Abstract:
The purpose of this research was to study the educational status of fifteen vocational institutes under the jurisdiction of the department of Vocational Education in the southern border provinces of Thailand in the academic year 1986. A survey method was employed to collect data and data were analyzed by basic statistics method. Some data were compared with the standard criteria and the efficiency of workshops utilization was also computed. The major findings were as follows: There were 15 vocational institutes with consisted of 11 institutes offering formal education and 4 institutes offering non formal education. The formal education offered vocational programmes of three levels: Certificate in Vocational Education, Diploma in Vocational Education and Diploma in Technician Education. The non formal education offered three curricula : Certificate Level (one-year programme), Short Course Programme and Cooperation Study Training (CST). The total number of students was 20,897 and each institute had 396 to 3,886 students. In 1986 the total number of applicants were 13,209 but only 6,929 or 52% could be admitted. The total number of teachers was 1,202 and each institute had 38 to 193 teachers. About 66% of teachers hold Bachelor or higher degree. The ration of teacher to students was 1:17. The average teaching hours was about 13 to 33 periods per week. Each vocational institute had more area than the criterion except Songkhla Agricultured College. Each Trade and Industry workshops area were 0.32-11.39 square meters per one student which were less than the criterion. There were many institutes that had the room area less than the criterion; 8 libraries, 11 canteens, 10 guidance rooms and 5 nursing rooms. There were 8 institutes that had the number of books per one student less than the criterion. The government budgets for each vocational institute were about 3 to 24 millions baht. The average of the operation expenditures was about 5,713.91 baht per one student and the average of the capital expenditures was about 2,110.25 baht per one student. The graduation on due time of the students on Certificate in Vocational Education, Diploma in Vocational Education and Diploma in Technician Education were 74%, 78% and 61% respectively. The average of drop out on those three levels were 13%, 8% and 26% respectively. The highest efficiency of workshops utilization was 117% and the lowest was 36%.