On
August 29th, 2009, at Dusit
Thani Pattaya, Chonburi
Province, a signing ceremony
took place to launch the
National Research University
Development Initiative
between Dr. Sumate Yamnun,
Secretary-General of the
Office of Higher Education
Commission, and President
of nine leading universities.
Mr. Jurin Laksanawisit,
Minister of Education,
presided over the ceremony.
On this occasion, Clin.
Prof. Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn,
M.D., President of Mahidol
University attended the
signing ceremony. An
Agreement for the Ministry
of Education to carry out
the National Research University
Development Initiative
was approved following
the resolution of the cabinet
meeting on May 6th, 2009.
This project is a part
of the Stronger Thai 2012
Project (Economic Stimlus
Package 2) with an approximate
total budget of 12 billion
Baht. The aim is to promote
the leading universities
in Thailand to achieve
research in an international
excellence standard. The
National Research Universities
will act as the catalyst
leader in alleviating the
overall quality of Thai
Higher Education system
as well as will lead Thailand
to become ASEAN’s Education
Hub.
The
Office of Higher Education
Commission thus selected
the universities to take
part in the project. The
selection criteria were
as follows: 1) the university
belongs in the top 500
World Universities Ranking
in Times Higher Education
(THE-QS) ranking, 2) research
output is published in
Scopus, database of research
literature, both at the
university and discipline-specific
level, and 3) the ratio
of faculty with doctoral
degree is more than 40%
(if the criteria in No.1-3
is not met, the university
should have more than 100
publications per year in
Scopus in the past 5 years).
There were 9 universities
that met these criteria.
1. Mahidol University
2. Chulalongkorn University
3. Kasetsart University
4. Khon Kaen University
5. Chiang Mai University
6. Thammasat University
7. King Mongkut’s University
of Technology Thonburi
8. Suranaree University
of Technology
9. Prince of Songkla University
Expected
outcomes of this initiative:
1 The research universities
will rank higher in World
University Ranking (THE-QS)
2 The Higher Education
in Thailand is strengthened
and will lead Thailand
to become ASEAN’s Education
Hub.
3 The research output from
this initiative will benefit
Thailand, supporting and
propel further development
in industrial sector, promoting
export over import.
4 The Higher Education
in Thailand is clustered
into 4 groups with expert
faculties producing graduates
and research output in
accordance with the expectation
of each cluster.
5 The universities clearly
affect the country’s overall
competitiveness.
Post
Date : November 2,
2009
