Accreditation Results 2020

1. ABEST21 Accreditation Result

ABEST21 Accreditation Result of the Master of Business Administration program at the College of Graduate Study in Management, Khon Kaen University is as follows:
“The School’s educational and research activities have met more than half of ABEST21 Management Accreditation Standards and the quality maintenance and improvement of education and research in the aforementioned program are quality for accreditation.”
Accreditation commences April 1, 2020 for a five-year period.

2. The Peer Review Team

3. The Peer Review Schedule

4. Comprehensive Review

The MBA Program of Khon Kaen University is well established and well-known in the Northeastern Thailand.

• It has strong connections and support from the industries and alumni.
• The school has a systematic educational system and quality assurance which is adequately implemented.
• The program’s curriculum is relevant for the needs of stakeholders and it has been periodically reviewed.
  However, based on the reports reviewed and the on-site visit, it was noted there were many things being done and completed by the School, but these were not systematically written and explained in the report. Therefore, it is not easy to conclude if the School is already doing all these activities in a systematically and timely manner.
• The School operates PDCA cycle for the improvement on its education and research environment. Nevertheless, the School should describe how it handles each criterion in a systematic manner, with PDCA cycles for example. The School needs to provide more information to justify the self-evaluation as shown in the PRT Comments.
• The School mentioned that its mission statement already implies that it meets the social demands of the age of economic, social and cultural globalization. However, the School must show that its curriculum and program consider the latest economic, social and cultural globalization issues such as trade war, Belt and Road Initiatives, Industrial Revolution 4.0 and others.
• The School needs to establish an open standard for grade and score calculation as a reference for the program and students, especially on the comprehensive examination. The School can consider developing a standard marking rubric for comprehensive examination with the inputs from various stakeholders.
• The class size of no more than 70 is rather large for MBA program. It may raise concern whether the large class size may hinder the active participation of the students in the learning process. Depending on the available teaching and learning resources, classes can be divided into smaller units for better management and active discussion among the students.
• There should be regular communication with stakeholders in collecting feedback and inputs for learning outcomes’ reviews.
• Student intake has been decreasing for the past three years, from 262 to 234 and 193. Efforts need to be made to recruit more students for MBA as it is the main source of income for the School. The reduction of student numbers will definitely affect its financial stability.
• The School should actively promote the student mobility programs such as international study tour, student exchange program and international collaborations, which is lacking at the moment. The same applies to the globalization of education and research activities among the staff. Evidence of academic staff participation in the exchange program is not provided in the report. More efforts are required on this aspect. It can be improved via various policies and activities to expose students and staff to the international environments.

• It is notable that the majority of the Participating faculty members are over 60 years old. The School may need to develop a long-term plan of how to deal with this issue when those members retire at the same time, in order to recruit younger faculty members to replace the retiring staff.
• Research quality should be improved through for encouraging faculty members and students to present (disseminate) their research in prestigious conferences and to publish in reputed journals.
• The School has highlighted improvement issues in each of the chapter, but these are mostly very generally formulated and basically relate to routine operational and improvement issues. They are not related to the challenges encountered by the School in view of the changing business environments, particularly the opportunities, threats and weaknesses highlighted.
• There are no major issues in the other areas such as administration and governance, internal quality assurance processes, curriculum policy, diploma policy, students’ admission policy and selection, students’ support and incentives, and educational infrastructure.

5. Good Practice in the Program Management Education

1) Title of Good Practice in Management Education

“Business Education collaborating with the Alumni and Industries”

2) Reason for selecting the title stated above

From the on-site visit to the School, it was sensed that there is a strong connection and support between the alumni and the School, particularly in terms of Industry-University Collaborative Committee (IUCC) as mentioned in the SCR. Members of the alumni voluntarily participate in some of the school’s activities such as student selection processes, orientation and other activities. At the same time, alumni representatives have also suggested ways to improve the quality of its business education and networking among its members. The alumni are all willing to support the School in many aspects to promote education quality, for example as “Business coaching /consulting Clinique club, alumni working together with faculty in selecting process, supporting business simulation to practice stock investment, even invest together. Alumni also sponsored several courses for professional practice such as Business planning skills.

6. Matters to be noted

The School reported itself as being the most famous in Thailand on Appreciative Inquiry (AI) in business. It should work on this advantage and expand its AI course/skills/ practices in many fields and companies around Thailand. It is great that the School applies the AI to promote its quality of business education. The School needs to develop its AI activities and promote AI benefits to achieve its vision and mission.
The School should also provide more online services and pursue digitalization to achieve the University vision of being a SMART university.