"Ninety per cent are from eight universities, and 130 other institutes account for the rest," Higher Education Commission secretary-general Pavich Thongroj said a survey had found.

The seminar, held by the Thailand Association of the Professors' World Peace Academy and the Foundation for Development and Peace, aimed to explore trends and alternatives in the development of higher education in Thailand. When the number of lecturers was divided by the number of articles, Pavich said, it emerged that about 12 lecturers had worked on each, even at the eight most productive universities.

"In fact universities should give priority to research, which widens knowledge. Production of graduates should be a secondary task," he said.

Caretaker Education Minister Chaturon Chaisang disagreed, saying universities should focus on producing graduates in line with the country's needs.

"For several years universities have focused too much on becoming autonomous institutions. They have forgotten about quality. There are many programmes that are substandard, and they produce graduates in fields irrelevant to the country's needs," he said.

Chaturon said he hoped to allow the public a role in keeping the universities in check and had to that end instructed the Higher Education Commission to evaluate the universities and made the results public.

Dr Pradit Charoenthaitawee, who chairs the Foundation for Development and Peace, said it was wrong to run a university like a family business and cited developments in some private universities. "We need the right university presidents," he said.