Education & Health

Selected headline numbers generated by the Thai education sector have been encouraging. The country has a high rate of literacy, an increasing number of top-rated universities, long school-life expectancy, a strong history of education and a large education budget. Globally and regionally, it compares well by these measures. The country also has ambitions to become a major educational centre, undertaking cutting edge research and attracting students from ASEAN and beyond. Meanwhile, Thailand delivers health care effectively, fairly and at a relatively low cost. Its Universal Coverage Scheme, together with two other national programmes provide good basic benefits to all Thais, and now to most residents of the county. Because of its success Thailand is sometimes regarded as a health care model in the developing world. This chapter contains interviews with Teerakiat Jareonsettasin, Minister of Education; Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, President, Asian Institute of Technology; Dipak Jain, Former Director, Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration; and Virapatna Thakolsri, Managing Director, Biopharm Chemicals.