Rationale  

                In response to the severe shortage of highly qualified human resources in Thailand, the TRF, in cooperation with the Ministry of University Affairs and the National Science and Technology Development Agency, initiated in 1996 a Ph.D. grant program to support doctoral students in every discipline to study in Thailand. The Royal Thai Government agreed to support the first phase of the project which aims to produce 5,000 Ph.D. graduates in 15 years (1997-2011) with a possibility of the second phase to produce 20,000 more by the year 2021. Because of its merit, the project was proclaimed one of the programs to commemorate His Majesty the King's 50 th  (Golden Jubilee) year of reign in 1996.

Strategy for Quality

                To assure that the academic outcome of the Royal Golden Jubilee-Ph.D. Program will attain international standards, only Ph.D. advisors with good research records and having co-advisors or collaborators in recognized universities abroad will be awarded  the RGJ-Ph.D. grant. The amount of each grant does not exceed 2 million baht (approximately USD 45,000) for a period of 3-5 years, including a budget for the student to pursue up to one year Ph.D. study and research in collaborating university(ies)/ institution(s) abroad. For their graduations students are required to produce international publications.

Current Progress

For the period 1998-2002 a total of 1225 RGJ-Ph.D. grants have been awarded annually, averaging 220-250 per year. The awardees are faculty members from 16 universities which offer 146 doctoral programs covering 7 groups of disciplines, i.e. engineering, technology, physical science, bioscience, agricultural science,   social science and humanities.   Each awardee has 2 years to select student(s) to act as his/her research assistant(s) for the grants he/she has been awarded. As of May 2002 there were about 860 doctoral students under the Program.

Supporting Activities

                A team of faculty "coordinators" has been formed to promote academic and research collaboration among RGJ-Ph.D. students and advisors as well as to promote networking and generating the atmosphere conducive to good research work. The RGJ networking activities include site visits to various universities for direct contact with RGJ members and prospective members, RGJ electronic network featuring the RGJ Network home page (http://rgjnetwork.ku.ac.th) of over 500 pages in addition to the RGJ-Ph.D. home page (http://rgj.trf.or.th) and e-mail loops for advisors as well as students, and RGJ Newsletter published quarterly. The highlight of these supporting activities is the annual RGJ Congress attended by about 400 advisors, students and administrators, which provides a forum for students of all disciplines to make presentations, oral and poster, of their research work to the audience of experts from various universities and also from abroad, advisors, students and other researchers. On a smaller scale RGJ Seminar Series are organized nearly every month on certain related topics for 20-50 participants.