​14 September 2013

Thailand’s new Education Minister, Chaturon Chaisang, has told the Australian Ambassador, HE Mr James Wise, that he wants to continue to collaborate with Australia in the areas of higher education reform, skills development, student mobility and English language learning. 
Minister Chaturon was appointed on 30 June 2013, as part of a major Cabinet reshuffle in the Thai Government. Minister Chaturon returns to the role of Education Minister after holding the position from August 2005 to September 2006.

The Australian Ambassador to Thailand recently met with Minister Chaturon to hear about the Minister’s priorities for education in Thailand and to discuss the Thai-Australia education relationship. Minister Chaturon’s key priority areas will be driving reform in Thailand’s higher education system, meeting the needs of Thai industry through skills development and improving English language learning for Thai students. These areas were supported by the Ambassador, who also noted that improving Australian student mobility to Thailand is a priority for the Australian Government.

Thailand will look to international partners to support reform in these areas. The Minister acknowledged that academic and research collaboration is an important driver of reform in higher education, and that he would continue to support partnerships with Australia in this area. As many of Thailand’s universities, particularly the nine research-intensive universities, have research strengths common to their Australian counterparts (eg engineering, tropical medicine and environmental science) there is scope for increased research collaboration.

Thailand is focussed on developing occupational and professional standards for their vocational education and training sector, partly in preparation for greater labour market mobility brought about by the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economic community (AEC) in 2015. Minister Chaturon would like this reform accelerated, and sees Australia as an important international partner.

The Minister is happy to support the Australian Government priority to have more Australian students come and study in Thailand, and agrees that Thailand has much to offer in this regard, including high quality universities that offer a range of courses in English, and a positive student environment.
Minister Chaturon wants to improve the way English language is learnt in Thailand, and sees English language capacity as crucial to Thailand’s place in the AEC and to Thailand participating globally. 

For further information on Thai Government Education Policies or the Thai Australia Education relationship, please contact Jen Tyrell from AEI Bangkok (jen.tyrell@dfat.gov.au).

 

Australian Ambassador to Thailand, HE Mr James Wise, calls on the new Thai Education Minister, Chaturon Chaisang.