Thailand aims to become regional higher education hub
By Professor Jisnuson Svasti
Chairman, International Relations Policy Committee and
Deputy Chairman, Research Policy Committee
Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand 
Policy Committee
Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Higher education in Thailand dates
back more than 100 years to H.M. King
Chulalongkorn (Rama V), who established
two higher education colleges for Buddhist
monks in 1889 and 1893, a medical school
at Siriraj Hospital in 1889, a law school
attached to the Ministry of Justice in
1897, and the Royal Pages School (later
Civil Service College) in 1902. In 1917,
the first multi-disciplinary university was
established by Royal Decree, elevating
the Civil Service College into a university,
named Chulalongkorn University after
His Majesty, and incorporating the three
academic schools. Later, the University of Moral and Political Science, now
known as Thammasat University, was founded in 1933, and three more
universities were established in 1943 - University of Medical Sciences
(Mahidol University), Agricultural University (Kasetsart University) and
Fine Arts University (Silpakorn University). These institutions are perhaps
the “historic” universities of Thailand, and they have maintained their
excellence, especially in their original areas of expertise. Then in 1964-
1967, decentralization of education led to the establishment of regional
universities, Chiangmai University, Khon Kaen University and Prince of
Songkhla University, which have all developed an excellent reputation
nationwide. The Thai university system has continued to expand in several stages,
supervised by the Ministry of University Affairs (now Office of Higher
Education Commission, Ministry of Education, OHEC), founded in 1972.
Developments since then included the amalgamation of various existing
colleges and schools into the King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology
(KMUTT, KMITL, KMUTNB) and Srinakarintwirot University, upgrading
of Maejo University, and the establishment of six more regional
universities - Burapha University, Naresuan University, Mahasarakham
University, Suranaree University of Technology, Thaksin University and
Ubon Ratchathani University. Another noteworthy innovation was the
establishment of two open universities - Ramkhamhaeng University
and Sukhothai Thammatirat University - to rapidly expand educational
opportunities to the public. In addition, many private universities, colleges
and institutions have been established over the last 30 years, since demand for higher education could still not be matched by supply. However, overall
student preference is still for the top government universities. Most recently,
40 former teacher-training colleges were elevated to Rajabhat Universities,
and ten technical colleges were also elevated to be Rajamangkala
Universities or equivalent in 2002.
As of December 2009, the Thai higher education system comprised 78
public and 69 private higher education institutions, and 19 community
colleges. Due to the diversity of the institutions, OHEC has classified
higher education institutions into four groups, with different missions
and expectations: a) research universities with graduate school should
have high capability for research, high-quality staff, teach from bachelor
to post-doctoral levels, produce leaders and help enhance Thailand’s
competitiveness; b) universities with fields of specialization, teaching
mainly at bachelor and master levels, with good staff producing qualified
manpower for industry; c) teaching universities with undergraduate
emphasis producing workers for local government and local business;
and d) community colleges producing graduates to empower the local
community. In its recent 15-year plan (2008-2023), OHEC hopes that
development of these four groups of universities will meet Thailand’s
needs to compete internationally, as well as to develop local businesses,
strengthen local communities and encourage life-long learning.
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| Thai scientist Pilai Poonsawad (second from right) wins Rolex Award for Enterprise for research on
hornbill conservation. |
The primary role of the university system is, of course, to produce graduates
to serve the manpower needs of the nation. In the academic year 2006,
the Thai university system produced about 259,000 graduates at bachelor
level, 47,000 graduates at master level and 980 graduates at PhD level.
Among all the graduates, 84.8% graduated from government universities
and 15.2% from private universities. Bearing in mind Thailand’s population
of about 63 million, the number of bachelor-degree graduates may be
sufficient, but the number of PhD graduates is inadequate to ensure
competitiveness at the international level. In addition, among those with
a bachelor degree, 67.8% were in social sciences, arts and humanities,
27.4% in science and technology, and 4.7% in health science. There is a
need for a higher proportion of graduates in science-related fields. OHEC
announced the Thailand Quality Framework for Higher Education (TQF) in
2009 to standardize the quality of degree programs, and align them with
the promotion of mobility of professionals among ASEAN nations by the
year 2015. In recognition of the need to develop postgraduate training
in Thailand and link it closely to research, OHEC initiated the Centres of Excellence in Graduate Education and Research, to encourage universities
with expertise in similar areas to work together in multi-university consortia.
At present, there are nine such centres, three with Mahidol University as
leader, two with Chulalongkorn University as leader, two with Chiangmai
University as leader, one with Kasetsart University as leader, and one with
King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi as leader.
