A Study of Students’ Competency in Short-term Courses of Surat Thani Polytechnic College Based on the Professional Qualification Framework in Line with the Needs of Enterprises

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to: 1) to study the opinions of enterprises on current and required competencies of short-term students of Surat Thani Polytechnic College based on the Professional Qualification Framework, 2) study the needs and requirements for students’ competency development in short-term courses of Surat Thani Polytechnic College based on the Professional Qualification Framework in line with the needs of enterprises, and 3) study the guidelines for developing students’ competency in short-term courses of Surat Thani Polytechnic College based on the Professional Qualification Framework. The sample group consisted of 109 personnel in the workplace where graduates of the short-term course of Surat Thani Polytechnic College worked as employees. The research instruments included questionnaires and discussion group recording forms. The data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation.

The results showed that the opinions of the enterprises towards the current level of students’ competency of the short-term courses at Surat Thani Polytechnic College based on the Professional Qualification Framework and the needs of the enterprises was overall at the highest level. When considering the index of importance of the needs, the overall mean was 0.226. The top 3 needs for personnel management were application aspects, skills, and innovation aspects respectively. As for the guidelines for developing students’ competency of short-term courses of Surat Thani Polytechnic College based on the Professional Qualification Framework in accordance with the needs of the enterprises, the suggestions were on the application of the PDCA process in systematic management from the planning of curriculum development, teacher development, and encouraging the use of technology in instruction. In addition, there should be assessed an annual assessment on students’ competency as a database for systematic development.