The hosts introduced the segment by telling listeners about the
developing story on the Asian Institute of Technology, which recently
had been experiencing many difficulties and challenges, given the fact
that it just introduced a new charter which had not been recognized by
the Government. Many local media have reported that students’ degrees
from the institute will no longer be recognized, they added.
President Irandoust confirmed that he has been president for 7
years, since the old charter was in force.
Asked what was happening with AIT, he said that just like many other
academic institutions AIT was working with tremendous challenges, as it
continues to make sure it can continue to remain very relevant, very
competitive in the region, for the benefit of the region and
beyond.
The president said that AIT also faced challenges related to flood
of 2011, and how to act responsible and completely renovate and relieve
the campus, which was totally destroyed because of the floods. He
added: And also we are trying very hard to find a new funding model
because AIT has for many years been completely dependent on donor
countries and now we need, for a number of reasons, to shift from being
donor funded institute to a more self-sustained institute. So of
course, we are facing different kinds of challenges, but I am confident
that with the support of our many students, faculty staff and alumni,
we are able to handle all these important challenges.”
Referring to a recent reports about AIT in the Thai media and one in
particular in Manager saying: “AIT Kam Lang Ja Tai”, which means “it’s
going to go down the drain”, the hosts emphasized that AIT is an
academic institution that is renowned in the Asia Pacific region, and
the reports would seem to be severely damaging to the reputation of
AIT, affecting candidates as well as students who are looking into
furthering their academic studies in AIT. Following up on a comment
from the President that flooding was a problem, the host said that the
president had said earlier that AIT was insured and was cleaning up the
infrastructure. Asked about this, and the fact that there was hardly
any flooding this year, the host mentioned that flooding was likely not
really the issue.
President Irandoust replied that because the insurance money
actually started to be released quite recently, it was an issue.
He went on to say that because of the fact that AIT had its flood
rehabilitation budget not release by its host country, the Royal Thai
Government, AIT was not able to start working on the rehabilitation of
the campus. AIT had to start a bit later because of the limitation it
faced with the budget for renovation. He said: “But at the same time,
AIT is moving forward, we continue to do what we are best at, meaning
that we provide high international standard quality education to
students from more than 50 countries. So of course, the flood has been
an issue but we move forward and we are quite optimistic that we will
be able to handle the challenges we are facing currently.”
The host commented that alarm bells wouldn’t be ringing or flashing
without the complaints that were fired by AIT alumni to the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, and that all of a sudden AIT had come up with a new
Charter. The host asked why it was necessary for the new charter since
the old charter was already very good.
President Irandoust replied: “Yes, the new charter is actually meant
to upgrade the status of AIT, so it’s an upgrade of the old charter. So
it means it is indeed stronger and better for AIT, the new charter.
It’s an amendment of the old charter, it’s an upgrade of old charter.
An international intergovernmental status which is provided to AIT by
this new charter, this amended charter, is recognition of AIT’s
contribution to Thailand and the region for more than 50 years. It’s a
very unique recognition; there are very few academic institutions in
the world having this kind of international intergovernmental status.
And it will provide AIT with additional opportunities to act as an
institute of higher learning in Thailand and beyond Thailand in Asia,
in Africa and so on. So for many of us, for our alumni, students,
faculty and staff, this is a recognition of AIT.”
Inquiring if it was an efficient charter, the host asked why
the budget for flood rehabilitation of 293 million Baht or the
scholarship support of 225 million Baht wasn’t approved by the Ministry
of Education.
“You mentioned it yourself, it is because of the letter of complaint
from the AIT Alumni Association Thailand Chapter,” President Irandoust
said. “Unfortunately, although we have requested to have access
to these complaints so we can actually clarify the issues and
misunderstandings properly, we have not been able to have access to
this letter of complaint. So as soon as this letter is available for
AIT Administration and AIT Council, we will be able to clarify any
issue, which might be there and try to make sure that there is no
misunderstanding between AIT and the Royal Thai Government.”
The host said that according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, AIT
is not governed by a Council. The Board of Trustees is the rightful
governing body. The president was asked to explain this point.
President Irandoust replied, saying that there are currently
different opinions on which charter is governing AIT currently. “This
is an issue between the Governments of the nine countries of the new
Council; the nine sovereign countries who backed the charter under the
request of the Thai government and our host country Thailand. So this
is an issue which they are discussing and I hope that the issue will be
resolved very soon,” he stressed.
The hosts made the point that as AIT now had a group of alumni going
forward to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of
Education saying that AIT is illegal, it would be very difficult for
the Council of the new committee, and the credibility of the committee
itself, to get the approval from the Thai Government for any flood
rehabilitation or scholarship grants.
President Irandoust replied: “We don't believe that this is the role
of any alumni association. Let me mention that many alumni associations
in other countries in Nepal, in Vietnam, in Sri Lanka, in India, etc,
they tried very hard and they pushed their governments to ratify the
new intergovernmental AIT charter as soon as possible which they did,
by the request of the host country Thailand. And once again many Thai
alumni, perhaps Thailand majority, want to see AIT succeed by its great
heritage also under this intergovernmental charter. So this is a few
individuals who are having probably different opinions than majority of
alumni, students and former board of trustees and the current council.
