The higher education dilemma in developing countries: Thailand's two decades of reform

Abstract

Many developing countries are faced with the dilemma of whether to expand their higher education systems rapidly, in the face of demand and regardless of the social and employment consequences, or whether to curtail enrolments by some means of cut off or selection at the end of secondary school. This article discusses the dilemma in the context of Thailand. It discusses a variety of higher education models in use in the Third World countries and then shows how Thailand has modified its closed-access European-style universities through expansion and diversification in the 1960s and how it has experimented with open-access institutions during the 1970s. There have undoubtedly been problems but the experiment has eased, some of the social pressures and tensions and it remains to be seen if the government can control an ever expanding pool of university students. Other countries faced with a similar dilemma could well learn from the Thai experience.

Forty Years of Education and Development: from optimism to uncertainty

“…This imbalance of costs can, and frequently has, led to a distortion in educational provision so that governments committed to university expansion do not have the resources for the furtherance of UPE, improving quality, inspection or teacher training. The situation is made worse if, as in the case of Thailand for example (Watson, 1981b) or the Philippines (Danskin, 1979) the government allows higher education expansion for political reasons, since this can raise student expectations while at the same time lowering academic standards and increasing graduate unemployment, especially if the economy has not also expanded.…”

Some Contemporary Problems and Issues Resulting from Educational Expansion in South East Asia

“…Instead of a gradual build up of students to an estimated 75,000 by the late 1970s the Thai authorities found themselves overwhelmed by the demand and by 1981 over 500,000 students were enrolled. Determined to stem the flow to this one university the government established a second open access university in 1982, but demand for places there has also been high [27]. The Philippines has resolved its dilemma of demand for higher education by encouraging the development of private institutions [28], but until or unless population growth can be curbed demographic problems are likely to overwhelm educational planners and are likely to curtail improvements in standards, quality and teacher training.…”

The Economics of Education in Asian‐Pacific Developing Countries

“…In Thailand, national plans throughout the 1970s and early 1980s conlinued to stress the development of education for economic growth (Watson 1981). Duringthe 1980s the government has been committcd to continuing educational expansion, not only to meet economic growth targets but also to meet equity objectives in rural regions remote from Bangkok (World Bank 1989).…”