SDG Impact Detail

Measure and track applications and admissions of underrepresented (and potentially underrepresented) groups including ethnic minorities, low income students, non-traditional students, women, LGBT students, and disabled students, and newly settled refugee students.

Prince of Songkla University (PSU) monitors access to higher education among groups that may be underrepresented or face barriers to university admission. The University’s admissions policy prohibits unjust discrimination based on origin, ethnicity, religion, language, gender identity, disability and socioeconomic status, while allowing targeted measures to improve access for disadvantaged groups.

PSU currently monitors admission and enrolment outcomes particularly for women, persons with disabilities and students from low-income backgrounds, and uses these data to identify inequalities in access and inform appropriate support measures.

Gender Monitoring

PSU systematically tracks new student enrolment by sex across campuses, faculties, academic programmes and levels of study.

University records demonstrate continuous monitoring from Academic Years 2023–2025:

In Academic Year 2025, 6,932 of 11,004 new students were women (63.0%). At undergraduate level, women represented 63.8% of new entrants, while at postgraduate level they represented 56.6%.

Although women are well represented in the overall student intake, programme-level monitoring enables PSU to identify disciplines in which women remain underrepresented. In 2025, examples included Artificial Intelligence Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering.

This programme-level analysis enables the University to identify gender imbalances that may not be visible from university-wide statistics alone.

Monitoring Access for Persons with Disabilities

PSU operates a dedicated admission pathway for persons with disabilities through the TCAS Portfolio system. Eligible applicants include persons with physical or mobility impairments, visual impairments and hearing impairments who meet the academic requirements of participating programmes.

The dedicated admission process enables PSU to identify and monitor applicants with disabilities separately from the general admission population. Participating faculties and programmes specify their admission requirements and the types of disabilities they are able to accommodate.

Successful applicants may also receive financial support for tuition fees and other education-related expenses in accordance with University regulations.

This targeted admission scheme enables PSU to monitor access for persons with disabilities while reducing barriers to participation in higher education.

Monitoring Students from Low-income Backgrounds

PSU also identifies and monitors students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds through targeted access and scholarship programmes.

One major initiative is the Ton Kla Prince of Songkla University Scholarship Programme, which supports academically capable students from low-income and vulnerable households across the 14 southern provinces of Thailand.

The programme provides a structured pathway from upper-secondary education to university and includes financial assistance, accommodation support, living allowances, academic preparation, tutoring and guidance.

In Academic Year 2025, the programme supported 119 students enrolled at PSU, providing the University with an established mechanism for identifying and monitoring students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds.

Using Data to Improve Equitable Access

PSU uses admission and enrolment information to identify groups or academic areas where participation may be disproportionately low and to support appropriate interventions. These may include:

• dedicated admission pathways;

• scholarships and financial assistance;

• reasonable adjustments for applicants with disabilities;

• academic preparation and transition support;

• outreach to disadvantaged communities; and

• targeted support for students after admission.

The University continues to strengthen its monitoring framework with the aim of linking information throughout the admission pathway:

Application → Selection → Admission → Confirmation → Enrolment

This will enable PSU to compare application and admission rates across potentially underrepresented groups and to assess whether additional interventions are required.

Expanding Monitoring of Underrepresented Groups

In addition to women, persons with disabilities and students from low-income backgrounds, PSU recognises the importance of monitoring other groups that may experience barriers to higher education, including ethnic and linguistic minorities, non-traditional learners, gender-diverse students and other vulnerable populations.

Where information involves sensitive personal characteristics, data should be collected voluntarily, used only for legitimate equality-monitoring and student-support purposes, protected in accordance with applicable data-protection requirements, and reported only in aggregated form.

Through systematic monitoring and targeted support, PSU seeks to ensure that access to higher education is equitable and that potential barriers affecting underrepresented groups are identified and addressed.