The Office of the Higher education Commission, Thailand
Thai Higher Education: Priorities and Key Development
Current Status At present, Thailand has a total of 155 higher education institutions. Among this number are 80 public higher education institutions consisting of 20 autonomous universities, 12 traditional universities, 39 Rajabhat Universities (formerly teacher training colleges), and 9 Rajamangala Universities of Technology, together with 74 private higher education institutions, and Office of Community College Administration. The student population in higher education is over 2.2 million. In addition to the institutions under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Higher Education Institutions, Ministry of Education there are specialised higher education institutions under the auspices of other ministries. Thailand’s policy on higher education provision puts prime priority on enabling universities to produce and develop quality workforce into the labour market, strengthening higher education capacity in creating knowledge and innovation in order to enhance Thailand’s competitiveness, and fostering sustainable development of the communities through the greater collaboration and utilization of networking of higher education institutions based on academic autonomy, diversity, and unity as well as public and private partnership.
Key Developments Increasing students’ employability and entrepreneurial skills To ensure that students’ competencies meet the demand of the labour market, the Office of the Higher Education Commission (OHEC) in collaboration with the Thai Association for Cooperative Education (TACE) and Cooperative Networks has encouraged Thai universities to implement Cooperative Education and Work Integrated Education which foster links between higher education and the world of work. The project integrates theory and on‐the‐ job training by taking into account trends in the world of work in economic, business and industrial sectors in order to respond to the demand of the labour market. The project’s purpose is to develop entrepreneurial skills and foster employability of graduates. Since 2013, OHEC has expanded cooperative education to the international level particularly within ASEAN. From 2008 to present, there are 106 higher education institutions providing cooperative education programmes with more than 30,000 students’ participation and over 10,000 workplaces involved. University Business Incubator (UBI) A project on University Business Incubator (UBI) has served as the driving force for the establishment of a start‐up company which could later be developed into spin‐off companies. UBI is not only foster university‐industry linkages but also equip students with entrepreneurial skills. At the moment, UBI units have been set up in 63 public universities and operated under the 9 Higher Education Development Networks. During the years 2013‐ 2014, UBI units conducted trainings on entrepreneurship skills for 176 start‐up companies and 72 spin‐off companies, and received 150 students under cooperative education programmes to undertake internships. 1
Centers of Excellence The Centers of Excellence were established as autonomous units under the Higher Education Development (HEDP) Project administered by the Ministry of University Affairs (OHEC at present) since 1999. In the first phase (1999 ‐ 2006), OHEC had implemented the project with a loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and counterpart fund from the Thai government. Under the project, new postgraduate academic consortia had been established as 7 R&D Centers of Excellence (CoEs) with an aim to strengthening postgraduate education and research in cooperation with the industry and the private sector in priority science and technology areas. After the end of the ADB loan in 2006, the Thai government approved the implementation of HEDP Phase II (2006 ‐ 2009). In this connection, the Higher Education Commission approved the restructuring plan of HEDP and renamed as ‘S&T Postgraduate Education and Research Development Office (PERDO)’ with financial support from the Thai government. The existing 7 CoEs had been reoriented to become the ‘real’ Centers of Excellence with key missions on research‐driven, postgraduate education, and service rendering. Additional two centers of excellence were also established. At present, PERDO is in the third phase of its implementation. The number of Centers of Excellence has been increased from 7 to 11, namely (1) Center for Innovation in Chemistry; (2) Center for Toxicology, Environmental Health, and Management of Toxic Chemicals; (3) Center for Environmental and Hazardous Waste Management; (4) Center for Petroleum, Petrochemicals, and Advanced Materials; (5) Center for Energy Technology and Environment; (6) Center for Agricultural Biotechnology; (7) Center for Postharvest Technology Innovation; (8) Center of Excellence in Mathematics (established in 2007); (9) Center of Excellence in Physics (established in 2007); (10) Center of Excellence on Biodiversity (established in 2011); and (11) Center of Excellence on Medical Biotechnology (established in 2011). The total number of participating higher education institutions and research institutes are 25. Among those institutions, 5 universities have been assigned as lead universities. From the year 2000 to 2014, the outputs of those Centers of Excellence include 7,000 graduates at masters and doctoral degree levels; 1,500 joint research projects with industry sector; 7,500 research outputs published in national and international journals; and 6 international patents. National Research Universities OHEC started to implement the National Research University Initiative and Research Promotion in Higher Education Project in 2010 with financial support under the Government Stimulus Package Plan. National Research University Development had been launched to enhance universities’ academic excellence so as to enhance national competitiveness. OHEC has granted extra financial support to encourage National Research Universities to dedicate themselves towards the intended objectives. The ultimate goal of this project is to raise the overall quality of Thai higher education.
