It was realized in the last decade that one of the serious causes for the social and economic
weakness of
Thailand was the severe shortage of highly qualified human resources especially
in the field of
science
and technology. Thousands of Ph.D. graduates were needed for newly
established
universities and
to replace retiring professors. Lacking the necessary support, over
150 Ph.D. programs in Thai universities
at that time produced only 100 graduates per year.
Previous attempts to solve the problem by giving
scholarships
for studying abroad had been
hampered by the economic crisis in late 1990s. Hence,
the country was very much
in need of
a program to produce sufficient number of Ph.D. graduates at the
international standard.
The Royal Golden Jubilee Ph.d Program
In 1996, the Thailand Research Fund, a state research funding agency, in co-operation with
the Ministry of
University Affairs (now the Office of the Higher Education Commission) and
the National Science
and Technology
Development Agency, launched a program to counter
the problem mentioned above.
The government had agreed to support the 25-year project
which aims to produce 5,000 Ph.D. graduates
in the first 15 years. Because of its merit,
the project was also proclaimed one of the programs to commemorate
H.M.
the King's
Golden Jubilee year of reign.
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