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Sumet Yamnoon, secretary-general of the Office of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), said although the HEC could not meet, he had spoken with some universities who were now willing to extend the time limit for students to pay their tuition fees.

As a result, he believed the students' dropout rate would not be high. He expressed hope the Cabinet meeting could be held today so the office could receive its Bt2 billion budget for short-term measures from the Bt100 billion economic-crisis-tackling budget.

The HEC aimed to have students better prepared for job hunting with language and computer skills. It hoped too the government would make via universities half the payment available to student trainees, while business establishments would pay the other half, he said.

HEC would also support each university in taking graduates with bachelor degrees to study for one-year certificates in other fields that would boost their potential, or for a masters degree in fields required by business establishments.

For the longer term, Sumet said HEC would review the curriculum to cancel fields not responding to the labour market's demands and would encourage universities to design courses with skills such as languages, teamwork and virtues.