Human capital development in Thailand: lesson learn from Singapore

Abstract

This paper examines Human Capital Development in Thailand with a focus on policy recommendations. I applied interdisciplinary approaches to craft strategies for Thailand. Using literature reviews as a main tool of information collection, I study education policy and reforms in Thailand and Singapore to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current situation in Thailand. By looking into Singapore’s success story, I summarize a few key points that Thailand can learn from Singapore. I additionally look at the current policy and make some revisions to it. I believe that going to college is very important for a country, therefore, I reviewed literature on why people go to college and also made policy suggestions based on it. First, SWOT/TOWS analysis, the government in Thailand should expand access to education in rural areas, utilize the government budget to provide alternative options (vocational school) to Thailand people, ensure that investment on education is efficient and used to strengthen the education system. Second, from looking at Singapore’s success story, I found that Thailand can emphasize on long-term policies, decentralize the education system, establish standardized curriculum, focus on STEM education and develop a good information collection system. Third, from analysing the current policies, I found that policies can be innovated and thought from the perspective of stakeholders and use “incentive” and “disincentive” to influence the behaviors of the group of stakeholders (students, parents, teachers and principals. Additionally, the government may consider changing the evaluation method and think about how to collect data systematically. Last but not least, from encouraging people to go to college perspective, government need to lower the cost and increase the benefit of advanced education. This can involve creating more high-paying college graduate level jobs, providing more scholarships and making student to access into the loan information more widespread. From my analysis and research, Thailand is not far from success. The reforms that happened in the past did bring some positive improvement. As a nation, Thailand is improving but at a slow pace compared to Singapore. With limited resources, it is important for the 3 government to prioritize what is most impactful and most cost-efficient. As a result, further research to identify the cost and benefits of the above recommended strategies are useful to understand this topic deeper.