Thai universities at a crossroads as new coalition formed

Thai political parties are angling to take control of the higher education ministry as part of coalition negotiations following the country’s recent general election.

The conservative Bhumjaithai Party is leading talks to form a new government, having won the most seats in the 8 February poll, and academics say much will depend on whether it, or the populist Pheu Thai party, takes control of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation.

Thanapan Laiprakobsup, executive director of the ASEAN University Network Secretariat, said both major coalition parties want the ministry because of its relatively big budget that “has been growing in recent years due to the focus on research and internationalisation”.

Laiprakobsup, also associate professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University, said if Bhumiaithai controls the ministry, the focus will be on “rural colleges and universities” but if Pheu Thai secures it, the emphasis will fall on “innovation research and how to commercialise research”.

Sivarin Lertpusit, assistant professor at the College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Thammasat University, said funding reforms already under way could sharpen divides within the system, regardless of which party takes power over the ministry.

The ministry’s budget is “likely to contract gradually in response to declining student enrolment”, she said, which could see funds reallocated to different types of university.  

Under this model, “research-intensive universities are expected to receive a disproportionate share of funding…In contrast, community-oriented institutions, such as teacher training universities, may experience reductions in financial support”, Lertpusit said.

Research funding is also “increasingly oriented toward applied research conducted in collaboration with the private sector, rather than toward fundamental or basic research”, a shift Lertpusit said could “weaken the foundational base of knowledge production and constrain academic autonomy”.

She added that pressure on government funding has compelled universities to diversify their revenue streams. “Consequently, a greater proportion of financial responsibility, particularly in the form of tuition fees, has been transferred to students within the higher education sector.”

At the same time, the ministry “has intensified its support for vocational education through policies such as tuition waivers and expanded student loan provisions”. In contrast, “financial support for social science research has been reduced, alongside a contraction in student loan allocations for social science disciplines”.

“Taken together,” Lertpusit said, these developments indicate “a structural reorientation of higher education toward vocational and labour market-oriented training facilitated by the strategic redistribution of state resources”.

Laiprakobsup described what he called “a two-track of policy for higher education”, with national comprehensive research universities receiving “strategic research funding [for] research commercialisations, research innovation” and support for projects that generate economic impact, while rural colleges and smaller universities are upgraded to respond to “local demands, or community development”.

Funding for “strategic research, research that can commercialise” will increase. In contrast, “funding for human development like a scholarship for Thai students to study abroad will be declined”.

Academic freedom, meanwhile, remains politically sensitive. Laiprakobsup said it has “slightly increased” compared with five to 10 years ago, but “there are some sensitive issues that…government try to limit”.

Under a Bhumjaithai-led administration, he said, “the level of academic freedom will not be in danger but will be in concern…especially the criticisms or comments on the government policies, especially on nationalism policies.”

Internationalisation is expected to continue, particularly within South-east Asia and increasingly with China. However, Laiprakobsup warned against short-term strategies aimed at climbing global rankings.

Universities have been “importing” foreign scholars on short-term research grants to boost publications, he said, “because research publication is one of the major criteria for university ranking”.

Instead of “giving a scholarship for local Thai students to study abroad in prestigious university and come back”, institutions risk pursuing a short-term strategy that does not invest in long-term human development, he warned.

tash.mosheim@timeshighereducation.com