The ongoing battle in the Administrative Court over Onet scores is threatening to upset the university-admission schedule.

"If the Supreme Administrative Court upholds the Khon Kaen Administrative Court's decision, many universities will not have a single first-year student in the 2007 Academic Year," Thammasat University rector Surapol Nitikraipoj said yesterday.

Earlier this month, the Khon Kaen Administrative Court ordered relevant authorities to use new Ordinary National Educational Test (Onet) scores of six university-bound students in determining which universities they could enrol.

The court's order goes against a resolution from the University Presidents Council of Thailand (UPCT) that limits students applying for university seats to the scores from their first Onet test only.

Onet scores have been one of the key university-admission criteria since last year.

The National Institute of Educational Testing Service (NIETS) has held Onet once a year. However, to boost their chances of getting into their favourite higher-educational institutes, many students who completed Grade-12 last year took the Onet again this year.

"The UPCT will not backtrack from its resolution, which is a result of careful consideration. Onet is designed to assess students' academic performance upon their completion of Grade 12," Surapol said yesterday. He is a board member of UPCT.

Surapol expressed hope that the Supreme Administrative Court would rule against the Khon Kaen Administrative Court's decision.

However, he said if the Court did not rule on the case before the end of this week, the university-admission schedule would be affected.

The university-admission results are scheduled for announcement on May 15.

According to Surapol, the Office of Higher Education Commission (Ohec) needs about three weeks to process the scores before the announcement.

Meanwhile, NIETS director Utumporn Jamornmann yesterday vowed to prevent students from taking the Onet more than once in the future.

According to Utumporn, NIETS decided to allow students to take Onet more than once because the Onet system was mired with many problems last year. The announcement of the 2006 Onet scores was repeatedly cancelled, and the university-admission schedule was upset.

"Some students said they wanted to take the Onet again because they want to determine their knowledge levels," she said.

Education Minister Wijit Srisa-arn said the ongoing problem stemmed from NIETS decision to allow students to take Onet test more than once.

"In fact, this problem has arisen because of NIETS's negligence," he said.

He added that he would discuss with NIETS to point out that students should be only allowed to sit the Onet test once.

Wijit confirmed that the university admission would not take place until the Supreme Administrative Court rules on the case, as relevant authorities are now appealing.

"If the Supreme Administrative Court stands by the Khon Kaen Administrative Court's decision, students who took the Onet test only once, may also lodge their complaints with the Administrative Court," he said.