The purpose of this research was to study and compare the current status and expectations of good governance with 9 dimensions and 76 indicators in 16 public universities in Thailand. As a descriptive research study, 3,017 participants were chosen from the stakeholders in selected public universities which were located in different regions in Thailand. The questionnaires, consisting of a 5-Likert scale, were distributed. The data were analyzed by frequency, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, t-test and ANOVA.
The research findings were as follows:
1) The current status of good governance in 16 public universities was in a moderate level in both overall and individual dimension. In addition, a comparison of the different arithmetic mean in overall dimensions and individual dimension on the current status of good governance was made between public universities under the former supervision of the Ministry of University Affairs and Rajabhat Universities, which were under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. There was a significantly statistical difference of 0.01 and 0.05 in nearly all dimensions of the research framework except the Ethics and Integrity dimension. This finding was similar to that of the current status of good governance when individual university was taken into account.
2) The participant expectation to the good governance in 16 public universities was in a high level in overall and individual dimension. The arithmetic mean of expectations to good governance of the participants who were under the former Ministry of University Affairs and the Rajabhat Universities showed a statistically significant difference of 0.01. This finding was similar to that of the expectation to good governance when individual university was taken into consideration.
3) However, in the answers from open-ended questions, the findings showed that there were a lot of problems in all dimensions of the current status of good governance in 16 public universities, especially in the dimension of Moral and Ethical Profession, Transparency, and Participation. The participants' expectation to the good governance in 16 public universities reflected that there should be a serious evaluation and inspection in university administrators to bring good governance in all dimensions.
Finally, the findings revealed that most dimensions were in a moderate level and some were still problematic. As a result, public university administrators or the policy makers in each level of higher education should pay more attention to inspection and evaluation to bring good governance into their organizations.