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Crisis-Hit A I T Students Appeal To Yingluck For Help

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Crisis-hit AIT students appeal to PM for help

The Nation

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BANGKOK: -- About 20 students from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) yesterday submitted a petition at Government House calling on Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to help end the crisis that has gripped their school.

More than 100 other students, meanwhile, dressed in black and staged a rally on the campus to demand that AIT president Professor Said Irandoust step down.

"We do not trust him," one of the students said.

The crisis began when AIT's management decided to use the institute's new charter, which has yet to be ratified by Parliament. Without ratification, the status of degrees awarded by AIT is in question. Foreign staffers are also worried about their work permits, which did not require extending under the old charter.

Located in Pathum Thani, AIT employs many foreigners. About 70 per cent of its teaching staff and half of its general staff are foreign.

AIT students have been stepping up the pressure on Irandoust since Prof Shinichiro Ohgaki cancelled a meeting of the Members of the Board of Trustees scheduled for today.

The calling of the meeting had offered hope that AIT might be able to resolve the crisis soon. A key item on the agenda at the meeting was to be the finding of a new president.

AIT lecturer Donyaprueth Krairit said the planned meeting collapsed at the last minute when the AIT Council successfully persuaded Foreign Ministry permanent secretary Sihasak Phuangketkeow to reduce the number of items on the meeting agenda from seven to just two.

Ohgaki, a former vice chairman of the AIT Board, believed the two remaining agenda items would not solve the crisis, and so decided to defer the meeting.

The Board is associated with the institute's old charter, while the AIT Council is associated with the new charter.

"I don't think the AIT Council's move is appropriate," Donyaprueth said. She accused Irandoust of violating prescribed procedures in terminating the contract of the chairman of the AIT Lecturer Council, Jayant Kumar Routray.

Donyaprueth suspected that Irandoust acted against Routray after the Lecturer Council chairman voted against the AIT president at a recent meeting.

Another source at the AIT said Irandoust had warned students not to join any move against him.

AIT Alumni (International) Association chairman Chawalit Chantararat said the Foreign Ministry should ensure Irandoust complied with Thai laws.

In a letter to the AIT Council, Irandoust said he believed the ministry would facilitate the convening of a special meeting of the former AIT Board to resolve the issue of degrees and Royal Thai Government funding, with the AIT Council subsequently taking up all other issues. In the meantime, he said, Thailand should pursue its ratification of the charter.

He did not mention the call for him to step down.

Yingluck did not meet the AIT students herself yesterday. She assigned a PM's deputy secretary-general to meet with student representatives and request more information on the issue.

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-- The Nation 2012-12-12

Old charter, new charter, reshuffles, shakedowns, crackdowns, rewrites, seems like a same old same old Thai story.

Another institution in crisis.. how much more does Thailand have to suffer or tolerate under this regime

wait please children I have to check with my brother

If they really want Yingluck's help they would do better asking for fashion advice.

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