Hitotsubashi University Repository

TitleTHE RESEARCH SURVEY OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE

EMPLOYMENT SITUATION OF THAI UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Author(s) Vichai, Peinnukochon

Citation 一橋研究, 4(2): 119-137

Issue Date 1979-09-30

Type Departmental Bulletin Paper

Text Version publisher

URL http://doi.org/10.15057/6393

Right

119

THE RESEARCH SURVEY OF CONSCIOUSNESS ANDTHE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION

OF THAI UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

VICHAI PEIiNNUKOCHON

1. Introduction

Though the higher education systems in Asia, have shown

steady developments throughout the postwar period, the concern on

the employment situation of the graduates in increasing among

academics and policymakers responsible for educational and labor

policies.

In March of 1978 the stpdy of the employment situation of

Thai students, composed of Mr. Ikuo Arai(Professor of Tokyo Insti-

tute of Technology), Mr. Yokuo Murata (Researcher of National

Institute for Educational Research) and I conducted its preliminary

tasks, the collection of available documents and information and

making a questionnaire survey of employment consciousness of Thai

University students.`*'

Through the collection of information, the team found that the

Office of University Affairs conducted an annual survey of the em-

ployment situation of national university graduates since the 1973

(*) This survey is a part of "'A Comparative Study on the Employment Structure of College Graduates in Asia••••••Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan

and Thailand." The Study is supported by the Toyota Foundation.

120 -keERve ag4igag2gacademic year.

Our questionnaire survey of Thai university students was

carried out in five universities ef different types: Chulalongkorn Uni-

versity, Thammasat University, Kasetsart University, Ramkamhaeng

University and the College of Commerce (Praivate College).

In this article, I summarize the results of both the surveys of

The Office of University Affairs in Thailand and our team.

II. The Employrnent Situation of Thai National University

Graduates

Since the 1973 academic year The Office of University Affairs

in Thailand began to conduct a survey of the employment situation

of Thai national university graduates. The survey report of the Office

in 1973 explained the reason for having made the survey as follows:

For a few years before 1973 many people had worried about the

employment situation of university graduates at the undergraduate

level, becase the number of the graduates who could not be employ-

ed had increased rapidly since 1970. Moreover in some faculties the

number of students surpassed the rnanpower demand in public and

private employment fields. Accordingly, the Thai government wanted

to decrease the number of university graduates in order to comply

with the social and economic conditions of the country. In doing so

the government expected that the budget necessary for educating

university students and the unemployment of university graduates

would also be decreased. However, the government had not made any

decision on this matter because it had not gotten any objective data

concerning the employment situation of university graduates. The

main purpose of the survey was to obtain such accurate data.

The matters surveyed by the Office covered mainly the number

121

of university graduates employed and not-employed, the period of seek-

ing jobs, the place of employment, and the graduates' condition after

employment.

The employment survey for university graduates was conduct-

ed in the following way. In Thailand a graduation ceremeny is held

several months after students graduate from university. On the oc-

casion of the ceremony graduates receive their diploma or degree

directly from the King who attends it. On that ceremony day the

questionnaires of the survey were received and answered by the

graduates. For those graduates who answered they were not yet em-

ployed at that time, the questionnaires were went to them again by

mail one year late to be answered and returned to the Office by mail.

In the following paragraphs I will explain the main resu!ts of

the survey in 1974.

According to Table I-1, in 1974 the number of all the graduates

of national universities was 18,428 and that of those who answered

the questionnaires was 12,393, 67.3% of all the graduates. Among

these who answered, the number of the graduates who were employ-

ed was 9,462, 76.3% and that of those who were not employed was

2,391, 23.7 %.

