In the past decade, education has become ever-more personalised, ever-more hybrid. With new digital models emerging across the board — in classrooms, research labs, and administrative offices — intelligence and the cloud are increasingly critical, supported by fresh innovations in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) that are utterly transforming the education industry.
According to a survey on Thailand’s digital life in 2020 and 2021, Thai people’s use of e-commerce has increased from 37% to 76%, and the ratio of people who work remotely has risen from 17% to 30%. At the same time, the cloud adoption rate by Thai corporates has rapidly increased from 26% to 70%. By 2030, digital economy is estimated to account for 30% of Thailand’s overall GDP.
The fundamental role of digital education has been further highlighted during the sudden outbreak of the pandemic. Over the past year or so, about 1.5 billion students — 90% of all primary, secondary, and university level students worldwide — have been unable to attend their schools or campuses for at least some period of time. The urgent need for more equal, accessible and advanced education resources has now become a global concern.
As Thailand is making inspiring strides towards becoming the ASEAN digital hub, this period of disruption has been transformative. As Prof. Dr.Supot Teachavorasinskun, Dean of Engineering Faculty at Chulalongkorn University, emphasised In Huawei CLOUD & CONNECT 2022 (HCC), “Nowadays, the physical and the cyber worlds are integrated. In order for us to adapt, we have to work with Huawei and other partners to integrate the digital world into every knowledge aspect for the lecturers and students. This is unavoidable.”
This trend is further highlighted by Mr.Kamol Keatruangkamala, Ph.D., Executive Vice President for Information Technology at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang. During the HCC event, he stressed that, “COVID accelerates the transformation. If we still think in the same way, in 10 years, we won't be able to maintain the university. So we have to disrupt ourselves with innovative technologies from leading companies like Huawei.”
Huawei’s commitment to digitalising Thailand’s education industry
Higher education in Thailand has become increasingly popular, and ICT investment in education has also increased significantly. As a committed ICT partner and social value contributor, Huawei launched the "Seeds for the Future" programme in Thailand in 2008. In the over 13 years of the programme, at least 215 students from leading Thai universities have participated. In 2019, Huawei ASEAN Academy (Thailand) was established to further support the visionary Thailand 4.0 strategy, which so far has provided upskilling and reskilling training for over 41,000 local ICT professionals and over 1,300 SMEs.
Besides contributing to a thriving digital talent ecosystem, Huawei has provided numerous joint solutions – from smart campus and smart classroom to online education solutions – for at least 10 renowned educational institutes and universities across Thailand. The list includes top-ranking universities such as Chiang Mai University, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) and Srinakharinwirot University (SWU). These solutions have ensured that learning never ceases, even during the pandemic.
The SWU campus network upgrade was completed in February 2019. Huawei provided high-bandwidth and low-latency campus networks to improve the wireless network coverage and campus security, promoting infrastructure-based digital development, and setting a benchmark for university campuses across the country.
At the Huawei HCC 2022 event, Asst.Prof. Dr. Prasert Kanthamanon, Senior Vice President for Administrative Affairs and Chief Information Officer, KMUTT, shared their collaboration with Huawei to make “KMUTT4Life” a reality. According to Dr. Prasert, based on Huawei support, the university will build a living lab to support endless learning not only for schools but also for anyone. Mr.Sanya Setpityakul, Chief Information Officer and Assistant Vice President of Dhurakij Pundit University, added that Huawei’s expertise builds an important platform to maintain education in the video conference classroom, building sustainable and effective capacity.
Grow in Thailand, contribute to Thailand
As Mr. Abel Deng, CEO of Huawei Thailand, emphasised, by promoting proactive collaboration with the country’s top educational institutes, Huawei advocates an ICT Talent Ecosystem that will benefit the country’s journey to Thailand 4.0. Dr.Pattanasak Mongkolwat, Dean of ICT at Mahidol University, expressed appreciation for this strategy, stating that, “Huawei has added practical ICT knowledge and practices to our ICT Faculty expertise. I believed this will enhance our students’ ability to work and excel in real world scenarios.”
By powering Thailand’s digital education and ICT talent cultivation, Huawei Thailand commits to set the standard for a technology-enhanced education by offering more technical and skilful aptitude, more advanced technologies, and more support for innovation and entrepreneurship, in order to power a connected and intelligent Thailand.