Can a strategic approach to updating America’s technical education system help maintain its leadership in the global tech economy? During a recent tour of Thailand’s booming electronics industry, Electronic Design’s Lee Goldberg got an opportunity to see how a collaboration between academia and industry is being used to develop curricula that will give students the skills they need to successfully engage the existing and emerging opportunities of the country’s rapidly changing tech economy.

Part 1 of this two-part series outlined the Thai government’s data-driven strategy for workforce education and development. The article also looked at the role it will play in supporting the expansion its already considerable electronics industry beyond basic assembly and manufacturing.

Here, we begin with tour of Mahanakorn University of Technology’s (MUT) engineering school, followed by some examples of how that strategy is informing their curricula (Fig. 1). These examples also highlight the university’s unique approach to technical education, which reinforces theory with practical real-world experiences.

Our story concludes by exploring how some of the same strategies to prepare Thai students to fill new jobs in the country’s emerging semiconductor, biotech, aerospace, and AI-related industries might be applied to supporting America’s engineers, scientists, and tech workers.

An Edu-Preneurial Approach

Although MUT’s modern, well-equipped facilities are impressive, the most important element of the institution’s strategy is a unique “edu-preneurial” approach to preparing its students to succeed in their chosen careers.

Dr. Panavy Pookaiyaudom, MUT’s president, explained that their engineering programs, which combine theory and practical experience at every level, are a product of the school’s innovative “learn by doing” philosophy of engineering education and the principles developed by its educational partner, Arizona State University (ASU) (Fig. 2).

The first stop on our campus tour was MUT’s Earth and Space Centre, which began developing, building, and operating its own satellites in 1997. Since then, the multidisciplinary program has teamed up with students involved with IoT technology and geographic information systems to use the data generated by its smallsats and other spacecraft to support a variety of projects (Fig. 3). The projects range from climate studies and environmental monitoring to agriculture and water resource management.

This focus on giving students real-world experience is reflected in many MUT facilities, including the student-run automated filtration and packaging plant that produces all of the bottled water used on campus. Dr. Pookaiyaudom said that he conceived the facility as a living lab environment where students enrolled in engineering, computer science, and business programs all get to learn the principles of automation, robotics, PLC programming, and logistics management.

Our tour included another opportunity to see hands-on learning in action at the university’s Automation, Robotics and Electronics (ARE) Centre, which provides real-world experience in many aspects of factory automation. Theory is put into practice as students learn to create tools and software that enables the labs’ robots to assemble, paint, and decorate commercial products such as rice cookers and souvenir coffee mugs, some of which are given as gifts to visitors and officials (Fig. 5).

Many of the university’s other labs offer their students state-of-the-art industry experience, such as their Semiconductor Ai & Biosensor, electronics Research Laboratory (SABER), and their Center of Excellence in Semiconductors and Advanced Packaging (Fig. 6).

The university also encourages interdisciplinary projects that give science, technology, and business students an opportunity to work together and learn from each other. One of these initiatives involved a collaboration with Thailand’s Defence Technology Institute (DTI), leading to the development of a small explosive ordnance disposal robot.

The D-EMPIR V.4, which recently entered commercial production, has already demonstrated its value on several missions. Among them was providing aid to victims of a disaster in the Chatuchak District of Bangkok, where numerous people were injured and missing.

It’s too early to tell how well Thailand’s ambitious plan to move its economy, and the workforce that supports it, will migrate further up the global value chain. But the initial results seem to be very promising. Their BOI has succeeded in raising the nation’s combined investments (indigenous and foreign) from $18B in 2023 to $57B at the close of 2025.

While this growth is due to many factors, the steady increase in the size and skill levels of their workforce appears to have been a major factor in convincing several major technology companies to begin building new facilities or expand existing ones.

A Pattern for Success?

Observing the returns Thailand is reaping from its investment in its workforce led me to wonder if a similar approach might help our country maintain or even expand its technical and economic leadership. Many other nations, including China, Germany, and other European nations, have developed national strategies for preparing citizens entering the industrial workforce to fill demanding, good-paying jobs.

Could something like that work here in America?

The good news is that some of the measures we’ve covered here are already being used by a few U.S. colleges and universities. Studying the results of these isolated programs could provide valuable information about what it would take to develop a national strategy for upgrading our nation’s technical education.

For example, some colleges already work with local industries to develop curricula that include the specialized skills they need. The BLUEPRINT conference, organized by my brother Robert, was focused on rebuilding the economy of America’s heartland. It included several compelling stories about how these collaborations played important roles in rebuilding local broken economies, including the city of Reno, Nevada, where it was held.

It’s also good to note that at least a portion of America’s top engineering programs are already integrating real-world experience with theory in cooperative education programs. This is typified by the “learn and earn” curricula that Drexel University has been offering its students for over a century.

Initiatives to encourage the growth of cooperative education throughout our higher education system could help graduate more capable students while also making college more affordable for them. We’re also seeing the rise of industry-sponsored research centers like Georgia Tech’s Georgia Electronic Design Center, which give students opportunities to get involved with practical research in advanced commercial applications while still in school.

I have some concerns about the potential for companies exercising undue influence on our schools and that most of these centers’ activities are restricted to graduate-level students. However, I think these issues can be overcome.

There’s also a small but growing movement within the U.S. to reinvent technical education to help their graduates become versatile problem solvers and lifelong learners who can thrive in rapidly evolving disciplines. Case in point: Many of MUT’s innovative educational strategies mentioned earlier in this article were heavily influenced by the programs created by the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, operated by their U.S.-based partner, Arizona State University.

Olin College, located in Boston, Mass., has also re-thought technical education and what it would take to prepare their graduates with the technical and life skills they will need to excel in their careers. According to their mission statement, Olin’s academic approach emphasizes hands-on learning, collaboration, and tackling real-world problems — starting on day one and continuing through students’ capstone experiences.

In contrast to conventional engineering programs, Olin’s students begin project-based engineering in their first semester. In addition, every student at Olin is expected to participate in industry-sponsored or impact-focused capstone activities. You can see a few examples of the real-world projects done by Olin undergraduates in the video below:

I don’t know about you, but this seems like a much better engineering learning experience than the endless classes in abstract theory and labs, which rarely resulted in anything but large tables of circuit performance parameters that I suffered through back in the late ’70s.

Reborn in the USA?

Only some of the strategies I saw in action in Thailand would be directly applicable to the American culture or economy. Still, they all demonstrate how a coordinated, sustained commitment to a national educational initiative can strengthen a nation’s economy and secure a better future for the citizens who power it.

Do you believe America could benefit from a more strategic approach to technology education? And what changes would you most like to see in the way we teach engineering? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below or write to me by clicking on this link.

Further reading:

• Thailand Upskills Workforce to Meet an Expanding Tech Economy’s Demands (Part 1)
• Thailand BOI Approves New Investment Measure to Address Urgent Workforce Needs in Next-Generation Industries