not progressing in knowledge creation; they are not involved in the discovering of new knowledge, a critical factor required for high quality teaching. Their teaching will eventually be composed of “canned knowledge,” knowledge anyone can find in a book, knowledge that lacks development and cutting-edge relevance to developments in our modern world. It will be impossible for such professors to teach their students research skills and the research mind set. This void will be especially apparent to students at the masters and doctorate levels, those who need to be able to create and develop new knowledge. Furthermore, this lack will weaken the academic atmosphere in universities, resulting in a lower quality of teaching, a lower quality of research, and a lower esteem (trustworthiness) for our universities.

            However, my experience of being an academic at Harvard University, USA, has shown me some mechanisms that help to stimulate professors to research, as follows.

Law mechanisms in the USA. The Bay-Dole Act, also known as the Patent and Trademark Law Amendment Act, was announced by Congress in 1980 and amended again in 1984. This law stipulates that researchers who receive funding from the government can take out patents and sell them to the private sector. This law has done much to stimulate research and patent registration by universities. It has also helped to foster closer ties between the business sector and universities. One measure of this law’s success is academia’s increased use of the Technology Licensing and Transfer Office, the office where institutes of higher education register their patents. Between 1980 and 1990, this government agency increased from 25 to 200 offices. This law significantly increased emphasis on research in the USA. It helped decentralize research, enhance cooperation with the private sector, and give higher importance to patents, fueling the motivation to engage in research.

Mechanism for competition among professors. Some people say Harvard is world famous for its professors who can impart knowledge to students. What some people do not realize is that all Harvard professors must research. No potential candidate is accepted as a lecturer until that person has established his or her academic reputation with research acknowledged for its quality. Even tenured professors must research. All lecturers and professors are given only temporary contracts until they can prove their ability to publish. Those who don’t are released to work elsewhere. This mechanism provokes an exciting research ambiance amongst Harvard professors. It helps to nurture an exciting learning atmosphere, where students know they are receiving cutting-edge knowledge from their professors.

Applying these mechanisms within Thai universities

These 2 mechanisms can be applied in Thailand.
For example, we can enact similar legislation as the US’s Bayh-Dole Act. Thailand can contextualize the principles of this act without having to completely imitate it. For example when the business sector hires universities to do research, it may share the benefits from any patents taken out with the universities, etc. This may stimulate professors to engage in more research. The Ministry of Education may use Harvard’s concept by creating as system to stimulate university professors to incorporate research into their normal annual academic cycles, so professors will dedicate themselves both to teaching and to research.

Those who oversee Thai university cannot deny society’s expectation that universities produce quality graduates, but if professors neglect research, this expectation will never be fulfilled. Therefore, all those involved in this issue need to gather together to solve the problem and to create mechanisms to prevent it in the future. This would also apply to private universities, which do not fall under government jurisdiction. These universities must both support themselves financially and create pathways for their professors to research, as well as maintain high quality teaching.

Doctoral graduate production must be strict

Doctoral graduate production must be strict

Dr.Kriengsak Chareonwongsak

Senior Fellow, Harvard University’s Center for Business and Government

During the past 5 years, the number of doctoral degrees granted has dramatically increased. The Ministry of Education surveyed the number of students enrolled in post graduate programs (higher than a bachelor’s degree) in both government and private sector institutions. Results indicate that the number of students in doctoral programs has steadily increased: 6,213 in 2002; 7,715 in 2003; 8,264 in 2004; 10,516 in 2005; and 13,959 in 2006.

            In the past, most people with a PhD have gone overseas to study. Few students have received a doctoral degree from a Thai institution because few Thai universities have offered programs at that level.

The number of programs offering this level of courses is increasing. In 2006, 53 public and private universities offered doctoral-level programs. The survey also indicates that students enroll in these courses for a variety of reasons, including the desire to strengthen their skills for job-related responsibilities or to upgrade their social status. Also, some organizations require doctoral graduates, and so would send their employees to these programs.

