277Trends in Higher Education Research in Thailand
Interestingly, while programmes and courses offered in Higher Education as a sepa-
rate discipline can be considered as fewer than any other type of educational pro-
gramme, research in Higher Education is fairly abundant. The types of research are
varied, ranging from graduation thesis, individual research by scholars in the field
and research commissioned by leading funding agencies such as the Thailand
Research Fund (TRF) and the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT).
Some of the research in Higher Education is also directly funded for specific pur-
poses, such as to find best practices in Higher Education Management or with the
aim for capacity building of HEIs through governmental agencies (for instance, the
Office of Higher Education Commission, Thailand (OHEC), and the Office of the
National Education Commission, Thailand (ONEC). Therefore, it could be asserted
that Higher Education research is an area of interest along with other education-
related research in Thailand.
The compilation of approximately 1500 research items in Higher Education
between 1995 and 2015 through the database of leading HEIs, the TRF and NRCT
both in book form and in a research report, shows that areas of research interests
relating to the Higher Education sector in Thailand can be divided into many subar-
eas.^10 The data were collected through the data available in the library and institu-
tions’ websites of the above-mentioned research institutes and HEIs. The data were
sorted in groups by dividing into subareas of Higher Education research including
Theory and Policy in Higher Education, Higher Education Governance and
Management, Comparative Higher Education Policy, Human Resource Development
in Higher Education, Higher Education Reforms and Course and Curriculum
Development in Higher Education.
The first area of research, Theory and Policy in Higher Education, focuses on the
issue of the philosophy of Thai Higher Education in different time periods. Such
research keeps track of the philosophical development of Thai Higher Education
using different techniques. These different techniques include the historical
approach, case studies and also the critical approach in discussing theoretical and
philosophical premises of Thai Higher Education. Examples of such research can be
seen through the titles of works such as “Postmodernism and Higher Education”,
“King Rama the IX’s Higher Education Philosophy”, “Critiques of Thai Higher
Education” and “The New Paradigm of Thai Higher Education” (Prachyapruit 2011 ;
Ruanglertboon 2003 ; Sinlarat 1999 , 2003 , 2005 ). Examples of case studies, particu-
larly those addressing contemporary issues of higher education, can also be found in
issues such as the impact of GATS and the liberalisation of Higher Education ser-
vice, the globalisation of Thai Higher Education or the implication of decentralisa-
(^10) From around 1500 research items collected, theories and policy in Higher Education consists of
21 items, Higher Education Governance and Management consists of 334 items, Comparative
Higher Education Policy consists of 15 items, Higher Education Development consists of 96 items,
Higher Education Reform consists of 11 items, Teaching and Learning and Curriculum
Development consists of 289 items and other miscellaneous issues consist of 135 items.
15 Higher Education Research in Thailand: Current Trends and Development