He founded three universities (Sukhothai Thammathirat, Suranaree and Walailak), and served as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of University Affairs from 1987 to 1994 and as Minister of Education from 2006 to 2008.

He became head of the Democrat Party’s committee on educational issues.

[2] Srisa-an was appointed Minister of Education in the military-appointed government that followed the 2006 coup.

As Education Minister, he cancelled several key Thai Rak Thai-government policies like Thailand's participation in the One Laptop Per Child program and planned to install broadband internet connections in all Thai schools.

Key policies Wichit enacted included: Due to escalating violence in the South, all schools in Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat provinces were shut down indefinitely from 27 November 2006.