The percentage of the graduates who were employed was high

in the King Monguts' Institute of Technology, 94.3%, Srinakarinwirot

University (Education), 86.6%, and Mahidon University (Medicine),

84.5%, All of these three universities aim to train professional per-

sons, such as technicians, engineers, teachers, doctors and nurses. On

the other hand it was low in Ramkamgaeng University. only 52.8%,

Chiangmal University, 68.9% and Prince of Songkla University, 73.3

%. Ramkamgaeng University is a newly opened one and the other two

are local ones. In the old traditional universities like Chulalongkorn,

TABLEI-1) Efuployment Situation of Univesity Graduates, 1974

No.ofGraduates

University

No.of

Graduates

1-No.ofTheGraduatesINeEmployedF,No'No.ofthe

Grad.whoAnswered

%ofthe

Grad.whoAnswered Boy

iGirilTotaiiE%.OpfioTyheedlBoyl

Chulalongkorn Univ. i:

l2. 779 1. 941 69. 9

1

73ol 1780' 1. 510l

:.i

77. 8

of The GraduatesNot-Employed ' II Gifi .l Totai ll.N%,,O.f.E'.h,e.1

Kasetsart Univ. i1. 374 i 898 65. 4

ii

,460

KhonkaenUniv. 405 362 89. 4ll 182

202 662l

Chiangmai Univ.

ThammasatUniv.

Mahidol U niv.

RamkamhaengUniv.

Silpakorm Univ.

SrinakharinwirotUniv. •Prince ofUniv. of

SongklaTechnology

King Mongut's Institute

Total

1. 521

1. 929

683

2. 167

573

6. 250

372

357

18. 428

1. 472 96. 8

1. 092 56. 6

355 52. 0

1. 735 80. 1

397 69. 3

3. 788 60. 6

71 19. 1

282 75. 2

12. 393 67. 3

10gi 291

514 501 1. 015

410 420

106 194

536

148

1. 733

381

191

1. 547

830

300

43

256

5. 118

917

339

3. 280

9

10

52

4. 344

266

9.462

73. 7

80. 4

68. 9

76. 0

84. 5

52. 8

85. 4

86. 6

73. 3

94. 3

76. 3

169,/

p262'

136i 100•

41

193

83

15

413

23

247

18

16

1. 354

30

264-- 179

40

405

35

261

1

1. 577

131

236

71

457

262

55

818

58

508

19

16

2. 931

22. 2

26. 3

19. 6

31. 1

24. 0

15. 5

47. 2

14. 6

13. 4

26. 7

5. 7

23. 7

SOURCES: The The

SurueyOffice

Results of The Employmentof University Affairs, 1974.

Situation of National University. Graduates in Thailand, by

NNtx)

1pm

>ii}

zzptallR

ss

Ncu

123

TABLE I-2) Employment of Uniyersity Graduates by Field of Study, 1974

Field of Study

/

11

1

The Employed i The Not-Employed

No.1: % L No. I %

iI Total::

AgricultureP 1

493 1 l

i71.5 l

:166 I l

28.5 I L

689

Lawt

570'I 58. 8

Medicine

Human Science

t701 i i

91. 6

I4s6 I• 61.2

/

1

1399 [ l/

]141.2 t l

969

Art

Natural Science

i64 i

E8.4 l 1

765

308!

I38.8 l 794

184 I 1

i80.8 l l

l l20 l

l/291 1 i'

ss.o l l

238

Engineeringl'

l6g3 1 •[

184.7 1 125

Ilg.2 I i'

104

: i•45.0 j 529

Education1

Social Science

4. 536 84. 6

15. 3 1

1. 608

Totali

9. 462

l 823 l 15. 4

818

5. 359

]68.0 1 1

1758 1

l32.0 i 2.366 1

!76. 3

lI 2• 931

i

l23.7 1 2.393 i

SOURCES: The Office of University Affairs ; 1974

Kasetsart and Thammasat University the employment percentage

was almost the average.

