Goal 4 : Quality Education

Rambhai Barni Rajabhat University is a higher education institute for local development that focuses on the enhancement of the quality of education with the mission to provide research into the improvement of the quality of education; the definition of learning access policies; education management that takes into account the accessibility of local youth to education; and comprehensive participation to promote lifelong learning for people of all ages. Further details are outlined below.

Research to Improve the Quality of Education

Rambhai Barni Rajabhat University promoted research by receiving support from internal and external funding sources to develop educational research and disseminate knowledge from research to the public: this enables participants to apply this knowledge to improve the quality of education. In the academic year 2021, the university produced 52 research papers related to educational quality improvement published in the TCI database, which consisted of 26 papers about lifelong education (50.00%), 21 papers into education reform (40.39%), and 5 papers concerning education policy (9.61%).

Formulation of a Learning Access Policy that Responded to Educational Management for People and Aimed at Expanding Opportunities for Teachers’ Preparation and Development to All Levels of Educational Management

The university has established a policy on access to lifelong learning related to the guideline of educational management for all, and has taken into account differences in race, religion, physical disability, gender and immigrant status. The university has also recognized an education policy that allows people with disabilities to study with normal students. It also has educational policies that support foreign students to be able to study with Thai students. Moreover, special fees are waived for international students under the MOU program with the university. In addition, the university has an important mission to prepare and develop teachers to increase the quality of local education. The Faculty of Education is the main unit working with other faculties of the university that specialize in specific fields to prepare qualified graduates of both undergraduate and graduate levels. In terms of the bachelor’s level, the university provides teaching in a variety of teacher disciplines, including early childhood education, special education, physical education, social studies, English, Thai, mathematics, computer, general sciences, biology, chemistry, physics, music and industry.

In the academic year 2021, there were 1,655 graduates of all degrees. The 422 graduates had teacher professional qualifications (400 undergraduates, 24.16 %, and 22 graduates, 1.32 %). In fact, it was the same proportion as the previous performance in the academic year 2020, in which there were 1,554 graduates of all degrees; 412 graduates had teacher professional qualifications (378 undergraduates, 24.32% and 34 graduates, 2.18 %).

Education that Takes into Account the Accessibility of Local Youth to Education

The university provides education for young people in the university service area by taking into account equal opportunities for further study. This can be seen from the university setting reasonable and fair tuition rates, and granting scholarships to students who lack funds to reduce student families’ expenses. In the academic year 2021, the university opened up 54 courses in various fields, where local youth was able to choose to study according to their needs and their own potential. All courses passed the educational standards and the standards of the Federation of Professions. There were 1,655 students enrolled in the university, comprising 1,398 undergraduate students (regular program), 226 undergraduate students (special program), and 31 graduate students. 1,268 students were the first family members of the cohort to access educational opportunities.

Engagement to Promote Lifelong Learning for People of All Ages

The university has been working on promoting lifelong learning for people of all ages. In the academic year 2021, the following actions were undertaken. 1) Integrating with graduate preparation, arranging learning support services to third parties of all ages, and providing opportunities for local people to access learning resources that were open to public areas such as libraries, tools, equipment, technology, places and online resources.

Additionally, there were also training courses that were free of charge for those who were not studying in the university system, but could apply through the university’s website at https://mooc.rbru.ac.th. Then, they received a certificate to certify completion of the course.

2) Providing activities to support the learning of basic education students free of charge. Two projects have been implemented as follows: the 154th Conservative Mathematics Camp Project which aimed to provide opportunities for students to participate in activities to develop mathematics skills, and the Science Lab Project for Craftsmen by 64 Chemistry RBRU, a project that the university arranged for school students to participate in according to their interests to encourage knowledge, understanding and positive attitudes to science. 3) The university had a provision of vocational training and lifelong learning activities which organized events that were open to the public and free of charge. There were two outstanding activities: one was the development of the professional competency of teachers and educational personnel. For example, a workshop project developed professional competence, new skills and desirable characteristics according to the 4 educational policies (Up-Skills) for elementary school teachers. The second was the activity to develop necessary professional skills, including a workshop on the use of computational science to promote creativity (Introductory Course).

4) The academic services outside the university were established for the application of academic knowledge to develop and solve community problems according to needs and necessities.

There were two outstanding projects to solve problems and improve the quality of people’s lives in the community. The first was the Weir Project, Community Costs with the Power of Volunteers (GEN A) which began by exploring the problems of the local community and led to the development and implementation of sustainable solutions. The second was the Government Savings Bank Yuwaphat Rak Thin Project which was conducted through cooperation between the university and the Government Savings Bank to carry out the design of various activities in line with the community identity, as well as to promote and elevate community products by groups of students from all faculties participating in those activities.

As shown above, it can be seen that Rambhai Barni Rajabhat University accomplished quality education that responded to the achievement of sustainable development goals.