Abstract:
The research aimed to study the states of academic administration of the Champasak Buddhist University in Paxe, Champasak, Lao PDR, to compare the states of academic administration of the university under study as classified by positions and working experience, and to explore the problems and guidelines for academic administration of the Champasak Buddhist University.
The population used in the research comprised executives and faculty members numbering 50 in the 2018 academic year. The research instruments were an in-depth interview and a five-rating scale questionnaire of a confidence value equivalent to .91. Statistics used in data analysis were percentage, means, standard deviation and Z-test.
The research findings were as follows.
1. The overall academic performance of the Buddhist University in the study was at a high level.
2. A comparison of the academic administration of the Champasak Buddhist University as classified by positions and working experience did not find any difference.
3. As for the problems and guidelines related to academic administration, the following were found.
3.1 As regards the curriculum and use of the curriculum, it was found that the content was excessive and some parts, particularly related to Buddhism, were too difficult for learners. The guidelines were the curriculum should be in conformity with and suitable with learners and teachers. The curriculum should be adapted based on the curriculums used in neighboring countries like India, Burma and Thailand.
3.2 Regarding the teaching and learning management, it was found that time for study was inadequate. This was because monks and novices had to take a lunch break. In addition to learning common subjects, they were to study Buddhist subjects. The guidelines to deal with this were there should be longer period for the study. Assignments should be given to make learners study by themselves. For the set goals to succeed, new technology should be utilized.
3.3 As regards instructional media, it was found that coursebooks, and documents were not updated. The teaching media were outdated. There were no experts to produce instructional media. The solution was there should be support to produce instructional production in different disciplines. In addition, learners should be encouraged to use more online learning and the Internet.
3.4 Given the measurement and evaluation, it was found that learners were not enthusiastic to learn Buddhist subjects. Apart from this, teachers who were Buddhist monks could not totally commit themselves to the teaching task as they were engaged with other Buddhist tasks. To deal with this problem, the subjects were to be adapted suitable to conform with the changing world. Buddhist study had to be applicable to a daily life of learners.
3.5 Concerning the library, there were no updated and new texts. The books available were not sufficient for the needs of students and teachers. Importantly, very few learners had exhausted or utilized the learning source. To deal with this problem, more learning sources should be secured and attempt should be made to encourage learners to use the Internet more.
3.6 On the internal supervision, there were no experts on this discipline who were capable of giving valuable knowledge to teachers. The solution was the experts in some disciplines should be invited to train teachers.