Examining this employment situation by field study of students,

the percentage of employment in Medicine, Engineering and Educa-

tion was high, over 80%, and that in Natural Science, Law, Human

Science, and Science was low, under 70%, as seen in Table I-2. In

other words the fields which our team surveyed, Law, Economics,

and Commerce, belonged to the ones of low percentage.

The reasons for not being employed are divided into three cate-

124 -keMza ag4igng2ggories:no job, no desire for employment and further study (Table

I-2). The average percentage of the graduates not employed was

70.6%, 2.2%, and 27.2% respectively in each category. It is note-

worthy that the percentage of those desiring further study was con-

siderably high, particularly in Mahidon University (61.8%), Chulalo-

ngkorn University (53.6%), and kastsart University (43.2%).

As for the places of employment (Figure I), in Mahidon Univer-

sity and Srinakarinwirot University (68.7% and 78.6%) most of the

graduates chose the national institution. This is caused by the fact

that most of the doctors and teachers which those universities, aim

ro train are employed as civil servants in national institutions.

It is very interesting that the graduates of Chulalongkorn Uni-

versity and Thammasat University, which have been traditionally

famous as the institutions training high-rank government officials,

desired to be employed in more private firms. The cause of this

tendency will be investigated later.

III. University Students' Consciousness

Of some of the Thai students whose employment situation is

becoming difficult as seen in part II, the team asked their views on

university education and employment through questionnaire. The re-

sults of the survey are shown in the Tables of II.

The questionnaire survey extended to the faculties of Eco-•

nomics, Commerce and Law in five universities. The number of

students surveyed was 224 in all as shown in Table II-1. The results

of the survey show that the students in each university had generally

rather similar views.

125

Figure-1) EmploymentSituaticn of University Graduates

Chulalongkorn (N:941)

Univ.

Kasetsart Univ. (N:898)

Khonkaen Univ. (N:362)

Chiangmai Univ. (N:1472)

Thammasat Univ. (N:1092)

Mahidon Univ.(N:3550)

Ramkamhaeng U (N:2167)

Silpakorn Univ. (N:573)

niv.

Srinakharinwirot (N:3788)

Univ.

Goverment

Emp]oymentNotbeingIernployed'vegt*irs.1

U.

3% 3L59X 9.4 12.89o

tLir

' L

,

'

46. 1 9o 27.6 14. 5 11. 8

' .N N

xx

Nx

58.3 22,1 13.9 4.7i

-t i"1--xt/44.724.2 22.7 8.4

36. 8

-

39. 2

KN

x xx x

17.1

'

t

'

,

t

6,9

s..

68.7 15,8 5,9 9. 6

- .-JJ 1--

29.2 23.6 36.1 11. 1

------L L .-ulL'-. .. . .t L. -- -.

'sxx

63.5 21.9 11.6

-N ss ssL3.N

78.0 8. 6 12.4

-) ' -- -.'' ' 1, o

Prince of Songkla U (N:71)

niv. 35, 2 38. 1 12,7 140

s H

King Mongut's(N:282)

InstituteH

Total

-N51.4 42.9

'

:i.r./1...I 1. o

52.5 23. 8 15,3 8,4

*

*

U : unemploymentS : furture study.

whohas not job and deire for employment.

126

TABLE (II). TIIE

COHSCIONSEESS

TABLE II-1) (Faculties of

x-L ..-MH.-- >----University

Students.. .. t.

-kaEnP)tuit cr.4,kee2e

RESULTS 0F THE SURVEY OF EMPLOYMENTOF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS; March. 1978

Number of University Students Suryeyed

Law, Ecenornics, and Commerce)

IiChulalongkorn Univ.

Boy

ll

11

Thammasat Univ.

Kasetsart Univ.

Ramkamhaeng Univ.

17

37

19

26

Girl

25

24

23

College of CommerceIIi'

10

Total

tl

110

32

114

Total

36

41

60

29

58

224

III-1) Students' Viewpoint on University Education

As the motive for entering university, students indicated more

frequently the items "To get knowledge and skill" and "To get good

employment" than the items "To obtain degree", "To enjoy student

life", and "Not to be employed after graduating senior high school"

(Table II-2).

