Institute of Vocational Education: Southern Region 2.

Institute of Vocational Education: Southern Region 2 at a glance

Phuket's third public degree-awarding body is not a university, and it is the one most guides miss. The Institute of Vocational Education: Southern Region 2 (สถาบันการอาชีวศึกษาภาคใต้ 2) is registered at 215 Sanambin–Mueang Mai Road, Thepkrasattri, in Thalang District — so its headquarters sits on the island, not on the mainland. Its own history page describes institutes of this kind as สถาบันอุดมศึกษาด้านวิชาชีพและเทคโนโลยี — higher-education institutions for the professions and technology — constituted under the Vocational Education Act B.E. 2551 by grouping existing vocational colleges under one degree-awarding council.

The institute does not teach through faculties of its own. Its constituting order lists seven member colleges — Ranong Technical College, Phang Nga Technical College, Phuket Technical College, Phuket Vocational College, Krabi Technical College, Trang Technical College and Trang Industrial and Community Education College — plus an อาชีวศึกษาบัณฑิต (vocational graduate) division whose stated job is to run and supervise bachelor's-level teaching in the technology and practice streams. Two of those seven colleges are in Phuket Town, which is why a Phuket resident can read for a bachelor's degree here without enrolling at either of the island's universities.

The bachelor's subjects the institute currently lists for its two Phuket colleges are hospitality-shaped, as you would expect on this island: at Phuket Vocational College, accounting, food technology and nutrition, information technology, hotel studies and tourism; at Phuket Technical College, building management technology. Programme lists change, so treat this as the shape of the offer rather than a prospectus, and confirm the current intake with the institute or the college directly.

Notable facts

• Headquartered in Thalang District, Phuket — a degree-awarding higher-education institution with its head office on the island, distinct from the two universities.
• Awards bachelor's degrees in the technology and practice streams (ทล.บ.) through member colleges rather than through its own faculties.
• Seven member colleges span Ranong, Phang Nga, Phuket, Krabi and Trang; two of them — Phuket Technical College and Phuket Vocational College — are in Phuket Town.