Assumption University Education Excellence

Early Beginning
University History

Assumption University is a non-profit institution administered by the Brothers of St. Gabriel, a worldwide Catholic Religious Order, founded in France in 1705 by St. Louis Marie de Montfort, devoted to education and philanthropic activities. The Congregation has been operating many educational institutions in Thailand since 1901. Assumption University was initially originated from Assumption Commercial College in 1969 as an autonomous Higher Education Institution under the Assumption School of Business. In 1972, with the approval of the Ministry of Education, it was officially established as Assumption Business Administration College or ABAC. In May 1975, it was accredited by the Ministry of University Affairs. In 1990, it was granted new status as “Assumption University” by the Ministry of University Affairs.

Philosophy of Education 

In loyalty to its Christian mission, Assumption University stands for:

• Respect for the three institutions of the Nation: Religion, Country, the King and a democratic way of life;
• Belief that a man justifies himself and his existence by the nobility of his work: LABOR OMNIA VINCIT;
• Commitment to be a light that leads men towards the true source of all knowledge life.

As a university, it represents an international “academic community which, in a rigorous and critical fashion, assists in the protection and advancement of human dignity”, specifically, with devotion to the Thai cultural heritage, “through research, teaching and various services offered to the local, national and international communities.”

Mission 

Assumption University exists for the main purpose of serving the nation by providing scientific and humanistic knowledge, particularly in business education and management science, through research and interdisciplinary approaches.

To this end, it aims at forming intellectually competent graduates who

• are morally sound, committed to acting justly, and open to further growth;
• appreciate freedom of expression, imbued with ethical attitudes and ideologies through a carefully integrated curriculum of Ethics, Science, Languages and Business Management;
• achieve academic excellence through hard work, critical and positive thinking, and effective decision-making.   

The Emergence of AU Education Quality

The emergence of AU Education Quality began on April 3, 1994 when the former president of the University, Rev. Bro. Dr. Prathip Martin Komolmas, on his own initiative, began formulating the process for a QA system. To this end, he issued guidelines in a document entitled, “ABAC Academic Standards.” This document and later pronouncements pertaining to basic principles and general objectives of the QA program, gave the impetus for the QA initiative.  Subsequently, the Ministry of University Affairs announced its policies and procedures concerning quality assurance on July 8, 1996. The implementation of quality assurance at all levels of education in Thailand is required by law as stipulated in both the 1997 Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand as well as the National Education Act of B.E. 2542 (1999) (Chapter 6). Since then, it seems that at the turn of this century, every institutional leader in education is picking up quality assurance as one of the key issues on the institutional agenda.

In order to attain education excellence, Assumption University set up the Center for Excellence (CFE) to spearhead the spirit and system of quality assurance of the university in 2000. A number of national and international education standards was taken into account and the QA system of Assumption University was initiatively established by incorporating the Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA), National Education Standards (standards required for external quality assurance or EQA), and Higher Education Standards (standards required for internal quality assurance or IQA). At this time, the main objectives of AuQS2000 system are to foster academic excellence and operational excellence of Assumption University. 

AuQS2000 logo

In 2000, the AuQS2000, a rallying symbol was created to represent the quality system model designed for implementation at Assumption University. “Au” stands for the name of the institution, Assumption University. “QS” is the acronym of Quality System, and “2000” is the
year in which this symbol of quality system
model was created.

AU Quality Management System

In the implementation of the strategies, the main strategic theme of Education Excellence is identified, and its supporting strategies are

- revenue mix from a composite of innovative products and service offerings,
- academic excellence from a composite of quality students, faculty, curriculum, and infrastructure
- operational excellence as a composite of administrative excellence, processes, learning, and growth systems.

A balanced approach as defined by Kaplan and Norton (2001) in the strategy-focused organization is used to implement the strategies successfully. This will be the fundamental philosophy guiding the quality management system of Assumption University: Management through Measurement. It defines the:

- four main perspectives of financial value perspective, customer value perspective, process value perspective and the learning and growth value perspective,
- cause-effect relation and the inter-linkage of the 4 perspectives leading to the ultimate achievement of the strategies as defined,
- imperatives of the definition of key performance management indicators.

In May 2003, the previous model was remodelled to be a QMS comprehensive quality management system that allows for:
 
- the development of the academic and administrative units’ internal processes, output and outcomes appropriate to the core values and nature of the unit concerned,
- the academic and administrative units to manage their own quality based on the standard criteria as defined in the AuQS 2000 QMS manual (2nd Edition, 2003),
- the university to be on par with international standards of quality education. 

The Evolution of AU Education Quality towards AU Education Excellence 

The main objectives of AU education are to foster personal development of the students, to facilitate the achievement of academic excellence, and to inculcate in the students right attitudes and ideologies through a carefully integrated educational plan (source: ABAC Academic Standards, page 11). Throughout different periods, application of QA standards has presented complexities of the standards and criteria, readiness of administrators, faculty members, staff and students and right attitudes for QA implementations. Problems, conflicts and controversy required the University to review standards and criteria, reproduce AU QA manuals and retrain AU personnel many times. The following diagram is a timeline illustrating the evolution of the QA development of Assumption University.