Then, what factors were considered to be important in order

to obtain good employment ? Among several factors, individual factors

like "Ability" and "Individuality" were highly voiced as important

ones in every university. After that there came the factors "Degree",

"Field of study" and "Examination for employmenV', which are di--

rectly related to univetsity education, and Personal connections",

while the factors such as "Name of university", "Club activities" and

"Status of parents" were not considered to to be important by

TABLE II-2) Motive to Enter Uniyersity

x '

University

Motive

Å~

'

ll1d1

To 'ObtainDegree

M %ChulalongkornUniv. 3 9.7

To Get GoodEmployment

lF

1

To GetKnowledgeand Skill

FTo EnjoyStudent Life

1

M]

%:

1

MI % Nor

['

%!

Not to be,Employedafter SeniorHigh School l

1

Total

Nor

:13 41. 9

iI 13

141.9

l

21 6.5 o

%'

o.o

M %

ThamrnasatUniv. o o.o i15 44.2so•oli

1 2.9

Kasetsart Univ.rI

RqmkamhaengUniv.

9 12. 9

2 6.9

33

5

47. 1rL 2o/

•28. 6

r1

17. 2

li

21 72.9

3

'

- l• 1' Ol

4.3

College ofCoMmerce 7 1•

I12. 1 i 16

t

il27.6 )

/

o.o

34 58. 611 o

lo. o

t1 1, i

I31 r !

100. 0

3.9 I 34!

100.0

5

1

Total 21 9.5l

l s2I

36. 9 Ele5 I 47.3 1

6

1

ri

1

EI 2.7 I

1 8

7. 1 70* 100. 0

;3.4 i 29 l

tl IOO.O

1.7/

581

100. 0

3. 6 l 222 j

100.0

* some students chose more than one answer

Ntx)

N

128 -asnvve aj4igN2grather many students.

It was against our expectation that in old, traditional Chula-

longkorn University about on third of the students considered not

important such factors as "Name of University", Degree", and "Field

of study" as related to university education and that about 80% of

them regarded "Status of parents" and "Personal connections" as im-

portant factors. On the contrary, in new institutions like Ramkam-

haeng University and College of Commerce, most of the students,

about 90%, attached importance to "Degree", "Field of Study" and

"Name of University".

We also asked students their views on university development

in connection with their employment. This matter was asked through

the items of "Value of university qualification", "Academic level of

university", and "Number of university students", as seen in Table

II-3.

' The value' university qualification for getting employment was

judged to have diminished by many students, 62.9 % on the average.

Those who considered it not to have-diminished were 21.3%.

In order to improve the employment situation, may studen'ts,

(64.3%)held that the academic level of university ought to be raised

and only 17.2% of them held that it need not be.

Why did so many students feel that way? The students who

regarded ability as an important factor to get good employment

might have thought that it would lead to better job to raise the

academic level of university. Through the free comments :of the

students in our questionnaire, some students criticized the present

universities, indicating that they provided easy degree qualification

to students without training them in a real sense. Other students,

particularly those in Chulalongkorn and Kasetsart University, hoped

TABLEII-3) Students' Opinions On The Deyelopmentof Higher Education

Content

University

ChulalongkornUniv.

ThammasatUhiv.

KasetsartUniv.

No.

%Nor

%Nor

%

Value of UniversityQulification

:

Dimin-•ished

NotDimin-,ished

NotSure

1

Total

Academic Level.University

of

22

62. 9

6

17. 1

i

Ought toRaise

7I 35i

;

20. 0 100. 0

28

80. 0

Need notRaise

6

17. 1

NotSure

1

Total

35

100• O i

Number ofStudents

University

RamkamhaengUniv.

