life in London

Hello from London ka.

I've been away from home for about one week already because of some wonderful family matters, being around our niece before she gave birth to her second baby boy ka.

It gave me some good lessons to be away from my usual routine and environment and let me share some ka:

- Being a mom in a foreign country has to be tougher and more efficient to manage the family life, my niece is one as well. We were with her a bit earlier before she went into labor so we got to take care of her 2-year old boy when she had to go to the hospital a very early morning to give birth. It was a big challenge because the boy is very attached to his mom and in fact was crying a lot waiting for his mommy to come back home. My niece and her husband decided to return home that very evening without staying over at the hospital at all. Admittedly, my sister--the grandma-- and I were relieved. It was a long day for my niece, her husband and definitely us two:))!

- My niece has a one-year maternity leave, which is really great. My niece can get 90% of her salary for the first month and the government will pay a sum from the second to ninth months. No government allowance is given for the third baby on as it's considered 'luxury' ka.

Her husband has a two-week paternity leave and his presence at home has been so very helpful, from bringing the oldest son to a football class and a child minder, to nappy changing and food shopping plus many other. I hope our younger Thai males will play more active paternal role.

- Traveling on our own is convenient but I had to adjust myself the first few days. Was thinking it's been a healthy challenge to be in such a situation once in a while to understand cross-cultural issues even more deeply. I expect to see many elderly but find it amazing to see lots of babies from diverse groups. Can't help thinking of the US where diversity is also high. Somehow I feel London may be far diverse!

- uber is convenient and quite popular while there're private companies too.... and the black cabs stay on! How I wish our country could solve the uber issue soon since it's really convenient to passengers. The idea of having uber car pool system sounds good but may not be that applicable to us for now?

cultures crossed!?!

Hello all! Hope you're relaxing and some may check their inboxes Monday na ka.

I was thinking what struck me most the passing week and this is it ka.

I was invited to give 2 talks at an international college, one to Thai ajarns and staff, and the other to foreign staff.

For the Thai ajarns, it was more about readiness for change and teamwork, and about cross-culture for the international team. 

As always, I love to have participants rate their own feelings on several things.

This time I asked 3 questions:

1. ความรัก&ผูกพันกับ......(คณะ)

2. ความรัก&ผูกพันกับประเทศไทย

3. การเป็นทีมเวิร์ค

It happened on the morning that the two groups would have to meet first before breaking out to 2 sessions. I decided to use the rating spectrum for both. The easiest was to translate the three statements.....the third was straightforward but the first two was a bit tricky ka.

In order not to get any question what I wrote in Thai, I translated the statement literally as 'love and bonds with ...../ Thailand'

We, Thais,  use 'heart' to symbolize passion, commitment, and caring so when it comes to one love's for one's institution, it sounded weird to foreigners' ears......good thing they rated them anyway ka.

This had turned into a great intercultural learning ka! I told the international group that, 'had I known they would also have had this opportunity, I'd have used different wordings.' like commitment and dedication (and in fact passion in teaching and teaching at that particular institution) na ka.

One westerner told me, 'It's your country so it's for you to make changes (meaning don't expect foreigners to make changes but another westerner said that they could at least spark some ideas and actions for change! Whew!).

The former westerner shared with me how much experience he has had staying and teaching in a few countries. He also said in a foreign country when one has no family nor connections unlike when he/she is in own home country, his advice was to  keep one's head low to be out of trouble and do the work. It made some sense thinking about it na ka! It was worth some good discussion and yes, I discussed several situations and issues with him ka....not easy to do so but it was very fun kaaa!

Many in this international group had sincere intention to be contributive as a faculty members while some have found the system to be too 'Thai/ bureaucratic/ rigid' and several seemed not to be so positive ka.

As internationalization (IZN) is high on our radar both at the international cooperation and networking, and quality-related matters, one more skill our leaders need is cross-cultural management to bear favorable results while retaining quality foreign faculty with our institutions.

EU-ASEAN forum on Consequences of Regional QA and QF

Happy Monday ka.

Late last week, I was very lucky to be invited to attend an EU-ASEAN forum on Consequences of Regional QA and QF for two days.

After some experiences to both QA and QF plus some reading on the 2 topics, I somehow   have several questions especially the relationships of the two. This symposium gave me a clearer (not clear cut) answers as well as some more updates about them to learn ka.

Almost two decade ago, I heard western representatives discuss QF and 'learning outcomes'. A decade later, we've taken both up seriously with some impressive progress.

EU has its  ESG-- EU Standards and Quality Guidelines for IQA/EQA and EQAA (EQA agencies) to have some broad framework to follow. They also have EU Qualifications Framework (several call it their 'bible') with 8 levels of descriptors for basic to higher education.

With long years of experiences and continuous improvement, EU has been quite strong in its implementation while in ASEAN, we do have AQAF (ASEAN Quality Assurance Framework) and AQRF (ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework) as reference point/ benchmarking for member countries.

Let me share some keywords  when choosing to do QA and QF ka:

- Globalization, mobility of students and labor, mutual recognition

- Life-long learning

- Harmonization not standardization

- Confidence and trust of the society and countries within and beyond the region

- Sense of ownership of faculty, staff, and students

- Collectiveness with Key stakeholders to be engaged in the processes

- Role of institutional leaders

- NOT TO CHANGE OUR OWN QA/QF TO FIT WITH THE REGION'S FRAMEWORK AS WE ALL HAVE OUR OWN CONTEXTS AND NATIONAL AGENDA TO HEED TO.....well! not to take it literally to be far too rigid lae ka!

Looking at the keywords, some may say 'nothing new' but when we think further, we seem to know them, but we may not 'act' or not 'act in an integrated way'!?!?

Hong Kong had a comprehensive study to compare its QF with that of EU, reasoning that 'it's a HEALTH-CHECK OF OUR FRAMEWORK'. It has developed specific guidelines with outcome-focused approach, diversity, and benchmarking against international community in mind.

This is another report that generates many lessons learned for us to study and adjust to our own context dai loei ka.

I like what DSG Bundit said about outcome-based learning......focus on transferrable skills.

The symposium shed more lights to me with a few challenging questions about the Thai QA and QF as well as our use of AQAF and AQRF. The latter two should generate more contribution for Thailand if the big picture becomes clear.  Fortunately, our leading universities continue to be committed and move ahead quite progressively in this intellectual and cooperative journey within their respective institutions.

Hopeful me ka!