Reforming the Thailand Higher Education Transition System: Toward a Competency-Based and Entrepreneurial Model

Abstract

Thailand's higher education system continues to face graduate unemployment, skill misalignment, and insufficient transitions from education to employment, despite ongoing advancements in curriculum development, quality assurance, and outcome-based education. Recent reforms have predominantly concentrated on employability through disparate initiatives, such as curriculum enhancements, internships, and entrepreneurship programs; however, they have not sufficiently integrated competency development, work-integrated learning, university–industry collaboration, and entrepreneurial support into a unified transition system. This study aims to assess structural deficiencies in Thailand's higher education transition system, examine relevant international transition models, and propose a competency-based and entrepreneurial transition framework adapted to the Thai context. The study utilizes documentary research and comparative policy analysis to synthesize evidence from higher education policy documents, labor market surveys, global best practices, and scholarly literature. The findings indicate four major structural deficiencies: a misalignment between curriculum and labor market demands, inadequate university-industry collaborations, insufficient entrepreneurial assistance, and the absence of a unified national transition framework. This study's innovative contribution is the invention of the Competency-Based and Entrepreneurial Transition Framework, which connects macro-level governmental incentives, meso-level institutional reform, and micro-level student competency advancement. The paradigm advances modern reform dialogues by shifting higher education from degree acquisition to structured career and entrepreneurial development trajectories. It offers practical implications for performance-driven university governance, employer partnerships, graduate assessment, regional innovation ecosystems, and the sustained competitiveness of Thailand's workforce.