Tertiary curricula tipped to advance under 4.0

Universities are being urged to speed up improving their curricula and develop human resources in science, technology and innovation in keeping with the government’s Thailand 4.0 initiative.

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said yesterday that universities play a vital role in supporting Thailand 4.0 policy. They must accelerate launching new curricula that can attract students to science and engineering, Mr Somkid said.

He said those who study science and engineering will have better income opportunities.

“Three years ago the government unveiled a policy to use science, technology and innovation to drive the country’s development under a 20-year strategic development plan,” Mr Somkid said. “Science, technology and innovation will strengthen Thai competitiveness, upgrade the country’s income and help tackle poverty, especially among the 30 million people in the farm sector.”

He said countries like the US, Japan, South Korea and Israel have used technology and innovation to upgrade their agricultural sectors and increase farmers’ incomes.

Mr Somkid said the government has implemented various policies to promote spending in R&D, setting a lofty goal to raise the country’s overall spending on R&D and innovation to 1% of GDP this year.

For two decades, expenditure on R&D and innovation never exceeded 0.25% of GDP, though spending began to gradually increase five years ago.

Government R&D support over the past three years saw spending in the segment reach 0.78% of the country’s GDP in 2017, up from 0.62% in 2015 and 0.47% in 2013.

R&D spending in 2017 was 113.5 billion baht. Under the 20-year strategic plan, the government is committed to raising R&D expenditure to 2% of the country’s GDP by 2036. The plan calls for the private sector to provide 80% of R&D spending by 2036 (up from 70%).

Mr Somkid said the government is also promoting ministries to focus more on science and technology development.

“The Science and Technology Ministry and related agencies are required to use science and technology to raise the income of all people, be they in the farm sector, startups or the 12 targeted industries,” he said.

The cabinet on Oct 24 approved the establish- ment of the Higher Education, Research and Development Ministry, which merges the existing Science and Technology Ministry, Office of the Higher Education Commission, the National Research Council of Thailand and the Thailand Research Fund.

The government aims to support higher education institutes in improving academic capabilities and upgrade the efficiency of annual R&D spending to meet the demands of industry while promoting high-tech development.

The government hopes the new ministry will become instrumental in reinforcing the government’s policy to develop high technology, enhance the efficiency of R&D and support human resource development.

“This is a significant reform in education, bureaucracy and R&D spending,” Mr Somkid said.