The importance of general education is emphasized by Khon Kaen University. This is evidenced by several of the university’s endorsements. For example, in 2001, Khon Kaen University prescribed policies for general education management (command number 351/2001). The university’s board committee issued a number of memorandums about general education course management. In the second round meeting of the university’s board committee, organized for 25th February 2004, the board agreed upon principles for general education management as follows:

1. The framework of general education courses administered to all the undergraduate courses by all faculties must correspond to the objectives and working philosophy of general education department.
2. General education courses should incorporate knowledge-based content integration and be developed as the core of the general education courses of the university.
3. There should be a central organization responsible for general education management.

              Based on the prescribed principles, Khon Kaen University conducted integrated general courses with relevant content and philosophy. At the early stage of operation, Khon Kaen University developed a total of 22 courses, which could be classified based on their content subjects as follows: 1) 5 courses related to the subject of the English Language, 2) 11 courses related to the subject of Humanities and Social Sciences, and 3) 5 courses related to the subjects of Math and Science. Throughout a period of 5 years in operation (starting at the 1st term in 2006 and ending after the 2nd term in 2010), the Office of General Education modernized the general education courses in order to be more responsive to the changing requirements echoed from within and outside the university. For example, there was an in-house policy change concerning the quality of graduates. The framework for qualities Khon Kaen University aimed at producing in graduates was changed on 4th April 2008, and the renewed graduate qualifications prescribed by the Thai Quality Framework for Higher Education (TQF: HEd) aimed to produce learners with 5 learning skills, namely: 1) Moral learning, 2) Content learning, 3) Critical thinking, 4) Interpersonal and responsive learning, and 5) numeric, communicative and technological learning. Based on these requirements, the Office of General Education organized 5 groups of general courses: Group 1 with 4 courses about communication and self-directed learning; Group 2 with 2 elective courses and 2 compulsory courses about analysis and critical thinking; Group 3 with 1 elective course and 2 compulsory courses about moral, social and life value; Group 4 with 2 elective courses and 2 compulsory courses about local culture and wisdom; and Group 5 with 4 elective courses and 2 compulsory courses about learning and self-adjusting in the context of globalization. These adjusted courses gained the university board’s approval during a second annual meeting held on 4th March 2010. After these new general courses were approved, it was reinforced that any faculties contemplating opening a new program  incorporate the adjusted version of the general education courses into their curriculum.

The Office of General Education Khon Kaen University, 3rd Floor, Poj Sarasin Building, 123  Khon Kaen University  Muang, Khon Kaen  0-4320-2585 Telephone: 043-203052

Khon Kaen University’s graduates are imbued with knowledge, ability, life skills, and learning strategies and they are omniscient and equipped with morality and etiquette.

Mission:

Developing and administering general education courses by integrating teaching of content knowledge with fostering desirable qualities for graduates in the 21st century.  Preparing learners for the AEC and using resource sharing method for the management.
Monitoring the teaching and learning within general education courses in different faculties and organizations of the university.
Producing graduates that  have remarkable standard for ASEAN.

Organization Administration

        The initial period of development took place from 2006-2010. In the first year of operation in 2006, there were 300 nursing students enrolled in the general education courses. The thought framework regarding general education development incorporated the idea of bringing about desirable etiquette among graduates.