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| For Release: IMMEDIATE | Contact: Public Affairs |
| Date: February 4, 2005 | (919) 807-6963 |
Delegation travels to Thailand to help develop community colleges
RALEIGH: Thailand is developing a community college system and the North Carolina Community College System has played a big part in its creation. The first ten colleges in the Thai Community College System, patterned after North Carolina’s, were opened within the last three years. A delegation made up primarily of North Carolina community college personnel and trustees will travel to Thailand next week to provide training for Thai community college trustees.
This trip is funded by the United States Agency for International Development and is part of a project that began with a conversation. That initial discussion was between North Carolina Community College System President H. Martin Lancaster and Thai leaders during an investment and trade mission, led by then Governor Jim Hunt, to Thailand in 2000. That conversation led to a subsequent meeting of the presidents of six community colleges in the United States who discussed the creation of a community college system in Thailand.
In March of 2001, a Thai delegation traveled to the United States to visit community colleges in San Francisco (an urban model), Iowa (a rural example) and finally, North Carolina (worker training and economic development). The delegation visited the System Office and Wake Technical and Johnston Community Colleges. The delegation agreed that the North Carolina model was best suited to their needs.
Dr. Rewat Sutham, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Education, said he was impressed by the "organization and structure" of the North Carolina System.
Dr. Wichit Srisuphan, Adviser to the Minister of Education, said the experience was extremely valuable. "Lessons learned here will prevent us from making mistakes," he said. "We can then share our experience with other Asian countries."
What the educators did was take what they learned back home to begin work on creating their own system. Subsequently, education experts from the United States, led by President Lancaster, traveled to Thailand to conduct training programs. They delivered leadership training for 30 Thai community college administrators. The training, funded by the AERA project and US Embassy in Thailand, focused on leadership skills on interfacing with business and industry to meet workforce and economic development needs in the community.
"The North Carolina model is perfect for Thailand as they move from an economy of basic, traditional industry to one based more on technology and services," said Lancaster. "North Carolina is successfully making that transition and the North Carolina Community College System plays an integral role in that change."
The visit to Thailand by the education experts was part of the East-West Community College Project - Leadership and Teacher Training that is helping Thailand's Ministry of Education establish community colleges in Thailand. The project is funded by the USAID Accelerating Economic Recovery in Asia (AERA) program and will include comprehensive training and extensive consultation. The trip this month is part of that training, focusing this time on the role of trustees.
The delegation of trainers will provide guidance on the role of trustees in governance, financial matters and strategic planning. Another area covered during the time in Thailand will be the role trustees play in developing mission and policy for community colleges. They will also help the participants learn how to develop action plans to implement the mission statement and demonstrate how to work with other agencies and the private sector.
Traveling to Thailand are: Dr. Donald L. Reichard, Project Director and President, Johnston Community College; Dr. James Timothy Brewer, Project Coordinator and Executive Director of the State Board, North Carolina Community College System; Mr. James Woody, Chairman, North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges; Dr. Stuart Fountain, Member, North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges; Mr. Fred Williams, Executive Vice President, North Carolina Community College System; Mrs. Lyn Toney Austin, Chair, Board of Trustees, Johnston Community College; Dr. Kent Farnsworth, Community College President in Residence, University of Missouri at St. Louis; Dr. John Rucker, Academic Vice President, Crowder College, Neosoho, Missouri; Dr. David Iha, Board of Regents, University of Hawaii; and Dr. Allen P. Cissell, Consultant. Several spouses are also traveling with the group.
The group travels to Hawaii on February 9 for a February 10 orientation session on Thai culture and communication skills. The group leaves for Thailand on February 11. Workshops will be conducted in Ayutthaya, Udon Thani, Bangkok and Hua Hin. Workshop sessions begin on February 14 and continue through February 22, with a couple of travel days included. The return trip is on February 23.
The training workshops were originally scheduled to take place during the Christmas season of 2004, but scheduling conflicts, not the tsunami, forced the dates to be moved to February. Coincidentally, one of the initial workshop sites was Phuket, which was devastated by the tsunami of December 26. After the tsunami, concerns led several of the original delegates to drop out, jeopardizing the project. Thai officials were more determined than ever to have the process continue and implored Dr. Reichard and Dr. Brewer to bring the training team to their country.
"We were a part of this process from the beginning," said Lancaster. "We feel now, more than ever, the community colleges of the country will play an important role in Thailand’s growth. We are proud to be involved and will do all we can to continue the progress."
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