Research budgets to be hacked
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Nine universities classified as research institutes will get less funding and experts are concerned that several projects might be brought to an early end and the quality of academic work will drop.
Chiang Mai University rector Prof Phongsak Angkasit said only Bt833 million had been earmarked for all nine universities for 2012 and that his institution had to find new sources of cash because it expected its budget to be cut by Bt100 million from last year’s Bt160 million.
The universities had initially asked for more than Bt2 billion in funding next year, but only Bt833 million had been approved.
Khon Kaen University rector Assoc Prof Kittichai Trairattanasirichai said his university had mobilised Bt150 million to make up for the loss in funding.
Both Phongsak and Kittichai said the country’s development would be hampered or even stopped if research funds kept dropping, and that Thailand would have to import technology from other countries.
Suranaree University of Technology rector, who is also chief of Council of University Presidents of Thailand, said he understood that the research budget had to be cut due to post-flood restoration efforts but warned the government to not keep cutting funds in coming years.
