Prince of Songkla University’s four strategic plans for excellence will be presented for self-assessment in order to join one of the world's leading research development institutes of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI), boosting PSU’s academic strength, promoting its global academic excellence, and developing research ecosystem management and academic management.
MHESI has placed institutions into six groups: Global & Frontier Research, Technology/Innovation, Localities and Communities, Moral & Intellectual Cultivation, Professional and Specialist Development, and others. Universities can choose their group affiliation and submit a self-assessment report to the Office of the Permanent Secretary regarding their performance, potential, direction, mission, technology development, and innovation promotion.
PSU chose to be affiliated with Global & Frontier Research, for PSU’s readiness to compete at the international level and to help increase the country's potential in terms of technology, digital technology skills, language and communication, sustainability, manpower development, food innovation, medicine and public health, management and education. Along these important subjects, PSU places a strong emphasis on social responsibility, especially regarding society in the south, whose specific problems the university strives to jointly solve by integrating three main disciplines; Science and Technology, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Health Sciences. Working with the network will constitute a major aspect of the university in the future.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sunton Wongsiri, M.D., Vice President for Research and Innovation, said that for the development plan of excellence at PSU as a higher education institution, four strategies have been established:
1) Fostering the development of professionals and specialists via a management system for skilled staff; providing appropriate research funding to researchers for higher research performance; allocating graduate scholarships for increased global competitiveness
2) Fostering world-class academic excellence by applying knowledge from research to future innovations; building cross-disciplinary teams; developing a network with the private sector; and creating the Innovation Research Alliance Center
3) Developing efficient research ecosystem management to enhance the potential in academic circles at the international level; supporting researchers and new entrepreneurs focusing on innovation on a global scale; upgrading the curriculum and laboratories; developing and managing research papers to international publication level; building a cross-disciplinary network in areas related to future innovation
4) Educational management to increase the quantity and quality of graduates and theses in the high-potential fields of Agriculture, Food and Health; developing an industry-responsive curriculum for research and innovation; curriculum quality assessment using ASEAN Quality Criteria; curriculum renewal; designing learning instruction as a module; larger emphasis on active learning, learning from real situations, and cooperative education; promoting lifelong learning.
