Postgraduate Admission in Thailand: How Master's and PhD Applications Differ from TCAS

TCAS stops at the bachelor's degree

TCAS (Thai University Central Admission System) runs Thailand's undergraduate admission rounds, matching high school graduates to bachelor's degree seats across multiple rounds each year.

If you plan to apply for a master's or PhD program, TCAS plays no role at all.

Graduate admission in Thailand runs through a separate process, handled independently by each university's own graduate school.

How graduate admission actually works

Instead of one national portal, you apply directly through the graduate school or faculty website of the university you want to attend. Chulalongkorn University's Graduate School , for example, runs its own online application system separate from undergraduate TCAS, and other major universities such as Thammasat, Mahidol and Chiang Mai University follow the same faculty-by-faculty model.

Because each faculty controls its own graduate program, requirements and deadlines, and even the number of intake rounds a year, differ between departments at the same university. A biology master's program and an MBA at the same school commonly run on completely different calendars, so check the specific faculty page rather than assuming a university-wide deadline.

Typical intake calendar

Many Thai universities run two graduate intakes a year: one for the August semester, with applications commonly opening around February and closing by May, and one for the January semester, with applications opening around September and closing in October. Exact dates shift year to year and by faculty, so confirm directly with the graduate school you are applying to rather than relying on a general pattern.

What the application actually asks for

Expect a document review covering your transcripts, degree certificate and a statement of purpose, alongside an interview, in person or online, with faculty members from the department. Programs with a research or thesis track commonly require a written research proposal outlining what you want to study, and for PhD applicants, who you would want as an advisor, since Thai graduate admission places weight on whether a suitable supervisor exists in the department before offering a seat.

Specific faculties request standardized test scores such as the GRE or GMAT, particularly for business, engineering and some science programs, though this is not universal across every graduate program in the country. English-taught graduate programs commonly ask for an IELTS or TOEFL score if your prior degree was not taught in English, since instruction and thesis writing both happen in English.

Where MHESI fits in

The Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI) sets national policy for Thai higher education, including quality standards and degree recognition, but it does not run or centralize graduate admissions itself. Each university keeps full control over who it admits into its master's and PhD programs, within the broader standards MHESI sets for degree accreditation.

How this differs from your TCAS experience

If you went through TCAS for your bachelor's degree, you got used to a single national portal, published quota numbers for each round, and a fixed national calendar shared across every Thai university.

Graduate admission removes all of that.

There is no shared portal, no published quota to check against other applicants, and no guarantee that a program opens every single intake period. Some smaller or research-heavy graduate programs admit only a handful of students a year, sometimes only when a supervisor has funding or space in their research group.

Planning your application

Start by identifying your target faculty rather than your target university, since program-level differences matter more than university-wide branding at the graduate level. Reach out to the department directly, ask about intake rounds for the specific year you plan to apply, and, for a research degree, try to make contact with a potential advisor before submitting a formal application. That contact often shapes whether the proposal you submit gets a serious look.