THAI POLICY IN THE ASEAN CONTEXT THE OFFICE OF THE HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

Poon Kasemsap, Kasetsart University Mar 20, 2015

Academic forum and Public Policy Dialogue

On Higher Education for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in Thailand

Sustainable development

"development that meets the needs of the present

without compromising the ability of future

generations to meet their own needs."

From: Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report.

Brundtland Commission (1987). “Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development. United Nations.

It’s about doing more with less Sustainable intensification: more yield-less water,fertilizer, pesticides

What about: consuming more by less ?

Ecological footprint & Human Development Index

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_development

FAO hunger map

1990-92

2010-12

Prevalence of undernourishment in total population (%)

Global challenges in agriculture

Climate change: CO2 , temperature, water, …

And all possible consequences …

Loss of biodiversity

Globalization

Change in demands of biofuels:

Affect balance of ‘food’ + ‘feed’ + ‘fuel’

The financial and food price crises

Cold ‘war’ on exchange rates

Conflicts and wars

More …

The most critical success factor is ……

Higher education has to change

Change towards sustainable development begins

with the ‘human’ factor.

We need changes in higher education system

so that it could effectively and efficiently address

the massive needs in high quality human resources

required by the approaching challenges

Role of Universities …

Teaching

Research

Academic service

Capacity building

Create and develop

knowledge

Legislation

Policy making

Play a leading role

Influence

(… without authority)

Guidance

Others …

Traditional : What else

Global challenge

Ranking …

... are driving some universities to prioritize policies

and practices that help them rise in the rankings.

higher education a global ‘industry’

More challenges …

Back to ‘Role of University’

Know exactly :

o what do we really do ?

o for whom do we do it ?

o how do we excel ?

For whom do we do it …

Intellectual property… Private vs. Public property

nutrition security

For publication ..vs.. For people

Low hanging fruits …

What do we do … still, no change

explorebranson.com

Not just high quality human resources …

… we needs great leaders

How do we excel ?

Weighting (used in rankings) World Asia Subject Rankings

(Agriculture&Forestry)

Academic Reputation 40% 30% 50%

Employer Review 10% 10% 10%

Faculty Student 20% 20%

International Faculty 5% 2.5%

International Student 5% 2.5%

Citations per Faculty 20%

Citation per Paper 15% 20%

Paper per Faculty 15%

Inbound Student Exchange 2.5%

Outbound Exchange 2.5%

H-Index 20%

Different definition of ‘success’

In Higher Education and Capacity Building

Regional cooperation & Integration

Importance of education collaboration

Collaborations/networks have started to address global and regional challenges by pooling and rationalizing limited resources and leveraging on international partnerships to implement joint and collaborative research and education program.

increased mobility of staff, researchers and students pooling of human and other resources

improved resource mobilization

strengthened partnerships with both public and private partners

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Example of regional/global collaboration

Southeast Asian University Consortium for Graduate

Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources

(SEARCA currently serves as the UC secretariat)

Double degree and Food security research program

Future links to other ASEAN members

Food Security Center (funded by DAAD)

Horticulture Innovation Lab (funded by USAID)

Erasmus mundus & Erasmus plus programs

Benefits of cooperation & integration

in higher education

Improved quality of teaching, learning, research.

Deeper engagement with national, regional, and

global issues and stakeholders.

Better preparation of students as national and global

citizens and as productive members of the workforce.

Access for students to programs that are unavailable

or scarce in their home countries.

Enhanced opportunities for faculty improvement and,

through mobility, decreased risk of academic

‘inbreeding’.

Possibility to participate in regional/international

networks to conduct research on pressing issues at

home and abroad

and benefit from the expertise and perspectives of

researchers from many parts of the world.

Opportunity to situate institutional performance within

the context of international good practice.

Improved institutional policy-making, governance,

student services, outreach, and quality assurance

through sharing of experiences across national

borders.

Benefits of cooperation & integration

in higher education

Southeast Asia

ARD Higher education cooperation

Will help to promote:

Resilience:

learners vs. the learned

Equity:

across and within ASEAN member countries

Integration:

toward borderless ‘higher education system’

“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind,

too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise

most effectively have prevailed.”

Charles Darwin