            However, some academics are worried about the quality of these programs and have labeled them “pay your tuition and receive your PhD certificate” because of the relative ease with which these degrees are given. Many universities offer their doctorate program in both normal and special semesters, making it possible to graduate within a relatively short period. They also emphasize theory rather research, and they do not limit the number of students enrolled.I have a deep concern and have been warning about this for a long time new. Here are some noted academics who have also expressed their concern:

            Prof. Dr. Somwang Pitiyanuwat, Director, Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment (a public organization), thinks the market for Thai doctoral programs has grown too quickly. He says quantity now comes before quality in these programs.

            Assoc. Prof. Dr. Varakorn Samakoses, Deputy Ministrer of Education, is worried that the rapid growth of Thai doctoral programs will produce “Banana Doctors”, academics that only engage in research once, that is, only for their thesis, but later cannot engage in ongoing research. This is like banana trees that yield fruit a few times and then yield nothing more until they die. PhD programs producing “Banana Doctors” typically accept 40 to 50 students each term, and they hire professors who have retired or are close to retiring as presidents of their programs. These programs typically only employ 4 to 5 advisors, meaning each advising professor must supervise an inordinately high number of students.

            Disadvantages of producing unqualified PhD gradates

PhD graduates flood the labour market. Each year, the number of PhD grads flood the labour market, something that also happens in the USA, where each year more than 40,000 PhDs are granted. Only half of these graduates will find jobs in their field because most of them are unwilling to take jobs requiring less education than they have. Also, many employers are afraid of hiring an overqualified job candidate because as soon as a higher paying job requiring a more qualified person comes along, the person will quit and go for the better paying job more suited to their qualifications. This is especially true of PhDs in English, Education, and Sociology, 90% of whom do not know whether or not they will have a job upon graduation. Thailand does not need to repeat this paradigm.

            PhD graduates are underqualified. When Thai universities accept too many PhD candidates, the quality of the teaching will be diluted when each professor must supervise too many students. As a result, the supervisors have to reduce the attention they give to each student. The emphasis on theory over research has resulted in many PhDs who do not know how to research and cannot apply theory into empirical work and practice. When these gain positions as professors, the poor quality of education is compounded when students receive sub-standard instruction.

            It affects administration at both the organizational and national levels. When unqualified PhD graduates become executives in organizations or, worse still, are elected to administrate our nation, their lack of knowledge and skills will cause mistakes and prevent them benefiting our nation. Consequently, people in organizations or people in the country are adversely affected.

            Direction for a solution

Although PhD graduates are needed in the labour market, accepting limitless numbers of doctoral students may affect the quality of those graduates to the point that society in general suffers. Therefore, the Ministry of Education should create measures to control the quality of doctoral programs by cooperating with the Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment (a public organization) and related organizations in the following ways:

            Control the quality of PhD graduates using a standard-based evaluation system. If testing reveals that a particular university’s doctoral program is not up to par, the Ministry of Education may order that university to stop accepting students for a while or to accept fewer students until it improves its standards; otherwise, that university may release less qualified PhD graduates into the labour pool.

            Study the consistency between labour market needs and the quantity of PhD graduates in each field. This would solve the problem of a flood of PhD graduates in one field and a lack of them in other fields.

            A doctorate degree is considered the highest level of education. So anyone who graduates with this degree is considered someone with the most theoretical and research-based knowledge in that area in the world, and an important resource for developing a country. But at present, some doubt the expertise of those with a “Dr.” in front of their names. However, we must encourage those who are in the middle of their doctoral studies or for those who have almost graduated to really gain the knowledge and ability they need to participate in the development of organizations and the nation as much as possible.

            Therefore, anyone who is related to this issue, such as those in the Ministry of Education and the Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment should work towards controlling the quantity and quality of PhD graduates. Universities should allocate enough budget to enable them to produce quality PhD graduates, so these graduates can really create knowledge for the nation.