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| Undergraduate students at an international college in Thailand. |
The Royal Thai Government has also expressed the wish to develop
Thailand into a regional educational hub. There are some 884 international
programs (296 bachelor, 350 master, 215 PhD and 23 other programs)
at Thai universities. However, a OHEC survey in 2008 showed that there
were only 16,361 foreign students studying in Thai higher education
institutions, with universities having the most foreign students being
Assumption University (private university with 2,558 foreign students),
Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (university for monks with
1,329) and Mahidol University (public university with 1,069). In particular,
Mahidol University has the most international degree programs in the
country (121 at postgraduate level and 19 at undergraduate level), and was
the first public university to establish an international college. Some Thai
universities have joint degree programs with overseas universities, and
many of them participate in the Thailand Research Fund’s Golden Jubilee
PhD program, where students have overseas co-advisors and perform part of
their research abroad. Almost all Thai universities have several Memoranda
of Understanding (MOU) with universities worldwide, to promote student
exchange, research collaboration and other activities. Major universities
such as Chulalongkorn and Mahidol may have as many as 250 MOUs.
Many Thai universities are also members of various international university
networks, such as the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNI),
ASEAN University Network (AUN), ASEAN-European University Network
(ASEA-UNINET) and Asia Pacific Leadership (APL) Forum.
Research is essential for any country to compete at the international
level, but Thailand invests far too little in research (GERD/GDP is about
0.25% only). In terms of scientific publications in international databases,
Thailand ranks at approximately 42nd in the world, 7th in Asia and 2nd in
ASEAN. These publications come predominantly from the Thai university
system, particularly from the Research University with Graduate School
group. Mahidol University and Chulalongkorn University are particularly
productive, followed by Chiangmai University. However, taken in perspective,
research output of staff at Thai universities is very low, at most less than
0.4 papers/staff/year, depending on database and university, so more staff
should be encouraged to do research and existing researchers to be more
productive. In a welcome move, OHEC has also drafted plans to initiate a
“National Research University” project, providing special research support
for nine universities, namely Chulalongkorn University, Mahidol University,
Kasetsart University, Thammasat University, Chiangmai University, Khon
Kaen University, Prince of Songkhla University, King Mongkut’s University
of Technology Thonburi, and Suranaree University of Technology.
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| Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Wellcome Trust-Mahidol University-Oxford University Tropical Medicine Research Programme. |
Linkage between industry and academia also needs to be improved in
Thailand, although many universities do have RD&E collaboration with
industry and have formed units responsible for joint university-industry
research, product development, technology transfer and other related
activities. In addition, OHEC launched the “University Business Incubator”
project in 2005 that provides Grants-in-Aid for business development and
entrepreneurship through 56 member universities. Subsequent feedback
from this experience led OHEC to allocate further funding for technology
licensing activities in 11 universities, in order to promote effective
technology transfer to local industries.
Nowadays, world university rankings cannot be ignored, and it is
important to understand the criteria and weighting used in each system. Thai universities have performed surprisingly well in the THE-QS World
University Rankings, which place emphasis on academic peer review. In
2009, Chulalongkorn University was ranked at 138=, Mahidol University at
220=, Thammasat University, Chiangmai University and Kasetsart University
at 401-500, and Prince of Songkhla University and Khon Kaen University
at 501-600. However, with greater emphasis on quantitative measures of
scientific publications, Mahidol University was the only Thai university
ranked (at 479) in the Top 500 Universities of the Performance Ranking of
Scientific Papers for World Universities by the Higher Education Evaluation
and Accreditation Council of Taiwan. When stronger emphasis is placed on
academic excellence, including Nobel Prizes, no Thai university was ranked
in the Top 500 Universities in the Academic Ranking of World Universities
by Shanghai Jiaotong University. In addition, new ranking methodologies
have been announced for 2010. While there is much controversy about
different ranking systems, universities can still benefit by using them
to analyze their own weaknesses and strengths, devise strategies for
improvement and motivate staff to improve their performance, so that we
can provide the best education for our children.
Professor Jisnuson Svasti obtained his PhD in Molecular Biology
from the University of Cambridge, UK in 1972. He is a staff member of
Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand, and was its Vice-President for
International Relations (1997-99) and Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies
(2005-07). He received the Outstanding Scientist of Thailand Award (2002) and the Outstanding Lecturer Award (2005). He was President
of the Federation of Asian and Oceanian Biochemists (1990-1992) and
is Fellow of the Academy of Science for the Developing World (TWAS).
He is currently President of the Science Society of Thailand under the
patronage of His Majesty the King, and has published 140 research
articles in international journals.
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