Ventura Gives Thais a Lesson in Higher Learning

Thailand is close to establishing the country’s first community colleges, modeled after the California community college system--in particular, after Ventura College.

Responding to a need for a higher education system that is available to more of its population, Thailand set out to find a model for a new system. The California community college system--the largest higher education system in the world with 106 campuses and 1.35 million students--seemed particularly appealing to Thailand, a country that falls short when it comes to an educated work force because its universities have room for only 20% of all applicants.

For the last four months, a Thai teacher has been studying the system at Ventura College. Hongsunee Uarattanaraksa returns to Thailand today.

Upon her return, Uarattanaraksa will share her information with the founding faculty of the First Global Community College, the official title for the college that will be built between the towns of Nongkhai and Udonthani in the northeast corner of the country, about 800 miles from Bangkok.

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While at Ventura College, Uarattanaraksa had the opportunity to shadow administrative, instructional and student-service staff. She also visited area high schools, UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge to observe how and why community colleges interact with secondary and university staff and students.

“It has been very useful for me to come here and study this system of education,” said Uarattanaraksa, who was an elementary school teacher in Thailand before serving as an intern for the founding faculty of the First Global Community College. “I’ve been able to see how the college works--what the mission, goals and objectives of a community college are.

“I want to share with people in the community what a community college is and why it is useful for them and that it is a good opportunity because this is a very new idea for people in Thailand.”

There are significant differences between the educational systems, Uarattanaraksa said, adding that one of the most unique aspects of California community colleges is accessibility.

“I’m impressed with seeing old people and high school people enjoy the same classes,” she said.

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Thai high school students fiercely compete for admittance to the universities. Of 6,500 students who graduated recently from schools near where the college is planned, only 500 were admitted to college--leaving 6,000 with no place to continue their education.

“There is concern about the country being besieged by foreign interests, with Western businesses coming in and taking advantage of cheap labor,” said Larry Calderon, president of Ventura College.

“There is a distinct separation between the haves and have-nots--with the farmers out in the fields tilling their rice and the others on their flip phones in their BMWs,” Calderon said. “If the disparity becomes too evident, people can’t find a way to participate in the economic development of their country.”

There is also the problem of corporations not finding qualified laborers in Thailand and importing them from other countries--further widening the gap between economic strata, said Calderon, who has served on one delegation to Thailand.

After studying the higher education system in the United States for two years, representatives from the University Foundation of Thailand concluded that community colleges fostered the middle class--an element lacking in Thailand, said Yvonne Bodle, a Ventura College instructor who served as liaison to the effort.

“The community college system has open access and gives everyone a chance to get into higher education regardless of money or influence,” said Bodle, who has been on five excursions to Thailand in the past two years.

“This is a whole new concept for the Thai people,” Bodle said. “They can’t believe that after a woman has raised her children that she can go to college or that it is low-cost and for the people.”

Faculty at First Global Community College are using a building with four classrooms as a satellite campus until the main facility is built, which could take three to five years, Bodle said. A computer literacy program ran last summer with approximately 30 students.

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But Bodle says that once the main facility is built, it will be open year-round and offer transfer classes, vocational education through a certificate and a two-year program, and serve as a place where people can upgrade their skills.

Uarattanaraksa’s return to Thailand--now that she is armed with new insights about how the California community college system works--will serve as an impetus to this effort, Calderon said.