ABSTRACT
During the past hundred years, the Thai system has undergone various reform efforts to expand and to improve the quality of its higher education. For the first fifty years, it was known as being elitist: with limited seats available only for the children of the well-to-do in Bangkok and regional hubs. Since the 1970s, the system has expanded rapidly with diversified institutions. At present, there are 171 higher education institutions around the country serving more than 2 million students. Thai higher education is not immune to global, regional, or national socio-economic and political development. Along the way, the Thai state has not only struggled to expand access, but it has also grappled with ways to maintain the quality of higher education and appropriate ways to manage the ever-expanding and diversifying system. This book has addressed multiple global policy issues such as privatization of higher education, internationalization of teaching and research, as well as the emergence of a quality policy, which have been important facets of the development of the system.
