Clarification on Factual Errors in The Nation article dated 23rd
October 2012 on the topic "Embattled institute to seek solution"
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Embattled-institute-to-seek-solutions-30192851.html
Factual Error 1: 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.
Clarification 1: AIT is holding an Institute Forum on
30th October 2012, which is an internal AIT meeting which the Institute
holds regularly. This time, the AIT administration has also invited the
AIT Council to be a part of the Institute Forum. The AIT Council has
sent a formal request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand to
convene an informal AIT stakeholders meeting resolve the current
impasse. The AIT Council is awaiting a response from the Ministry on
this.
Factual Error 2: The AIT issued its new charter for
the purpose of re-establishing itself as an international
organization.
Clarification 2: AIT cannot and did not issue a new Charter. The whole
process to upgrade AIT’s status was supervised and guided by the host
country Thailand under the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. The process to become an international intergovernmental
organization (IO) through the development of a new AIT Charter,
starting in the early-2000s with former Prime Minister of Thailand and
former Chairman of the AIT Board of Trustees, H.E. Mr. Anand
Panyarachun, leading to AIT’s most recent Chairman of the Board of
Trustees, H.E. Dr. Tej Bunnag took almost 9 years. It was the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs of Thailand that invited 13 countries and one UN
agency to sign the new Charter in 2010, and it was also the host
country Thailand that encouraged all nations to ratify.
Factual Error 3: The new charter has so far been
ratified by 10 countries plus UN Women. Only Thailand and East Timor
have yet to back it.
Clarification 3: On 25 August 2010, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Thailand, presided over the Adoption and
Signing Ceremony of the new AIT Charter. The Ceremony was held to adopt
the new AIT Charter which was opened for signature from states and
international organizations. As witnessed by over 50 representatives
from interested states and international organizations and those from
the diplomatic corps in Thailand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs
declared the adoption of the new AIT Charter, and signed the Charter on
behalf of the Royal Thai Government as authorized by the Thai Cabinet’s
decision on 4 May 2010. On that date, 12 countries and 1 International
Organization namely Thailand, the host country, Bangladesh, Cambodia,
India, Japan, Pakistan, the Philippines, Nepal, Seychelles, Sri Lanka,
Sweden, Timor-Leste, and the United Nations Development Fund for Women,
East and Southeast Asia (UNIFEM) signed the new AIT Charter. Republic
of Indonesia subsequently became the fourteenth signatory of the new
AIT Charter. To date Japan, Sweden, Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal have ratified the new AIT Charter and
our members of the AIT Council.
Factual Error 4: 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.
Clarification 4: The Thai Government contribution is
not a subsidy. The major amount of the funds are for scholarships which
go to Thai nationals. Under the 8th Cooperation Plan (2005-2009) of the
Royal Thai Government (RTG), AIT received a total of approximately 739
million Baht broken down as 128 million Baht (2005); 144 million Baht
(2006); 155 million Baht (2007); 156 million Baht (2008) and 156
million Baht (2009), mainly for scholarships.
Although the Thai Cabinet at its meeting on 8th March 2011 approved in
principle 653 million Baht under the 9th Cooperation Plan (2010-2014),
AIT has only received 95 million Baht in 2010; 40 million Baht in 2011
and 13.4 for 2012, which is a drastic reduction.
The RTG scholarship, which was put on hold, has affected AIT students.
But AIT on its part is committed to do its best to help the students as
much as possible with its small resources if necessary. AIT is morally
obliged to help them. AIT needs about 140 million Thai Baht to help
continuing students under RTG scholarship programs to complete their
studies and to graduate.
It should be added that from 2010 until 2012 AIT’s RTG budget has been
cut in total by about 225 million THB. This is unfair to AIT, its
students, faculty and staff. AIT is in regular touch with the Royal
Thai Government and the AIT Council, which now has eight member
countries.
Factual Error 5: 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.
Clarification 5: This is not true. According to the
provisions of the new AIT Charter, which has been signed by Thailand,
and approved by the Thai Cabinet under the previous and current
governments, the Chairperson of the Council is on an annual rotational
basis.
Factual Error 6: 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.
Clarification 6: The statement on the financial
figures of the Institute are totally incorrect and misleading. AIT has
always promoted openness and transparency, and as practiced will be
providing information on the current financial situation of the
Institute as well as projections for the remaining period of 2012 and
2013 scenario analysis at the 30th October 2012 Institute Forum.
Factual Error 7: 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 organizations, it is unfair for AIT to compete this
way," he said.
Clarification 7: This is totally false. The AIT
management operates under the directive and guidance of its highest
governing body i.e. the former Board of Trustees under the old Charter
and AIT Council under the new Charter. The statement on the
undergraduate programs is misleading. The deliberations on whether AIT
should enter into undergraduate programs started in May 2007, and as
recommended by the former AIT Executive Committee, the administration
developed, through an Institute-level Task Force, a broad strategy
document on the proposal for AIT to enter into undergraduate programs.
This was vetted by the former Executive Committee at its 5th November
2007 meeting, and subsequently submitted and endorsed by the Board at
its 26th November 2007 meeting, under the former Chairmanship of H.E.
Dr. Tej Bunnag. In fact Mr. Chawalit Chantararat, who is making such
statements, represented the then President of the AIT Alumni
Association General Dr. Boonsrang Niumpradit at the said meeting. AIT’s
then legal advisor Dr. Prajit Rojanaphruk had also provided a written
statement to the then Board that undertaking undergraduate programs
would not be in conflict and fell within the scope of the former AIT
Charter. Here it is important to add that the majority of the
undergraduate students are foreign nationals and some of them may
choose to pursue their graduate studies at Thai universities,
contributing towards Thailand’s ambitions of becoming a regional
educational hub.