College ofCommerce

19

46. 3

42

71. 2

lNai e

/

17

%[ I

58. 6

Na

[%

39

58. 4

16

39. 0

10

16. 9

5

17.2

10

6

14. 7

7

11.9

7

24. 2

8

:14 l c

18

100. 0/

59

100. 0

29

100. 0

TotalNa

57

I 17.s li 14.1 I loo.o

139 47 35 221

43. 9

36

61.0

22

75. 8

38

66. 7

%i 1

62. 9 21. 3 15. 8 l•100.0 i I

142

64. 3

13

31. 7

10

16. 9

3

10. 4

6

10. 5

38

17.2

2.9

le

24. 4

13

22. 1

4

13. 8

13

22. 8

41

18. 5

Ought toLimit

3

8.6

41

100. 0

59

100. 0

29

100. 0

57

100. 0

221

100. 0

10

24. 4

9

15. 3

6

20. 7

7

12. 3

35

15. 8

Need notLimit

'

notSure

23 9

Total

65.7

17

41.5

41

69. 5

18

62. 1

36

63. 2

135

61.1

35

25.7 1 l

100.0

14

34. 1

9

15. 2

5

17.2

14

24. 5

51

23. 1

41

100. 0

59

100. 0

29

100. 0

57

100. 0

221

100.0

Nboto

130 -keEffza eg4gag2eto have opportunities to practice what they learned in the actual

places of employment while they were students.

Regarding the number of university students, 61.1% of all the

students maintained that it should not be llimited even when the `employment conditions were not good. And 15.8% of them claimed

that is should be limited if the conditions were difficult. The opinion

that the number of students should not be limited supports the ex-

pansion and development of higher education. Why was this opinion

found among so many Thai students? I conclude there are three main

reasons judging from the analysis of questionnaire results including

free comments of the students and observation of the Thai educa-

tional system.

First, people's demand for higher education has become strong-

er and more pressing. This demand could be found even among

farmers in rural areas although it was not so urgent. Recently, the

number of graduates of secondary schools who could not enter uni-

versities or colleges and were obliged to commute to preparatory

schools has increased. In spite of that the institutions at the level of

higher education are not enough in the capacity to fill the demand.

Second, students seemed not to feel that the employment situa-

tion was so serious even though it was becoming difficult. The real

percentage of unemployment of graduates was less than 20 % in 1974.

Most university students still have some possibility to be employed

in government offices or private firms with better conditions com-

pared with the students under the level of higher education.

Third, apart from the employment conditions, university and

college are regarded as educational places to realize students' hu-

manity, to develop students' ability or individuality and to broaden

students' outlook on life through learning and training.

131

On the other hand, the students' view that universities and

colleges should not be expanded seemed to be based on the following

opinions, although there were not many holding such opinions.

First, judging from economical and social conditions in Thai-

land, the places for societal activity for university graduates are still

limited. It the number of students is increased, there will be many

graduates who are not able to find good employment.

Second, because of the dual social system in Thailand it will

not soften the social division between an elite class and an ignorant

mass class to increase just the number of students under the present

educationa! system.

Third, if the number of university students is increased, rnany

graduates will not be employed after graduation. Therfore, universi-

ties should not be increased but vocational schools like agricultural

and technical schools should be increased.

• At any rate it is very remarkable that many Thai students

wanted to expand and develop higher education under circumstances

in which their employment situation was diminishing.

III-2) Students' Viewpoint on Employment

In order to understand the students' viewpoint about employ-

ment one must first study their fathers' vocations: 3.6% of them are

farmers, 18.6 % are government officials, 21.4 % are company employ-

ees and the other 48.6% are independent businessmen.

From the above figures, one can see that out of the total only

3.6% of the students are from farmer farnilies, even though Thai-

land's total population consists of 70% farmers.

Recently, the number of universities has been increasing, but

they are mainiy the people from Bangkok who enroll in the univer--

132 -tsMve ag4igag2esities. Yet, this has always been the tendency.

