The Council of Ministers of Thailand has just allocated a budget of 24,645 million baht to the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation for research in 2020; an increase of 5,106 million baht from the previous fiscal year. The new figure represents more than 1% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Thailand, which was about 504.99 billion US dollars in 2018.

The budget will be used in two main areas. The first, 4,350 million baht or about 18% of the total budget, is for science and must be linked to research from other ministries. The remainder will be for research and innovation. Of this figure, 8,384 million baht will be for flagship projects, i.e. (1) human resource and educational institution development, (2) research and innovation to tackle social challenges, (3) research and innovation to increase Thailand’s capability to compete and undertake research, and (4) innovation for area development and inequality reduction. This budget for flagship projects will need to be approved by a committee presided over by the Prime Minister himself.

In addition to the emphasis on research and innovation, the Thai government continues to develop a new breed of graduates, exposing them to hands-on activities in the industry for at least half their study time. This includes both non-degree and degree programmes and intended to be sufficiently flexible to adapt to the changing digital society and support the country’s new growth engine.

Thailand is serious about developing its human resources and research, as demonstrated by the clear direction of the new Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation. Thailand 4.0 remains core to the government strategy and universities will play an important role in driving it.  

Sources:

https://www.thairath.co.th/news/society/1672228

https://www.thaipost.net/main/detail/48493

https://www.bangkokbiznews.com/recommended/detail/1667

https://www.dailynews.co.th/education/727192

https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/gdp