ไทยรั้งท้าย STEM ในอาเซียน? เมื่อบัณฑิตวิทย์–วิศวะน้อย เศรษฐกิจไทยโตไม่ทันโลก
Summary
We usually explain growth differences by government policy, the world economy or politics — but there is a quiet variable almost nobody mentions.
That variable is the number and quality of STEM graduates: science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Compared with ASEAN neighbours, several countries are visibly more serious about STEM than Thailand is.
Thailand still gets by on tourism and legacy industry, but without building new economic engines from technology it makes itself, it will not keep pace over the next ten to twenty years.
The remaining option is to accept the role of permanent user of other people’s technology.
Key points
STEM is routinely overlooked
Its effects appear too slowly for a single political cycle.
Quantity and quality must move together
Graduate numbers alone mean little without the quality behind them.
The neighbours are investing harder
That gap compounds and will be visible within a decade.
Tourism is not a long-run engine
It sustains the economy but does not raise national capability.
Being a technology user is a position without leverage
If you do not build it, you accept the builder’s terms.