Producing Graduates of Public Higher Education Institutions and Job Competencies of Thailand’s Target Industries

Abstract

What will future jobs look like? What skills do these jobs require? Has the university taught these skills to students yet? This research was funded by Thailand Science Research and Innovation Fund. It explored the alignment between worker proficiencies and workforce needs required by the 10 target industries, including biofuels and biochemical, digital, medical hub, robotics and automation, aviation and logistics, agricultural and biotechnology, food for the future, next-generation automotive, smart electronics and affluent medical and wellness tourism. This research had two main objectives. First, the researchers asked a group of experts to confirm and rank the job skills and competencies previously surveyed by the National Science Technology and Innovation Policy Office and the Office of National Higher Education Research and Innovation Council. Second, the research examined whether or not college training aligned student skills with the job skills needed by the target industries. Third, this research recommended that higher education institutions and the private sector should work together to produce graduates that possess specific job competencies of Thailand’s target industries.

Based on an in-depth content analysis of 1,532 public university course materials (TQF:HEd), 34 in-depth interviews and focus-group interviews with 97 stakeholders, this research had three findings. First, the stakeholders agreed with MHESRI’s job skills assessment results for the most part (except for jobs in the robotics industry). They also ranked the 5 top in-demand skills in each industry. Second, the educational outputs on the supply and demand sides are overlapping. Universities need to align their curricula with the job market’s requirements and help their students close the gaps in their job skills. Finally, this research suggested a guideline for “increase”, “decrease”, “cut” and “build” certain components of the curriculum, regulations and mechanisms for upgrading Thai graduates’ competencies to meet the labor needs of target industries.