Panyapiwat Institute of Management (PIM) is Thailand’s first and largest Corporate University,  founded in 2007 under CP All Plc., a member of the C.P. Group. “We firmly believe that all parts of society must work together to create a balance among economic, environmental and social factors of our country and the world for a sustainable future,” says Soopakij Chearavanont, Chairman of C.P. Group. Thus, to strengthen corporate values and sustainability for society, Work-based Education was pioneered by PIM, leveraging the expertise of CP All Plc. with the commitment to produce academically skilled and job-ready graduates, developing human resources whose knowledge and skills are better aligned with market needs, including partners in various businesses.

PIM maintains well-established quality assurance mechanisms and has gained good standing in the accreditation review by the Office of the Higher Education Commission (OHEC). In addition to institutional strength and effective leadership, PIM’s outstanding work-based learning programs are also highlighted in the OHEC review.

Corporate university is a university that is set up by a private company and particularly designed to develop and train workers in skills that match the requirements of a job. The emergence of corporate university concept stems from the need of corporations to build capacity and improve the performance of their human resources. As a result, the teaching methods and learning processes are created with a specific goal of ensuring that their staff members gain necessary professional exposure.

The establishment of corporate universities serves as a crucial link that connects industries and sectors as knowledge, among other things, is transferred from businesses to individuals, shaping and creating a new workforce that is better aligned with private sector labor market needs.

With the most extensive network of partnerships, ranging from suppliers and financial institutions to private companies and educational institutions, this cross-sector collaboration is the cornerstone of our Institute that enriches and provides a rare opportunity for PIM students to gain a fuller and broader learning experience that extends beyond CP All Plc.

Today, the concept of the corporate university is undoubtedly a growing trend that is quickly gaining traction among the world’s leading companies wishing to elevate their organizational capability and performance.

With the support from the private sector, PIM focuses on the improvement of the educational quality, human capital development, and the creation of new bodies of knowledge to effectively meet the country’s needs. For example, there is a pressing issue of competitiveness and labor force capacity that will need to be properly addressed to adequately prepare for Thailand’s shift to a service-based economy which will lead to rapid urbanization driven by infrastructure investments and improvements in farming. In this respect, the application of the body of knowledge and local wisdom will hold the key to boosting the value of the Thai economy.

“In any private organizations, there are vast archives of bodies of knowledge, which is something that universities lack. When developing their curricular most universities have to turn to professionals and learn from their work experiences. However, at PIM we already have a wealth of knowledge in our instructors who are experts in their fields. The knowledge they impart to students in the classroom is practical know-how based on real-work situations. And when the students’degrees are tailored to match their career aspirations, during their studies they will not be wondering why they are taking this or that class, or whether the knowledge is useful or applicable. Likewise, employers can rest assured that our job-ready graduates will be up to the job and able to execute work efficiently. This is what sets PIM apart from conventional universities.

In just five years since our inception, PIM’s first graduating class after they had completed their education immediately found work and started their employment with CP, which attests to the readiness and employability of our graduates who have all along been working and applying themselves.”

Mr. Phornvit Phacharintanakul
Vice President of Panyapiwat Institute of Management