But again, they have created probably a misunderstanding among the
different authorities of Thailand. As I mentioned the nine countries of
the new council, they are in dialogue with our host country Thailand,
and I am confident that this issue will be resolved very soon.”
The hosts clarified that President Irandoust was the AIT president
under the previous charter. They asked if it was correct to say that at
the moment he was the AIT President under the Council as well.
“Correct,” the president said. “The new council gave the right
authority to AIT to decide all the issues related to management of AIT,
including selection of the new president in the near future.”
The host made the point that before any institute or any company or
anybody or any organization were to “make a decision to rectify or to
upgrade or to change its charter or regulations whatsoever” those
persons should consider any possible setbacks. They asked the President
if he had thought through these potential setbacks with the new
charter, since it would draw complaints and protests from the old
alumni. They asked if he had ever thought that with the new charter it
would create trouble for the AIT itself.
The president replied that this was unexpected. He added: “As I
mentioned, our alumni worldwide are very supportive, are very proud of
this new recognition of AIT, this upgrade of the status of AIT. So this
is a local problem in Thailand among few individuals. But you have to
realize that in the changing world, AIT must also change and evolve in
order to be able to continue to grow and develop and remain relevant
and confident.”
They followed up by asking if the president had not thought
beforehand, that an organization like AIT needs to survive with
sufficient funds, that if AIT were to come up with a new charter it
would likely have setbacks and that the Ministry of Education and the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs would not recognize AIT and that AIT would
become illegal.
“Let me remind you that this new charter was developed under the
supervision of the old Board of Trustees and under the supervision and
guidance of our host countries Thailand. The whole process of
developing a new charter, its endorsement, and so on, was endorsed by
the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the host country Thailand,” the
president replied.
The hosts then said that they had checked with a source from the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs who said that AIT did not ask for
permission, and that AIT just decided for itself that it wanted a new
charter and it was not recognized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
They added that the source indicated it would have influence on those
old alumni because their degrees would not be recognized by state
agencies.
“This is not correct, President Irandoust answered. “ AIT’s new
charter which is an amendment of the old charter was supervised by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Thailand, the former government of Thailand
on the 25th of August, 2010. (They) endorsed the charter, adopted the
charter, opened the charter for signatories, invited other governments
to sign and ratify the charter. Even the current government endorsed
the charter, 27th on December 2011.”
The host sought clarification from the president as to whether the
ex-Minister of Foreign affairs Mr. Kasit had endorsed it and approved
the new Charter, along with the present Mr. Supong as well. If that was
so, the host asked, then both the administrations of Prime Minister
Abhisit and Prime Minister Yingluck would have endorsed and recognized
the new charter. The host asked: “Why wasn’t the fund approved by the
Ministry of Education since it's a state agency?”
President Irandoust replied: “As I mentioned, we have received
official communication from authorities from our host country Thailand,
that the process of ratification of the charter by host country has
been stopped because of the letter of complaint from the alumni
association Thailand chapter. This was communicated to AIT and its new
council in written from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of
Thailand.”
The hosts asked what the President was doing to move forward, and
how he was going to address these issues.
“It’s very important for AIT to continue to have support from its host
country Thailand,” he said. “Thailand is a very important country for
AIT as our host country. It’s like a mother for AIT. So we need the
continued support of Thailand. And the nine member countries of the new
council, they are in dialogue, as I mentioned, with the host country
Thailand and I am confident that the government will be able to resolve
the situation, the problem and the misunderstandings.”
The hosts asked how quickly he thought the Ministry of Education
would approve the fund of 293 Million Baht and 225 Million baht for
scholarship and the flood, noting that if one were to add both figures
it totals approximately 600 Million Baht. They said if the Education
Ministry were listening at the moment, and about more than 50% have
agreed that they would not let go of the fund, it is just aggravating
to AIT.
President Irandoust said that he was confident that the situation
will be resolved; that the problem will be resolved very soon and be
clarified as it was caused by the letter of complaint from the Alumni
Association, Thailand Chapter. He added that the nine countries
of the new AIT Council are in dialogue with the Minister of Foreign
Affairs of AIT’s host country Thailand.
The hosts asked if it was true that Thai students who graduate from
AIT will not have their degrees recognized by the Thai Government.
The president said: “The completion of the AIT degree is a natural
quality of AIT programs. The quality of our offerings is continuously
being improved. The new AIT intergovernmental charter is even
increasing the status and recognition of the degrees worldwide. And I
would also like to mention that there are a number of members from the
Royal Thai Government graduating from AIT since the new charter came
into course as of February 2012. We have been invited just recently to
participate in the Office of the Civil Service Commission of Thailand,
for international institutions.
He cited examples that showed AIT was working effectively with the
Government of Thailand. “We are educating individuals from the Royal
Thai Government funded programs,” he said. “Just recently we had a
public management executive development program for the Ministry of
Interior of Thailand.”
The hosts asked if by January 2013, AIT would run out of money,
which was something that had been reported in the local media.
“AIT will continue to function for many, many years from now. We
just celebrated our 53rd anniversary and I can promise you that we will
celebrate [many more].”