The Higher Education Policy Board highlights five key areas to transform the country. Yossanan promotes strategies for talent development through the innovation-driven Sandbox model, supports Talent Mobility, strengthens private sector partnerships, and advances the plan to train 22,200 additional doctors.
On 24 Jun 2026 GMT+7, at the Secretariat of the Cabinet, Government House, Professor Dr. Yossanan Wongsawat, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, chaired the National Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Policy Council meeting. The session was attended by senior ministers from relevant ministries and distinguished experts.
After the meeting, Professor Dr. Yossanan revealed that the council approved key agendas to transform the nation, starting with accelerating the development of highly skilled personnel through educational innovation, upgrading the public health system, addressing spatial poverty issues, and laying the technological foundations for the future. These will serve as crucial mechanisms to enhance Thailand's long-term competitiveness.
Regarding accelerating human capital development, Dr. Yossanan shared successes in introducing new programs to prepare for future careers through progressive education (Higher Education Sandbox), a mechanism that breaks traditional educational frameworks. Currently, 24 programs have been approved, aiming to produce over 26,620 highly skilled graduates. A clear example is Chulalongkorn University's Computer Engineering and Digital Technology program, which emphasizes in-depth learning and real internships with over 200 businesses starting from the first year. Results show that 80% of first-year students perform as well as or better than third-year students in regular programs, helping students understand their strengths and limitations for future growth. Other programs responding to future industry needs include emergency medical services, semiconductor engineering, microelectronics design, AI engineering, cybersecurity, and rail system engineering. The Ministry of Higher Education will especially focus on developing talent for the semiconductor industry, viewed as a new economic engine for the country.
Alongside graduate production, the council endorsed the Talent Mobility measure to enable top university researchers and faculty to strengthen the private sector. This allows researchers and professors to work in private companies while still accruing full civil service seniority and benefits. A key incentive is that time spent in private sector roles counts toward scholarship obligations and that collaborative work with private firms can be credited for academic promotion. Initially, this will target BCG industry groups and large enterprises. The core objective is to transfer university knowledge directly to businesses, enabling SMEs and industries to elevate products and shift Thai business competition from price-based to innovation-driven.
On the public health system front, the council approved the second phase of Thailand's plan to increase doctor production to address an aging society and ensure equitable healthcare access. The goal is to train an additional 22,200 doctors over 10 years through cooperation among 22 medical schools. The target is to reduce the doctor-to-population ratio from 1:922 to 1:650 by 2037, resulting in over 97,763 doctors nationwide. This will enable faster and broader access to health services, especially in underserved areas.
Regarding quality of life enhancement, the council approved a spatial poverty eradication and social upliftment plan covering five dimensions: economic status, living conditions, health, education, and social protection. Universities will serve as centers to address local issues, with plans to expand to 20 model provinces to ensure precise assistance reaches communities. To date, the project has identified over 1.24 million impoverished individuals, enrolled more than 385,000 into welfare systems, and developed 458 poverty reduction models using research and innovation. Economically, the plan aims to increase unicorn startups from 3 to 7 companies, boost SME innovation-based revenues to 75 billion baht, and promote smart farming to triple farmer household incomes from 236,000 to 600,000 baht annually.
Additionally, the council approved the national quantum economy strategy based on four pillars: promoting industrial technology, enhancing cybersecurity, establishing personnel development centers, and expanding quantum hardware production. Professor Dr. Yossanan stated, "Quantum is a viable future technology. If we dare to change our mindset, even though there is no clear winner in the current technology war, we will focus on applying quantum to add value in industries where we have strengths rather than competing to build quantum computers directly."
Furthermore, the council designated advanced artificial intelligence (AI) as a national urgent agenda, aiming to elevate Thailand from merely an "AI user" to an "AI developer and innovator" to establish AI sovereignty. Preparations include developing personnel, data infrastructure, and GPU capacity, with the goal of positioning Thailand as the ASEAN regional leader in medical and biological AI in the future.