Embattled Asian Institute Of Technology To Seek Solutions

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Embattled institute to seek solutions

Jutarat Thipnumpa

Suriyan Panyawai

The Nation

Students fear lack of ratification of new charter will hurt work prospects

BANGKOK: -- The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) will hold a big meeting next week to try to resolve its ongoing crisis.

Members of from the AIT Board of Trustees, AIT Council, the Office of Higher Education Commission, and the Foreign Ministry will attend the meeting at AIT on October 30.

The embattled institute had enjoyed a good reputation for decades until its students staged a protest earlier this month over concerns that its degrees may not be valid for jobs in the civil service as the Thai Parliament has not yet ratified the new AIT charter.

The protest has spilled into a full-blown crisis for AIT because emerging information has showed a number of students and alumni had questioned the decision by AIT executives to press ahead with the new charter.

"AIT in fact should have used its old charter pending ratification of the new charter. Had it done so, its fresh graduates and students would have not suffered," AIT Alumni Association president Chawalit Chantararat said yesterday.

Its old charter, first used in 1967, was ratified by the Thai Parliament. However, its new charter has not been ratified yet, which has left graduates under the new charter fearing they may not be qualified to apply for jobs in Thailand's civil services.

The AIT issued its new charter for the purpose of re-establishing itself as an international organisation.

Some 30 AIT lecturers called on Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul yesterday to demand that the Foreign Ministry push AIT executives into restoring its old charter first and to amend its new charter within one month.

Department of International Organisations director general Chailert Limsomboon accepted the petition from lecturers on Surapong's behalf. He promised to help resolve AIT's problems swiftly.

Assoc Prof Noppadol Phienwej led the lecturers in submitting the petition at the ministry.

"The problems have dragged on for more than eight months already. We have to do something," Noppadol said.

The new charter has so far been ratified by 10 countries plus UN Women. Only Thailand and East Timor have yet to back it.

The Thai government stopped providing a financial subsidy to AIT after the institute adopted the new charter without ratification by the Thai Parliament. The subsidy from the Thai government is usually about Bt46 million per year.

Noppadol said the new charter deprived Thailand of its status as chair of the AIT management committee but still required the Thai government to provide a subsidy to the institute.

Other countries participating in the AIT are allowed to provide voluntary subsidies.

Speaking separately, both Noppadol and Chawalit expressed concerns about AIT's financial stability. Both said the institute would have just Bt32 million in cash left by the end of December.

According to Noppadol, the AIT has expenses of about Bt50 million a month. Acting spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Damrong Krai-kruan said the AIT crisis would have to be resolved via legal means. He denied that money was the main problem in the crisis. "It's just that the legislation process takes time," he said.

Chawalit said the crisis would not be solved easily because the AIT executives still fiercely stood by its decision to use the new charter. Moreover, he questioned AIT's move to conduct under-graduate courses in competition with local educational institutes.

"Given that AIT has received subsidies/donations from governments/charity organisations, it is unfair for AIT to compete this way," he said.

-- The Nation 2012-10-23

[jbsears]

The last two paragraphs concern me. Chawalit states that it is unfair for AIT to compete with local institutions in undergraduate education. Competition is good. It will make the local institutions up their game. There should also be nothing keeping these other institutions from receiving donations for themselves; that is probably the main job of the dean of an educational institution.