Mae Fah Luang University
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Mae Fah Luang University |
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| Established | 1998 |
| Type | Autonomous Public |
| Location | Chiang Rai, Thailand |
| Affiliations | ASAIHL |
| Website | http://www.mfu.ac.th |
Mae Fah Luang University, situated in the province of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, is named after the beloved Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother (Somdet Yah) of the current king of Thailand, Mae Fah Luang being the name given to her by the locals. It is an autonomous public university which was established on September 25th, 1998. Initially having only two programs, (English being one of them) it now has opened many more, including Business Chinese, Agro-Industry, and Traditional Thai Medicine.
Its extensive and beautiful campus is situated in Tambon Tasood, Mueang District and comprises mainly of hills and only a small area of flat plain. Construction took many years, as the campus was mostly built on hillsides, and was completed in 2004.
The university is striving to become an international institution, using English as the primary medium of teaching. However, this is being immensely hindered by the inadequacy of the Thai teaching staff, and also by that of the students. Being a very new university, the top students in Thailand rarely choose to apply here. There are also too few native English-speaking teachers on the staff to accommodate the Presidents aggressive enrollment goal.
China has also built the Sirindhorn Chinese Language and Cultural Center on campus as a gift to Thailand, equipped with computers with Chinese programs and textbooks. The center is built to resemble a tradition Chinese house, complete with various courtyards, gardens, and a pond.
It currently has over 5,000 students in its undergraduate program.
In 2005 the vice-president of public relations and a law professor were arrested for running a child prostitution ring with local businessmen. This was reported in the Thai language newspaper Matichon. The president immediately turned off the Matichon newsfeed reporting this incident when he learned of it.
[edit] Foreign Teachers & Christian Missionaries
As the report of a child prostitution ring remains unconfirmed - The university has had difficulty in being able to retain qualified and experienced western teachers for any length of time, with the exception of Christian missionaries,who appear to hold undue positions of influence in the Liberal Arts Department. The university has gone through several waves of hiring westerners and then seeing them leave. This is in fact an annual recurring dilema. The university has, and continues to hire, foreign English teachers with either hold no degree, unaccredited degrees, and degrees obtained on the streets of Bangkok. No creditable degree verification process is in place, and demand dictates the university's policy on hiring unqualified teachers.
Foreign teachers have found it a little difficult to become part of the university community. Unlike Thai teachers, western foreign teachers have never been given on-campus living quarters and were forced to make a long and semi-dangerous commute from town each day. None of the foreign teachers were allowed to participate in the alleged rigged reelections of the university's president. Some say that they were excluded due to lack of tenure and merit. Others point out that unlike Thai teachers, foreigner teachers were only given one year contracts without health insurance (failure to provide health insurance being illegal for most Thai public schools). After several years, foreign teachers were offered longer three year contracts, but still without health insurance. Finally, teacher's were provided with some accident insurance. On the other hand, many Thai English teachers have such poor grammatical skills, combined with in some cases with bad English pronunciation, that their contribution to the future success of the university to achieve an acceptable reputation as an international university is a matter seems dubious at this time.
First year passing grades in fundamental English comprehension, have been documented to be in the dismal 50% range. This is attributed to the Presidents edict to teachers to admit students, regardless of their assessment during the acceptance interview process. The students are required to repeat the courses they have failed, which brings additional revenue to the university.
Mae Fah Luang University houses arguably the best Faculty of Chinese in the country. The entire teaching staff is from China and is chosen under the supervision of the Chinese government. The professors are from universities in China and usually teach there for 2 to 3 years. This is because of the good relations HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn has with the country.
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