Bridging the Gap: Thai Graduates Need Adaptability, Not Just AI Skills

 

Government and industry leaders say co-designed curricula, hands-on learning and human skills are key as AI cuts jobs per baht invested.

 

Thailand cannot keep pace with technology by redesigning courses one skill at a time. It must produce graduates who can adapt, think critically and keep learning, senior officials and business leaders told Nation Forum 2027: Thailand's Agenda, held by the Nation Group on Tuesday, 20 October 2026.

 

Held by the Nation Group, the fourth panel, "Talent Evolution: Bridge the Gap", opened with warnings from the recent IMF–World Bank meetings that as many as 800 million people worldwide could struggle to find work as AI reshapes labour markets.

 

 

Education: soft skills first

Prof. Dr Supachai Pathumnakul, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI), acknowledged that the ministry is often blamed for producing graduates who do not match market needs.

 

A four-year curriculum, he said, can hardly keep up with technology that changes within a year.

 

He argued that specific technical skills are too difficult to plan for and that universities should prioritise two soft skills: adaptability to change and a growth mindset, including entrepreneurial thinking.

 

These cannot be built in lecture halls alone, he said, but through experiential learning such as internships, projects and problem-based study.

 

Of Thailand's roughly 10,000 university programmes, about 30–40 per cent were experiential in a survey two years ago, he said. The share is now about half, and the ministry wants it to approach 100 per cent.

 

 

 

Supachai said the ministry has scrapped the minimum and maximum study periods for bachelor's degrees, allowing universities to offer three-year or even two-year programmes provided credit and learning outcomes are met.

 

Students may also earn general-education credits through online courses from companies such as Microsoft and from the stock market's education arm.

 

He also highlighted Thailand's imbalance between STEM and non-STEM graduates. Developed countries typically have about 60 per cent in STEM, whereas Thailand has the reverse, and two decades of efforts have failed to shift it.

 

His answer is to top up non-STEM students with AI and digital skills, arguing that their creativity could create greater value once equipped with such tools.

 

 

Industry: fewer jobs, higher skills

Kriengkrai Thiennukul, honorary chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said technology was moving faster than industry could absorb, with traditional sectors being disrupted and labour-intensive manufacturing, once Thailand's strength, in decline.

 

He cited Board of Investment (BOI) figures showing applications of 1.47 trillion baht in the first half of 2026, a record, with digital businesses and data centres accounting for 1.115 trillion baht, or about 76 per cent.

 

Yet data centres employ only about five people for every billion baht invested, against 400–500 in older industries. Electric vehicles create 300–400 jobs, and printed circuit boards about 200. Approvals in 2025 totalled 1.3 trillion baht but only 82,000 jobs.

 

"We lack both people and the right skills," he said, noting that Thailand's working-age population is shrinking.

 

 

 

He described a visit to a Chinese "dark factory" run almost entirely by robots, working around the clock without lights, and suggested humanoid robots would be the next disruption.

 

Kriengkrai said short-term training offers only a painkiller. The real cure is restructuring industry and human capital. He called for government, industry and academia to draw up a "talent intelligence" roadmap setting out the numbers and types of workers needed over three to five years, then co-design curricula and co-teach.

 

Employers, he said, should host students in factories, as in Germany, because college machinery is often outdated, and offer contracts to those who qualify. He said an AI for Manufacturing project with MHESI, covering 25 industries, cut costs by about 30 per cent on average.

 

He urged Thailand to prioritise "appropriate" AI over cutting-edge systems, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which make up 99.5 per cent of businesses and nearly 70 per cent of jobs but contribute only 35.5 per cent of GDP. SME closures rose 11 per cent in the first half, he said.

 

Both men stressed vocational education. Supachai said the electronics association THPCA had told the ministry it needs around 100,000 workers, mostly vocational graduates.

 

MHESI plans training centres for printed circuit boards at about ten strong vocational colleges, with train-the-trainer programmes and reskilling for existing workers. Kriengkrai said AI had restored the value of hands-on skills.

 

 

Corporate view: redesign work, keep people

An earlier session, "The Foundation Reset", gave the employers' perspective. Vathit Chokwatana, President and Executive Director of Saha Pathanapibul PCL, said AI and the generation gap complement each other.

 

AI allows more work with fewer people, even as fewer young people enter the workforce. Resistance to AI at the group is low, he said, mainly because staff fear appearing outdated.

 

He addressed employees in January 2023 and keeps his language simple. He admits turning to younger colleagues to decode jargon such as MCP, and wants every department to have an AI agent.

 

 

Vathit recalled his grandfather's maxim that more people bring more fortune and said AI has no loyalty or sense of ownership. He said the company, which is 85 years old, invests in education from primary school for the country's sake and does not plan to cut staff.

 

If layoffs were ever needed, he said, it would mean he had failed to grow the business enough. AI is moving from describing to predicting to prescribing, he said, so people still need enough knowledge to challenge it. His most vital skill is entrepreneurship and ownership.

 

Siriwat Vongjarukorn, Co-Founder and President of MFEC PCL, divides staff into three groups: those immersed in AI, those keeping pace and those left behind.

 

At MFEC more than half fall into the third group, he said. He argued that AI is not about cutting costs but creating value, letting firms deliver quality, speed and low cost together.

 

 

Simply buying tools or training is not enough, he said: companies must redesign jobs, processes and workflows, and "work through AI". He gave two examples: a graduate who plans to run five AI agents as a virtual team and a customer project that took seven people four months but was repeated by two people in a month with identical results.

 

Setting a 300 per cent growth target, he suggested, forces more radical rethinking than 30 per cent. He warned that within 24 months, young competitors could match established firms at half the cost.

 

Companies should hire for thinking, not knowing, he said, and the first AI-native graduates could drive change. His key skill is curiosity.

 

 

Talent ecosystem

Dr Teerapon Tanomsakyut, Chief of Sustainability and Strategic Development Officer at Charoen Pokphand Group, said AI will not simply replace workers. Repetitive tasks will go, some jobs will be transformed, and new work will emerge.

 

CP, he said, uses project-based "centres of excellence", cross-functional teams that operate like start-ups and reveal real leaders. Thailand has brilliant young people, he said, who win robotics and physics Olympiads but lack platforms and so leave for jobs abroad.

 

He urged building an ecosystem that draws talent, including foreigners, to Thailand so the country becomes a creator rather than merely a user of technology. Science graduates, he said, should be well paid enough to choose science over business administration.

 

Supachai added that progress requires government, universities, business and communities to act together.