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The 9 universities that have been selected as National Research Universities (NRUs) are Chulalongkorn University, Kasetsart University, Khon Kaen University, Chiang Mai University, Thammasat University, Mahidol University, Prince of Songkla University, Suranaree University of Technology, and King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi. These NRUs have conducted research in 6 supra clusters ‐ Agriculture and Food, Energy, Environment, Health, Industry, and Social Science. With prime concern on the critical role of higher education towards the country’s social and economic growth, the missions of the Centers of Excellence have focused on producing competitive research outputs contributing to addressing the country’s major problems, and enhancing economic viability and commercial benefits, whereas the 9 national research universities have focused primarily on creating pre‐competitive knowledge and innovation that contribute to enhanced country’s productivity and are more responsive to the national social and economic development along with addressing global issues, i.e. climate change, disaster management, aging society, and digital economy.
A Mega Project: Thailand Excellence 2030
As higher education serves as one of the key engines to drive the country’s inclusive growth, in 2014, OHEC has charted the roadmap ‘Thailand Excellence 2030’ which calls for more investment in higher education. OHEC has planned to propose a mega project to the government for endorsement and funding support. The ultimate goal of the project is to strengthen higher education system, increase universities’ critical role in contributing to create knowledge‐based economy, and help the country escape from the middle income trap. ‘Thailand Excellence 2030’ comprises the World Class University Project; the Project on Higher Education Human Resources Development to Cope with the Changing Global Context); and the Project on Standard Development of New Group of Higher Education Institutions and Preparation for the ASEAN Community.
World Class University Project (5‐year plan with estimated budget of 25 billion baht)
The World Class University Project has set a short, medium, and long‐term goals focusing on forming sustainable university consortia; strengthening collaboration among universities and industry including SMEs so as to produce high technology and green innovation derived from internal R&D, together with the implementation of ‘Lean Manufacturing’ from the effectiveness to the changing trends of international higher education; establishing real time and validated national database for Thai universities that can be utilized effectively for quality control and benchmarking; creating Thai university ranking system which suits Thai higher education structure, and serving as driving force for positive changes. It is highly expected that Thai universities with administrative strength will have world class disciplines and be ranked in the world university rankings.
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Project on Higher Education Human Resources Development to Cope with the Changing Global Context (15‐year plan with estimated budget of 44 billion baht)
With regard to higher education human resources development, OHEC has targeted to provide 16,000 doctoral and postdoctoral scholarships for the purposes of increasing the production of Ph.D. faculties; capacity building of universities’ faculty members to become professional researchers; and strengthening of academic and research consortia in areas necessary for the country’s competitiveness and socio‐economic development.
Project on Standard Development of New Group of Higher Education Institutions and Preparation for the ASEAN Community (5‐year plan with estimated budget of 68 billion baht)
Realizing that diversity and differences of Thai higher education institutions have brought about the development divide, OHEC has planned to allocate funding to enhance the capacity of the new group of higher education Institutions including Rajabhat Universities and Rajamangala Universities of Technology by upgrading their quality of education provision, strengthening their administration, and capacity building of their academic staff to meet the national standards and in line with the direction of the country’s development. In this connection, the role of Rajamangala Universities of Technology focuses on providing education in various fields of technology and operations while Rajabhat Universities put emphasis on teacher production and community engagement.
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