The government should promote or launch internship or traineeship programs for prospective newcomers to the national workforce to enhance the skills needed for their career paths.
Researchers at the Thailand Development Research Institute Foundation (TDRI), one of the country’s most established think tanks, recently made the call, suggesting that successful international models should be taken into consideration.
They also urged the government to support higher education institutions in integrating internship and traineeship programs into students’ mainstream courses to better prepare them for the workforce.
Such programs, the researchers said, should be conducted in cooperation with state and private entities to provide students with real workplace experiences, helping them develop essential skills and increasing their job opportunities after graduation.
The proposal followed the latest TDRI survey conducted in late 2024, which found that most state and private firms prefer hiring personnel with at least one to two years of work experience over new graduates who lack practical skills.
According to the TDRI survey, demand for university graduates with at least one year of work experience stood at 78.6%, while those with at least three years of experience were in even higher demand, at 40%.