According to Table II--4, vocation desired by students, only one

student from Chulalongkorn University and one from Kasetsart Uni-

versity wished to be farners, which is one percent of the total figures.

Then, one can see the present university education will not develop

in the field of agriculture.

Also, it is interesting to note that students from Chulalongkorn

University do not wish to be employed by the government. This

applies also to students from the other universities in which only 10-

20 % seek government. The reason is stated below :

As one can see from Table II-5, students think civil service

employment is simple and stable. Yet one other hand, 73.5% of them

do not think officials become wealthy and 65.1% of them don't think

they can have authority.

One can conclude there are number of students having the

opinion that it is not easy for them to get wealthy and have authority,

or be promoted either. This indicates graduates can not get promotions

by only obtaining a Thai university's Bachelor degree.

Although there must be some other factors, even the students

from Chulalongkorn University, which is known as the best in Thai--

land, only 16.9 % of them answered "Degree is evaluated".

Only a few graduates can get a stable job and have authority, and

also become wealthy, if they become government officials, That-is

why the students don't wish to be officials.

Moreover, approximately 40-80% of students in every univer-

sity have the opinion that they can contribute to national welfare

and also can apply their study to society in Government positions.

But there are only a few public-spirited students wishing to contri-

bute to society as Government officials. • . •

'.t. . Vocation

University

TABLEII-4) The Vocations Desired By Students

8h.Uil91ongkorn

ehnai.m.masat

Kase' tsartU n'iv. '

RamkamhaengUniv.

College ofCommerce

Total

Farmer

Nor %

1

o

1

o

o

2

2.7

o. o

1.5

o.o

o. o

O.9

Teacher

Na

o

1

o

1

o

2

%

o. o

2.3

o. o

3. 0

o. o

1O.9

Profession

Na %

Gover--mentofficerAdmini-strative

2

9

2

3

o

16

t

Nor'; %

5.4

'

20. 9

o o. o

1

51 1 j

j

11.6

3.1

/

F

9.1

o.o

6.8

iio I

15.4

5

11

31

15. 2

19. 6

13. 2

Govt.officer,Clerical

Nor

o

4

o

o

o

4

%

o. o

9.4

o. o

o.o

o.o

1.7

PrivateFirm,Admini--strative

M

13

13

20

9

28

83

%

35. 2

30. 2

30. 8

27. 3

50. 0

35.5

PrivateFirm,ClericalSales

M.

5

%

1

1t1

13.5

7 16. 3

lself-- Iemploy- : Othersment

i

i

I

Total

Nor

13

6

ji

3

9. 2 21

%

35. 1

Nor %Eli]

]

3

7.0i 1 [•

3.1

2.3

Nor

2

3

32

6.1

5.4

9. 8

'

32. 2

}

rI

/

5

11

11

59

33. 4

I[2I1

19. 6

25. 2

3

14

37

j43

7.7j

6•1

5.4

65

l1

6. 0

33

56

234*

%

100. 0

100. 0

100. 0

100. 0

100. 0

100. 0

* some students chose more than one answer kasts

TABLEII-5) Views On Goyerment Officer

View

'N Å~. x. "'xUniversity Å~

ChulalongkornUniv

(:.tC,2//,ndg'enrE'ng)

ChulalongkornUpiv.(5:t,.in.ci,u,d,ing)

M%Na

To BecomeRich

Yes

3

3.6

Nor

61

73.5

Notrsure

19

22. 9

To HaveAuthority

ThammasatUniv. N:42

%l -}gii,

%

Yes

14

16. 9

26 l 1072. 2

ll

2. 41

29

69. 0

27. 8

12

28. 6

6

16. 7

8

19. 0

Na

54

65. 1

24

66.6

22

52. 4

NotSure

15

18. 0

6

16. 7

12

28. 6

12

Job is simpleAnd Status isstable

Yes Na

63 14

75. 9 16. 9

NotSure

6

7.2

To Contributeto NationalWelfare

Kasetsart Univ. N:67

College ofCommerce• N:57

M%Nq

%RamkambaengUniv. N:29

M%

3

5. 0'

3

10. 3

48

80.0

42

73. 7

16

55. 2

9

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135

This is because most of the Thai people still think in the old

fashioned way. For instance, the government officials must be appre-

ciated in society, even if they hesitate to work for national welfare

and they just aim for promotion profit.

