The Cabinet approved only the autonomy plans for Burapha and Mahidol universities.

Wijit said his decision to pull the two drafts had nothing to do with the appeals earlier filed by Silpakorn University students to Prime Minister Surayud Chula-nont and National Legislative Assembly (NLA) Speaker Meechai Ruchuphan to stall the move.

Wijit insisted the push for university autonomy had been considered rationally and the drawbacks claimed by opposing groups were untrue, as seen from four universities that had already become autonomous.

"Being autonomous doesn't mean being privatised and sold off in stock lots, they remain state universities," he said.

Thammasat University rector Surapol Niti-kraipoj confirmed the university autonomy would emulate the Bank of Thailand's and not the privatisation of the Petroleum Authority of Thailand and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand which went public on the stock market.

"The universities would remain 100 per cent state-owned and would never be sold via stock lots. This has been widely misunderstood," he said, adding new-generation students had been misinformed and that had caused them to protest. Surapol insisted university autonomy had nothing to do with a tuition fee increase or closure of any departments as many feared, because they would be carefully considered by each university's council. Universities that already were autonomous were still being funded by the government and their budgets had even increased.

Earlier yesterday, Silpakorn University Student Union president Pratcharat Saengchan submitted a letter to Surayud at Government House and to Meechai via NLA secretary-general Suwimol Bhumisingharaj. The students claimed they were worried Silpakorn was not ready as university executives had not yet considered the draft, which was unclear, and most students did not have sufficient information about the impact. They suggested a public hearing on the draft be held first.

Meanwhile, 500 students of nine state universities are to gather in front of Parliament House at noon today to demand the government and NLA scrap the university autonomy plan, Chulalongkorn University PhD student Kengkit Kitirienglarp said. The group would submit a petition urging the authorities cancel autonomy drafts for all universities. He said Chulalongkorn alone had gathered nearly 2,000 signatures.

The group also planned to file a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) because some student activists had been threatened for protesting about the autonomy plan, Kengkit said.