Firstly, we have to understand what are the reasons for having a portfolio round. From my perspective, as a high school student, the portfolio round is for students who have an expertise in at least one field of talent. The portfolio round allows each applicant to present themselves in their way, but the universities also have rights to see whether their applicants have or haven’t reached their standard. For me, it is a fair game. Having the portfolio round is for students who bring glory to Thailand or their schools. They can spend their time on their favorite subjects or activities while others might balance their time better. I think that they deserve to have an assurance for their future.
Different majors come with different conditions. For some majors, it is better to weigh practical performance more than theoretical performance. For others, it is not. But we have to focus more on the number of seats in the portfolio round, quota round, admission round and direct admission round, which some have shown us that the ratio between portfolio round and admission round doesn’t match. As I have said, it depends on the major. Some said that it is not likely that the portfolio round has taken more seats than the admission round in science and health majors. It is not illegal for the portfolio round to take more seats than the admission round but it is about equality. Most requirements require a project that has to be globalized and not all Thai students possess such an opportunity. To fix this problem, the test organizer should keep on using the exam to test the ability of each student equally.
However, the other main problem of having the portfolio round is the university requirements, which are different depending on the major. For example, they require English scores such as IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC, and CU-TEP. All of these tests use money and some households cannot afford to pay. Also, before taking a test, you might have to enroll in an extra class which requires money. And in some cases, they require a research that has to be done, although we have seen that some of the completed projects from high school students didn’t have it from the right way and that has shown the inequality in Thailand’s educational system.
In conclusion, the portfolio round should exist but also in the right amount that is rationally related to the major. It is good to have alternative ways of getting into universities. On the other hand, people still have to be concerned about inequality in our educational system. Trying to understand the reasons from both sides is the best thing that people can do.