Important principles of the public autonomous university are high levels of independence, flexibility, and efficiency. Important as well is the ability to develop its own organization and work systems, minimize steps in operations, and utilize existing resources as efficiently and profitably as possible.

        Most decisions are made at the university level, with the least possible
control from the outside. Suranaree University of Technology (SUT) is
Thailand’s first public autonomous university. It has served as a prototype of the public autonomous universities and as a mentor which shares expertise and experiences concerning a new type of operations and administrative systems with many organizations, especially those in the process of becoming a public autonomous university.