There is little difference among the students as to the view of

government officials, yet the students of the College of Commerce

and Ramkamgaeng University rate highly the two following points

as opposed to Chulalongkorn University's students. One point is that

Government officials can utilize school learning and the other is

Government officials enjoy authority.

III-3) The Students' Consciousness of Their Role in Society

The students' main opinion was written freely by 184 students

(72% out of all). There are affirmative opinions and negative

opinions on it as below.

As to affirmative opinions, there are lots of students who

answered that they can contribute to society after graduating from

the university because they have knowledge and ability useful to

society, and they are thinking of the Thai nation's profit instead of

their own profit. At the same time, 47 students gave as their opinion

that students should contribute to social development while in uni-

versity. They wanted to be trained in their preferred companies, or to

do social welfare activities, for example : teaching the local children,

giving technical advice to farmers and helping in the fields, or giv-

ing exhibitions or issuing bulletins during the summer vocation.

Most of the students who gave this opinion were in Thammasat and

Chulalongkorn University.

On the other hand, in Kasetsart, Ramkamhaeng Univesity and

the College of Commerce negative opinions prevailed. Actually gra-

136 -tslfffve ag4gag2gduates can not contribute to society, because they have only few op-

portunities to get good jobs without any personal connections, and

also, the old people refuse students' opinions or new ideas. One more

reason is that due to so much corruption, the graduates become lazy

and selfish. 36 students from Chulalongkorn, Thammasat and Kaset-

sart University stated that their freedom of speech and activity are

limited by the present political situation in Thailand. The authorities

are trying to separate the students from the people in order to pre-

vent the political action and social disorder. This problem has become

an obstruction to the students' role in society. •

IV. Conclusions

The proportion of the age group (19 to 20) who are enrolled in

institutions of higher education is still as low as five percent in Thai-

land. The rapid quantitative development in recent years, however,

has been causing unemployment of university graduates. The Office

of University Affairs has been making a fact-finding survey on this

problem recently. In 1974, approximately 24 percent of university

graduates were "unemplyed". The unemployment rates were especial--

ly high for graduates from humanities and social sciences.

Thai universities were traditionally developed to train govern-

ment officials, but it seems that occupational orientation of students

recently is toward private companies, rather than toward civil ser-

vice. The social status of Thai goverument officials as conceived by

Thai students is low. Very few students prefer agricultural jobs.

Generally, the motivation to attend college is "to obtain know-

ledge and skills" or "to find good jobs", rather than "to get degree".

There is a tendecy, however, that students in traditional and pres-

tigious universities expect "to find good jobs",•while students in new

137

universities expect "to obtain knowledge and ski!ls".

"Ability and aptitude" is generally regarded as the most im-

portant factor to get a good job. But students in new universities

consider that "degrees and fields of study" is also very important.

As high as 60 percent of students think that the value of university

education has recently been decreasing in spite of the fact that

quantitative development of Thai higher education is still low. Not

many students, however, have the opinion that quantitative expansion

of higher education should be restricted.

It seems that Thai students want to play an important social

role as elites, but there are many social and economic factors to

prevent it. Ambivalent consciousness is charcteristic of Thai students.

They are obliged to manintain cosnciousness as part of the masses

as well as consciousness as elites. This fact makes it dubious to decide

the stage of development of higher education only in terms of enroll--

.ment ratlos.