The Thai Government has begun to move cautiously towards greater institutional autonomy over the last two decades. As a result, a small number of public universities have been granted effective independence from the central government. The first was Suranaree University of Technology in 1990. Those universities with autonomous status continue to receive block grant funding from the MoE, but have greater scope for institutional decision making in terms of academic policies, personnel management and resource allocation. However, the Thai university system as a whole remains tightly regulated. Regulations issued by OHEC and OPEC severely constrain decision making at both public and private universities. In addition, employees at almost all public universities are currently classed as civil servants. This situation limits the power of institutional decision-makers to hire and fire staff in response to changing institutional priorities.