17 November 2022

Special AUN-QA Feature: The 303rd AUN-QA Programme Assessment, Returning of Site Visits Starting at Mahidol University

By
Patitin Lertnaikiat
AUN Programme Officer;

It is exciting times for AUN-QA! The last onsite Programme Assessment was in February 2020, and ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, the site visits were adapted to be online. After two years since the start of the lockdowns, the AUN-QA are proud to announce the return of site visits in the AUN-QA Programme Assessment! The AUN-QA assessors are ecstatic to be able to visit university facilities and meet with other personnel face to face. 

The 303rd Programme Assessment site visit was conducted at Mahidol University (MU), Thailand on 14 - 16 November, 2022. MU has been living a long history for 134 years since the establishment of “Siriraj Hospital” in 1888 and continuously aspires to be a world class university. MU is under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation. The university’s current milestone is being ranked as the top university in the ASEAN region and No.1 in Thailand. The 303rd AUN-QA PA marks the 8th time with MU. The AUN-QA assessed MU’s programmes in three of their campuses located in different sub-districts, Salaya, Phayathai, and Kanchanaburi. For this onsite assessment, AUN-QA proceeded with assessing a total of 4 programmes:

1. Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Programme (Salaya Campus)

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2. Doctor of Pharmacy Programme (Phayathai Campus)

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3. Bachelor of Engineering Programme in Environmental Engineering and Disaster Management (Kanchanaburi Campus)

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4. Master of Nursing Science Programme (International Programme) (Salaya Campus)

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Having the PA onsite also means AUN-QA can utilize the original schedule of 3 days. AUN-QA provided programme assessment services to MU for the first time at the 103rd AUN-QA PA in February 2018. MU was one of the very last universities that AUN-QA had the opportunity to assess onsite back in 2020 when the pandemic was starting, and is now the first who decided to do onsite PA. Now, MU and AUN-QA are working together to carefully design the pre-measures that are required to ensure the future of onsite assessments.

For AUN-QA, it does not stop at only returning back onsite, but also taking full advantage of the experiences learned during online assessments, allowing for new capabilities such as having additional hybrid sessions to enhance the possibilities of having more interviewees in alumni and employer sessions. AUN-QA aims to apply the best features from online assessment and enhance the onsite experience with effective use of what technology is currently capable of. This is a major step towards our commitment to see further upcoming assessments return to onsite and improve AUN-QA assessments to the next level.