Publication Code: S4
The S&T Manpower Situation in Thailand: An Analysis of Supply and Demand Issues
by Kopr Kritayakirana, Peter Brimble et al.
The basic objective of the present study is to provide information on the S&T manpower situation in Thailand, especially in the areas of biotechnology, electronics technology, and materials technology, and materials technology, that will help the STDB to prepare itself to assist the Royal Thai Government in identifying strategies and policies that will lead to the rapid growth of Thailand's technological capability in these and related areas.
In order to achieve this goal, the study:
| (a) | surveys the existing information on
S&T manpower in Thailand and identifies the major users of such manpower in both the
public and private sectors where possible;
|
| (b) | conducts a field survey covering
private sector firms in targeted industries that are expected to play an increasing role
in Thailand's technological development and intensively use one of the three technology
areas of interest to the STDB;
|
| (c) | carries out an international comparison
of Thailand's S&T manpower situation;
|
| (d) | presents a detailed and comprehensive
profile of production of S&T manpower in Thailand at all levels of education for the
ten year period 1976/77 to 1985/86;
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| (e) | undertakes projections to the year 2001
of supply and demand for S&T manpower using the detailed historical S&T manpower
production data, and a manpower requirements approach for selected scenarios of economic
development. It should be emphasized that, for the remainder of the paper, the term
"supply" will be used to represent the production capacity of S&T
educational institutes and the term "demand" to reflect the S&T manpower
requirements as derived from manpower demand projections. This usage is consistent with
the standard literature on manpower planning (see Godfrey (1985));
|
| (f) | provides observations and recommendations on a wide range issues related to S&T manpower planning in STDB's priority areas based on the analysis of the demand and supply projections and other relevant materials. |
The study is structured as follows:
Section 2 provides a brief overview of the general employment situation and considers in detail a number of previous studies that have been carried out with regard to S&T manpower in Thailand. This data is complemented with a discussion of an original survey of firms in the biotechnology, materials technology, and electronics industries as well as an international comparison of Thailand's S&T manpower situation. The major issues concerning S&T manpower development in Thailand are then summarized.
Section 3 and 4 present analyses of the present and future supply and demand for S&T manpower in the three technology areas of interest to the STDB as well as related engineering and basic science fields. In both cases, the data, the projection methodology, the assumptions, and the limitations are discussed prior to presenting the supply and demand projections.
Section 5 draws together the results from sections 3 and 4, comparing the supply and demand projections in order to identify trends and areas that may need attention. Finally, the implications of the study both for the STDB as well as for further research are discussed.
April 1988