71 Tabla 11: Indicadores de logro, Para evaluación Fuente Propia

Research is very important to the Faculty of Science, because it can improve and support the social and economic development of the eastern region. Case eight respondent added that research is a source of knowledge in various areas, and in

read recent research papers. Case eight said that more than half of the lecturers are willing to do research especially the young generation whose ages are not more than 45 years old. The Faculty of Science has a number of diversified departments, and lecturers do both basic and applied research. Generally, lecturers do quantitative research because the nature of the subjects studied is based on statistics. Case eight respondent said

We have 12-15 research projects a year from our Faculty research funding and 6-7 projects from the National funding. The 6-7 projects that I mentioned consisted of sub-projects of 3-4 topics.

and, in addition:

Every year we have research outputs and articles published of more than 50 topics both in international journals and the rest is presented at National conferences.

Generally, lecturers conduct research in teams or in situation requiring integrated research, and as a result, the faculty is involved in a range of diversified research projects. Some lecturers do research with other organizations outside of the university or with colleagues. For instance, in a number of cases, lecturers carry out further research with their thesis advisors. For lecturers who prefer to do research in topics that it is difficult to find team members within this university, they may join a team with other universities or even participate in International research teams.

Lecturers learn to develop their research skills by practicing doing research, and this can be facilitated by budgets received from the faculty, or outside organizations such those from a post-doctoral research fund. Sometimes lecturers carry out research in pairs, combining with lecturers who have and who do not have research experience.

In this faculty one of the factors that influence research productivity appears to be related to the enthusiasm of lecturers.

Although lecturers understand that teaching and research are regarded as equal elements, Case Eight mentioned that:

Our faculty aims to push research to be the best.

The Faculty of Science has increased the number of students, and it is the understood duty of lecturers to find outside research funding. Case eight respondent said:

We need support money for students to do research. The students prefer to work with lecturers who have research grants. Students in this faculty of both bachelor and post-graduate degree levels have to do research. It is the nature of subjects. The costs are approximately 10,000 baht per student.

The Faculty of Science also uses research productivity as the criteria to evaluate lecturers’ performance for rank promotion and, in addition, lecturers who have tenure status must produce research every year.

In contrast to these factors designed to encourage research output, there are some inherent factors that cause low research productivity. Case eight stated that lack of motivation is the first factor, and went on to explain that The Noble University proposes to be a research university. However, there is no formal regulation to motivate lecturers to do research and publication, and although the University’s research policy directly supports science, the University does not provide enough funds. One example of the effect of this decision is that, to publish articles in International journals, lecturers must pay a publication fee. In some cases this amounts to five thousand baht per page, and if an average article has ten pages, there is a cost of fifty thousand baht. In many cases, lecturers are not sure that they will receive their money back if they pay in advance to publish their research in International journals. In this faculty, this situation has been somewhat corrected by the provision of a publication budget. Case eight informed us that:

Our Faculty research committee has developed criteria to judge the members of a project. If all the members are the staff in the Faculty of Science, they receive the whole fund. Otherwise, if there are only two people from our staff, they will receive two thirds the fund. Furthermore, the Faculty of Science has budget for writing academic works as well.

The second factor inhibiting research output can be an inefficient research network. Generally, lecturers must have their own connections with other organizations and friends to be able to access research funding. For instance, it was through connection with friends in other universities, that Case eight was able to receive information about National Government funding for integrated research projects. As a result, a research project was prepared in order to join the National research team.

It is weakness of local University.

Case eight explained, that:

We have no qualified instructors to be a member of the National research administrative committee.

An important third factor is the inefficient allocation of resources and facilities. Case eight pointed out that some lecturers are somewhat selfish, and they are not willing to share research equipment with other persons. The respondent observed that:

If a lecturer wants to use machine A, he must pay for maintenance and should have publications. Some lecturers have a big office, we should determine how many students they can advise and how they use resources.

The fourth factor inhibiting research in this faculty is the lack of qualified technicians. At the present time, there are twenty lecturers per one technician, and the number of technicians is not enough to maintain the complex equipment at research standard. Case eight noted ironically that:

We should have more budgets, such as 200,000 baht a year for employing an extra two technicians. But now we have to pay 500,000 baht a year for maintenance. The maintenance cost is more expensive than to increase the amount of technicians. Then when the equipment is out of order, lecturers cannot perform their task; therefore, they waste their time and resources.

The last factor appears to be that the research committees are younger than the Faculty administrative board, and as such they cannot influence the senior staff to do research because of a Thai cultural understanding of the innate respect for the dignity and position of elders i.e. seniority.

It can be concluded from the comments of Case eight research in the Faculty of Science is very important for the social and economic development of the Eastern region. The lecturers clearly recognize that their research is the source of knowledge and also that it helps them prepare for undergraduate lectures. As this faculty has a number of diversified departments, the nature of the subjects encourages lecturers to perform both basic and applied research, especially projects with a quantitative focus. Normally, lecturers conduct research in teams, and this markedly assists lecturers to have more topics for publication. An important issue in this faculty is that research outcomes have been specifically linked to the evaluation of lecturers’ performance for the purposes of rank promotion.

More than half of the lecturers in this faculty are willing to do research, and this is especially so for the younger generation. The Faculty of Science has currently increased the number of postgraduate students, and it is an understood responsibility of lecturers to find outside research funding for these students, who, in turn, admired lecturers who have the ability to find a budget to assist them to perform their project.

However, even in this productive faculty, there are some factors that hinder further research development, including the perceived lack of motivation from the university. There is no formal regulation in place to encourage lecturers to do research, and university itself does not provide any research funding. The research and publication funding is generally derived solely from the faculty’s income and outside organizations. In addition, there is an inefficient research network for this area, suggesting that lecturers sometimes miss important research-related information. Furthermore, the Faculty of Science appears to have inefficient allocation of resources and facilities. Case eight revealed that some lecturers are selfish, in that they are not willing to share specialised research equipment. In

addition, when this equipment breaks down, the faculty has a lack of qualified technicians and repair budgets.