In the book – the Asia Foundation author, Lao – offers a critical examination of contemporary higher education reforms in Thailand situated in the broader historical, socio-economic and political changes (analyse major reforms in Thailand for the past one hundred years). It is argued that historical legacy, policy contexts and belief systems of policy elites play pivotal roles in facilitating policy changes or the lack thereof.
While historical analysis elucidates that the Thai state has always been an active borrower of western ideas, the perseverance of the ‘Thai-ness’ discourse has often been used to suggest its so-called independence and idiosyncrasy. This in-depth analysis of the Thai case aims to contribute to the critical studies in Asian education, comparative higher education, policy borrowing and lending and Thai studies.
This book will appeal to researchers in Education, particularly to scholars studying educational policies within the context of tertiary education. It will also interest scholars specialising in Asian and South-east Asian Studies.