High-school student Piriyakorn Kornpitack was certain he made the right decision when he applied for the science programme at one of the country’s most prestigious secondary schools.
His father owns an information technology company and wanted his son to become an engineer.
“I didn’t know what I would do after graduating. All I knew was that I had to get into engineering,” said Mr Piriyakorn, now 20. “After all, you have to be smart to be able to study [in this field].”
But physics proved too tough for Mr Piriyakorn after a year of studying aerospace engineering at Kasetsart University.
“And I couldn’t paint a clear picture of myself after graduating. That was when I thought finance would be more useful for me,” said Mr Piriyakorn, who is now majoring in finance at Thammasat University.
Mr Piriyakorn is not alone. The latest figures released by the Office of the Higher Education Commission show only 39% of high-school graduates choose to further their studies in science-related fields, while the rest pursued a social science.
Among those who graduate from university, only 20% are science majors.
The figures have raised concerns from the National Science Technology and Innovation Policy Office (STI) about a labour shortage.
“Students just don’t find jobs in the science sector very attractive, and some of them have no idea about their job opportunities,” said STI deputy director general Kitipong Promwong. “In terms of [Thailand’s] competitiveness, this will be a problem.”
More interesting is that 38% of science graduates find jobs in other fields, and out of that figure, 25% of them choose to work in the entertainment and marketing sectors.
“While singers, models, actors and actresses are heavily promoted in the media, scientists are not mentioned much although they are in high demand,” said Mr Kitipong.
The STI is working on a regulation that allows recipients of scholarships under the Science and Technology Ministry to work for the private sector for two years. The move will be a break from the old tradition that prohibits recipients to work in the private sector prior to working for the government for several years.
The aim is to raise the competitiveness of businesses, as only 30% of Thailand’s 80,000 researchers work for the private sector. Some 60,000 researchers are in universities, while another 6,000 are in the public sector.
“This will help ease the shortage to a certain degree until we come up with a successful way to reform the education system,” said Mr Kitipong.
A total of 3,765 students received scholarships from the Science and Technology Ministry from 1990-2012, of which 2,193 already finished their studies. Most are studying biotechnology and environment, materials technology and energy as well as electronics.
Companies are free to provide the candidates with extra money on top of their existing wages at government offices.
STI figures indicate that a PhD graduate with experience of up to four years earns an average of 40,000 baht working at government research institutes or universities, but the amount goes up to 66,000 baht for large companies.
“We will submit this proposal to the cabinet as soon as a new government is set up,” Mr Kitipong told the Bangkok Post. Some universities have already issued regulations for professors, and the STI will help provide funds for the replacement of those on leave.
The STI is also promoting work-integrated learning, where students learn practical skills in factories once or twice a week for undergraduates, and one year for those having a master’s degree.
With statistics showing low and declining student interest in science and technology, the STI recently partnered with the US National Science Foundation to raise the quality of Thai education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“Our education system has been largely based on rote-learning, and we need to change that to promote critical thinking,” said Mr Kitipong.
Regarding science, technology and innovation, Germany is well known for high linkage between universities and industries. Companies such as Henkel, one of the biggest makers of chemical products, use internship programmes as its second most important channel for recruitment.
“And we don’t ask them to set up the coffee machine but instead have them set up their own projects,” said Simone Siebeke, Henkel’s corporate vice-president of human resources.
In Germany, it is very common for students to take a semester off to gain practical experience, a lot of times voluntarily. Henkel estimates that 80% of business students do internships and they use it as a first step into a company.
The company approaches selective MBA schools to give presentations and career talks, focusing on those from emerging countries.
It accepts 1,500 internships a year for three- to six-month courses, and around 40% of recruits are ex-interns.
Its innovation challenge, which was set up seven years ago for employer branding and recruitment, has allowed students to create an idea for an innovative and sustainable product or technology for a Henkel brand in 2050. The company has hired 130 people so far from this initiative.
Each of its three core divisions has a research and development (R&D) department, and its adhesive business has a high need of chemists and engineers.
Martin Andree, corporate vice-president of beauty care, said 3,000 new products are introduced to the market every year, and 60-65% of its innovations are in conjunction with universities and institutes.
On the positive side, Thailand’s R&D investments by the private sector doubled in 2011 from 2010, totalling 21 billion baht. The private sector accounted for 51% of total R&D investment and the STI is targeting for the figure to rise to 70% by 2016.
As the Asean Economic Community draws near, STI secretary-general Pichet Durongkaveroj urges Asean countries to collaborate more to develop researchers and think beyond protecting local researchers.
“The researchers you see in many companies are usually not the hardcore types that do R&D for new products. Instead, they are often required to perform standards-testing tasks,” he said.
Viroj NaRanong, a research director at the Thailand Development Research Institute, said the private sector’s consistent lobbying for more supply of vocational students is not sufficient, noting that many students bypass vocational studies simply because of the expected low pay.
“What you are likely to get are students who are unable to compete in non-vocational education,” said Mr Viroj. “If these employers really want to have a substantial increase in the supply of good quality vocational students, they must be willing to pay good salaries and not just expect to get a stream of good and cheap labour.”