The Covid-19 pandemic has forced universities to reconsider how they deliver education, with most of them forced to quickly adopt online teaching models.
On top of the immediate challenges posed by Covid-19, institutions in Thailand also face increasing pressures due to a falling birth rate and technological disruption.
The Bangkok Post has talked to some university executives in Thailand on how they are making changes to ensure their universities remain efficient and relevant in these challenging times.
UNIVERSITY OF INNOVATIONS
Chulalongkorn University (CU) president Bundhit Eua-arporn said he has made it a mission to transform Thailand's oldest university into one seeking innovations for society.
"Our vision is to be a world-class university which generates knowledge and innovation for the creative and sustainable transformation of Thai society. We aim to deliver a better life to people via innovations," he said.
Mr Bundhit said CU was now focusing on developing innovations that could have a great impact on all aspects of society: the economy, lifestyles, the digital age and robotics, education, sustainable energy, the food and water sectors, as well as inclusive communities and smart cities.
"For instance, Thailand is becoming an ageing society. People will surely encounter frustrations and we will find how we can eliminate this frustration. In other words, we will create innovations to provide solutions," he said.
"All CU's innovations will be based on demand, we will listen to people's voices. CU will integrate all the stakeholders it has at hand."
Mr Bundhit said his university had talented people in a wide range of faculties and colleges, so it could complete the entire process, from finding capital to selling the final product.
He cited, for example, the faculties of Engineering, Medicine and Commerce, plus those in Accountancy and Communication Arts, as having creators, testers, sellers and distributors.
"Transforming ourselves into a university of innovations will not just enhance society, but will also give us a better spot in the global rankings. If we help society, the world will recognise that and accept us," he said.
CU president Bundhit Eua-arporn
CLIMBING UP THE RANKS
This year, CU was listed in 96th place among the world's top 100 universities for its academic reputation in a list released by UK-based education and career consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds (QS).
"This is the first time a Thai university has broken into the top 100. We were in 108th place last year, so this is a big improvement. Our ranking this year is the highest rank ever achieved by a university in Thailand," he said.
Mr Bundhit said CU put a lot of effort into improving its academic research and recruiting outstanding researchers over the past few years since it set a target of becoming the first Thai university to break into the world's top 100.
QS ranked 1,000 universities from 80 locations, surveying 102,662 academics and 51,649 employers whose opinions informed the reputational indicators.
The universities were then rated in six ways: academic reputation (40%), employer reputation (10%), staff-student ratio (20%), citations per faculty (20%), international faculty ratio (5%) and international student ratio (5%).
"This year, we did well in terms of academic reputation and employer reputation, but we still need to do better in other areas," Mr Bundhit said.
"We plan to form more partnerships with leading universities to upgrade ourselves and plug gaps in fields where we still lack resources and personnel. I believe this will help us improve our international student intake."
BUILDING FUTURE LEADERS
In line with its innovation strategy, Mr Bundhit said, CU would also focus on curriculum development and ensure it kept pace with the rest of the world.
Digital technology and a third language appear to be necessary for new graduates now, he said.
As for digital technology which allowed people to learn anything anywhere, he said lecturers should realise students could now learn from a wide range of sources, not just at the university. Therefore, he said, the professors needed to make adjustments and guide students on effectively using learning sources, rather than passing on academic knowledge.
"Lecturers should guide the students on how to use digital technology in the right way and teach them how to pick and analyse information as well as how to make the most of the resources," he said.
Besides, he added, international integration is trendy. Thailand has cooperated with many countries in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world, so students should learn a third language apart from English and Thai to give themselves greater career opportunities.
CU is encouraging student-exchange programmes with its partner universities overseas to create an international atmosphere on campus and at the same time help its students learn a third language, Mr Bundhit said.
New graduates, he explained, should be ready to help drive Thai society forward. He expected CU students to be multi-talented.
"On top of that, the new grads should be able to identify and fulfil their needs," he said. "We aim to also entice talented people worldwide to join us to boost our position as an innovation centre for Thailand and the international community."
KMUTT rector Suvit Saetia
UNIVERSITY FOR ALL AGES
While CU aims to be a university of innovations, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), another of Thailand's top universities, has set itself a target of becoming a "university for all ages".
KMUTT rector Suvit Saetia said the falling birth rate and technological disruption were transforming the labour market in Thailand. The country would soon have fewer working-age people, while those already in the job market would have to reskill themselves to catch up with fast-changing technology.
Mr Suvit said universities of the future must become places for all ages as there would be no age limit for students. "Universities cannot just focus on students with a high school diploma. Yet, we must also keep an eye on 38 million people who are already in the workforce," he said.
Mr Suvit said he believed the demand for non-degree and online courses -- which are cheaper and easier to access -- would soon increase. People who want to reskill will choose not to sit in classes for several years, studying many unrelated programmes just to get a degree. Instead, they would attend short-term courses to acquire specific skills required by employers.
To keep up with this trend, KMUTT recently signed an agreement with Southeast Asia's Lifelong Learning Centre (Seac) to develop both online and classroom non-degree programmes, targeting students, businesses, industry personnel and the general public.
"From now on, we will welcome students from various generations while at the same time programmes and curriculums will not be restricted by semesters and units," Mr Suvit said. "Meanwhile, examination-based assessments will have to be adjusted."
The agreement between KMUTT and Seac will take three years, from June 2020 until June 2023. In the first year, pilot projects will be carried out domestically, including a collaboration to design learning courses for new career groups such as Online Instructional Designers, Virtual Learning Facilitators and Data Scientist Facilitators.
Also being developed is a non-degree Business Mindset curriculum designed particularly for science personnel and researchers who are in need of business skills and a business mindset.
In future years, KMUTT and the Seac plan to expand their operations and services to neighbouring countries.
Mr Suvit said he believed this agreement would bring about positive change, alleviating issues related to a low-quality workforce, unemployment and situations in which supply and demand do not match.
"A university course that takes four to five years will be a thing of the past," he said. "People will be welcome to learn whenever they feel the need
"With the right skills, they will be able to enter the labour market and whenever they feel they need to upskill, they can return to study further. After all, this is called a lifetime university which means a university for lifelong learning."