Academic capabilities in developing countries—A conceptual framework with empirical illustrations from Thailand

The role of universities in the technological upgrading of developing countries is attracting more and more interest from both the academic community and policy makers. This paper is proposing a new framework to understand this role by introducing the concept of academic capabilities. Its application is illustrated based on the case of Thailand. It is shown that the concept of academic capabilities allows interpreting higher education data and information in an innovative way. It can be applied to relate the multiple facets of universities (e.g. research, teaching, technology transfer, management) to the overall process of technological change and development.