Thailand’s Higher Education under ASEAN Economic Community

Abstract

There are encouraging evidences suggested that education liberalization is an important element
supporting the development progress of higher education system in developing economies and
help mitigate some of the existing obstacles. To better position the country for the benefits of
education liberalization under ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by advancing higher
education system, the study identifies some of the necessary conditions as follows; 1) Limit or
adjust domestic education subsidy measures such that it guarantees competition in the market.
Shift the government toward more regulatory duties and more facilitating roles to create level
playing field in the higher education service industry both on the demand and supply side. 2)
Adequate and accurate information related to higher education are important as the service
sector become more and more liberalize. Providing an appropriate set of information helps
enhance competition in the market and thus, greater benefits of skill development via
educational process can be realized. 3) Supporting and facilitating research and development
activities especially international collaboration programs which are an important capability
building process to further improvement of higher education quality not only for the country but
also for ASEAN as a region.