Seven professions
in the labour market will be freed up in 2015 by Asean nations under mutual
recognition agreements (MRAs).
But it will not be easy for Thai workers in these jobs to gain
accreditation, Assoc Prof Patcharawalai Wongboonsin, a researcher from
Chulalongkorn University's College of Population Studies, told a seminar last
week.
Accreditation by foreign countries requires top qualifications, and
most Thais would find it really hard to reach the criteria in order to be
recognised in Asean, Patcharawalai said.
She spoke at a seminar on Thai workers' qualifications for the Asean
labour market, held as part of a Future of Thai Education symposium, at Impact
Arena Muang Thong Thani.
The seven occupations she referred to are: medical practitioners,
dental practitioners, nursing services, engineering services, architectural
services, surveying qualifications, and accountancy services.
Thais' lack of foreign-language skills was an obvious major |obstacle,
compared to people from Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. Without
accreditation by foreign countries, Thai engineers would lag behind rivals in
Singapore and Malaysia in foreign recognition, she said, noting that Singapore
had been accredited by many engineering technology leaders, including the US,
UK, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Ireland, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and
Malaysia. Malaysia was trying for similar recognition.
"Now, less than 100 engineers across the region have been
recognised as Asean chartered professional engineers because it's really tough
and difficult to achieve the criteria," Patcharawalai added.
Only 3,712 engineers - just 2 per cent of the total 170,830 engineers
in Thailand - have the necessary certificates, portfolios and eight years of
continuous work experience. More newly graduated engineers who have just
started their careers are likely to change to other fields.
The researcher said engineers who want to register as Asean chartered
professionals had to apply to the Asean Chartered Professional Engineer
Coordinating Committee. Important criteria include a bachelor's degree in
engineering accredited by a professional agency in their own country or in
countries that would hire them; having at least seven years' working
experience; and having been in charge of important work for at least two years.
The criteria for Asean professional architects are also difficult to
achieve - people must have worked in architecture for at least 10 years, half
of which they must have held a professional licence; and been in charge of
important architectural projects for at least two years.
The demands mean architects have to plan, design and coordi-nate with
agencies in a public |building construction project. However, Thai architects'
training is usually limited to design, so individuals here need to understand
and be responsible for a complete project, or one that is made up |of various
fields, according to Patcharawalai.
"With these tough criteria, |most Thai engineers and architects
cannot compete with leading skilled workers in the region," she said.
Boonlert Theeratrakul, director of the labour market research division
at the Department of Labour, said a survey found many Thai workers lacked most
in English, IT and numerical skills.
"So, this makes it really hard for them to compete in Asean,"
he said.
Patcharawalai also said Thai professionals had more weak points than
strong ones. Most workers in Thailand were low-skilled, although Thais were
easy to train and could learn their jobs quickly. They were polite and not
aggressive. However, Thailand had fewer individuals at medium and high skilled
and professional levels. Many workers lacked training, preparation, ethics,
discipline and punctuality.
Therefore, she urged Thai authorities to prepare Thai students in those
professions for the future.
In 2015, the number of workers in the Asean region is expected to
increase from 250 million to 300 million. Higher quality Chinese and Indian
workers were likely to come to the Asean region as well, said Chirapun
Gullaprawit, director of social development strategy and the planning office at
the National Economic and Social Development Board.
"Thailand should prepare its workforce with different levels of
ability to gain higher quality so |that they can compete in the Asean labour
market," Chirapun urged.
He said the education system in Thailand should produce workers for the
21st century with discipline, synthesising, creative, respectful and ethical
minds, aside from knowledge in their fields and professional skills.
Wannapa Khaopa
The Nation
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