Dual vocational education could address the shortage of skilled labour but the lack of a common standard hinders such development, says an expert.
"Dual education produces skilled labour that matches the needs of industry because both the private and educational sectors jointly develop a curriculum with specific skill sets in mind," said Chaipreuk Sereerak, secretary-general of the Office of Vocational Education Commission (Ovec)
"But the system in Thailand has no common standard, leaving companies to develop their own programmes that do not serve industry as a whole."
Dual vocational education consists equally of classroom and on-the-job training that run concurrently.
Mr Chaipreuk said: "It may not help in terms of the quantity of skilled labour but it fits perfectly in terms of quality because people that complete the programme will be work-ready."
Almost all vocational institutions have dual programmes in limited fields such as electronics and automotive.
Although Thailand has some skills ready for the Asean Economic Community, work needs to be done to improve skills in English and information technology.
A memorandum of understanding to develop dual vocational education using a German standard was signed yesterday between Ovec, the Federation of Thai Industries, German-Thai Chamber of Commerce (GTCC) and Department of Skill Development.
The cooperation covers development
of standards including curricula, assessments, instructions, career paths and businesses.
Mr Chaipreuk said the GTCC would provide technical assistance that could be expanded in the future.
"German vocational education is widely accepted worldwide and considered to be the best. More importantly, they are willing to cooperate with us," he said.
The German standard consists of 60% on-the-job training and 40% classroom learning.
"I expect more companies and vocational institutions to adopt the German standard when they see the benefits and want to use the best system," said Mr Chaipreuk.
The chamber has been doing training for two years under the German-Thai Dual Excellence Education programme with member companies Robert Bosch Limited, BMW (Thailand), Mercedes-Benz (Thailand) and B.Grimm.