The Office of Educational Affairs, at 74-76 Hopetoun Circuit, Yarralumla, ACT 2600, is a section of Royal Thai Embassy in Canberra, Australia. It was established in 1953 (B.E. 2496). The Office is one of the operational units assigned by the Office of the Civil Service Commission (OCSC) in order to perform the following duties:
- To carry out tasks related to the administration of government scholarships and King’s scholarships;
- To placement the government scholarship recipients after graduation into the government services, in accordance with the OCSC policies and directives in response to manpower needs of civil ministries, public bodies, and departments;
- To promote, support, coordinate and organize overseas educational programs, trainings or study visits for the recipients of the King’s Scholarship and other scholarships, as well as civil servants;
- To oversee and provide support for the recipients of government scholarships, King’s scholarships and civil servants overseas in terms of study, accommodation, and finance.
- To promote, support and supervise Thai students studying overseas, as well as motivate them to return to work in Thailand.
- To serve as a center to publicize information on the Thai educational system and culture overseas, and also provide information on overseas education for the sake of Thai civil service personnel management, Thai students in general as requested, and Australians and foreigners who are interested in studying or training in Thailand.
- To cooperate with Australian educational institutes for study visits of Thai delegations and with Thai educational institutes for Australian delegations’ study visits to Thailand.
- To work together with the Royal Thai Embassy as Team Thailand in the particular field of education and culture
For the past five years, the numbers of Thai students coming to study in Australia have significantly increased. These students find Australian education attractive in the following aspects.
- Regarding study period, the study, especially for Master’s degrees, varies from one to two years, which is obviously shorter than studying in other countries, like in U.S.A., which takes at least around two years.
- In terms of enrollment, the sole requirement of IELTS score in order to apply for a study place in an Australian university saves a lot of time and money. On the contrary, the enrollment into an American university requires at least two kinds of test scores, namely TOEFL one and GRE/GMAT.
- Subject to location, Australia is closer to Thailand than USA and UK are . So, it is easier for Thai students to go back to visit Thailand during their study.
There are about 26,000 Thai students (all levels) currently studying in Australia, ranking Thailand 4 th in terms of foreign students in Australia, after China India and South Korea. Australia is now the number-one destination for Thai students studying abroad, which implies that in the next 20 years or so, more senior Thai government officials, and business/opinion leaders, will be in Australian educated, compared with the majority of America-educated at present.
As a result, there will be a lot more Thai students graduating from Australia in the near future. Meanwhile, we also hope to see more Australians interested in studying in Thailand. The office is more than willing to provide any interested Australians with useful information about Thai education and educational institutes. Please do not hesitate to contact the office at the aforementioned address or at oea@ocsc.org.au.
