Last month representatives from the Office of the Private Education Commission (OPEC) said they expect the country’s intake of foreign students to increase after the AEC takes effect. The Council of University Presidents of Thailand (CUPT) claims that increasing visa stays for foreigners will ease Thailand’s entrance into the community.

Currently, international students and lecturers in Thailand need to renew their visa every three months.

“The government should trust the universities’ judgement and adjust the visa regulations”

“We will write to the Foreign Ministry for help,” CUPT president and rector at Thammasat University, Somkid Lertpaithoon, told The Nation, adding that the group had raised the issue with the National Police Office and the Immigration Bureau. “But the police did not agree with our proposal, ” he said.

According to Somkid, universities study the qualifications of foreign lectures and students before recruiting them. “The government should trust the universities’ judgement and adjust the visa regulations,” he said.

Somkid added that CUPT plans on pushing for an increase in salary subsidies granted to foreign teachers, in order to attract better qualified instructors. “[The] rate has been used since 1999, and is very low when compared to the rising cost of living…The CUPT has already instructed each university to determine the most appropriate amount for subsidy and we will propose the figure.”

Acting secretary-general for OPEC, Chanwit Tubsuphan, confirmed last month that the body was drawing up policy for international investors and changing regulation on teacher training for foreign teachers. It follows a boom in interest in international schools and English programmes coming mainly from neighbouring Asian countries.

The AEC will launch in 2015 with the goal of creating a region with free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labour, and freer flow of capital – akin to the European Union.