สภาพความร่วมมือทางการศึกษาไทยกับเกาหลีใต้และแนวทางการพัฒนา

Abstract

Thailand and Korea have endeavored to develop educational system with a common awareness that education is the foundation for development of their respective countries, and mutual cooperation has been carried out in education and research field. Also, based on the friendly relationship that has been maintained since the Korean War, the two countries have participated in such international organizations as ASEAN, ASEM, and APEC together, and have made common effort for political cooperation, economic development, and regional stability. In Thailand, educational content of Korea’s politics, society, and culture have been included in the curriculum for college students since the late 1960s, and Asia Research Institutes in two Thai universities began to produce the outcome of academic research. At present, Thailand is producing experts who have majored Korean language or Korean studies, and research on Korea is being carried out more actively than before. On the Korean side, Thai language has been taught in Korea since 1964 on college level and experts on Thai also have been produced. At present, research on Thailand has been centered on two Korean universities where Thai language is being taught. Other governmental and civilian research institutes are also producing research results on Thailand. Korean language education in Thailand began during the latter part of 1980s, and currently a total of 11 universities are offering Korean language as target of major, minor or an elective course. Besides, several educational sponsor organizations such as Korea Research Foundation, Korea Foundation, and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) as well as other civilian organizations of Korea have made considerable efforts for the development of Korean language and Korean studies both in Korea and Thailand. Despite progress that have been made hitherto in education and research field, both Thailand and Korea are suffering from, among others, shortage of research personnel, funding, and administrative support. In order to make improvements on the above conditions, institutions of Korea and Thailand in the field of education and research should pay more attention to the following areas:1) Together with the establishment of an education-related policy that presents a vision, more Korean and Thai experts should be nourished. 2) Efforts should be made to provide motivation to college students and research personnel for study and training by providing education-related research fund. 3) General and professional data should be created through Thai-Korea research cooperation, and by providing the outcome to individuals and organizations that need them. 4) Education and research in Thailand and Korea should be promoted further with emphasis centered on organizations that sponsor and manage various researches. A precondition for this would be a presentation of a joint vision and objective for the future between the institutions concerned in the two countries. Furthermore, these activities should be accompanied by joint endeavors to uncover obstacles that have adverse effects on the future of education and research in the two countries.