AIT needs to move forward, says Prof Said Irandoust

Professor Said Irandoust, President of
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), has never been one to run away
from challenges.

Embroiled in the fight of his career due to a natural disaster and
soon followed by the political and governance turmoil AIT has suffered
over the past year, he says this is not the time you will see him turn
away from a challenge.

In view of his mandate ending in July 2013 and his legacy for the
future, in an unprecedented, open and in-depth interview with Professor
Irandoust, the man discusses his life, his passions and all the issues
facing the institute that he heads here in Thailand. Over two hours the
President explained everything from the conspiracy theories, attacks
and present status of AIT. What happened – and why.

He is known across campus for his bright colored blazers – always with
a green AIT badge pinned onto it. He quips there is no point being
boring and wearing boring clothes. He believes that it’s good to be
colorful and lively on the campus of an international university. He is
also known for being a strong leader not afraid of making tough
decisions – when necessary; he says that is just the way he is.

The AIT president speaks in a measured way – his almost melodious
accent – a mixture of his birthplace Tabriz and home for more than
twenty five years, Sweden – punctuates his words. It is instantly
apparent that he is friendly and open. But when asked about recent
tribulations facing him and AIT, he is instantly serious and resolute.
His message is strong –AIT needs to move forward, I have done my duty
and I need to see to it that AIT’s future is transitioned transparently
to competent hands, through direction of its governing body. It’s this
determined side of his personality that he says he has always had, even
from a very young age. You can tell he is uniquely passionate and
protective of the institute he has worked at for over seven years and
when speaking he never falters.

Challenges are unavoidable tests for leaders and he has always been
prepared for that. The problem with challenges is that they are
unpredictable and one must be always ready – and when it comes to
ensuring AIT’s future, Professor Irandoust has fought with passion and
diligence.

A Happy Childhood in an Unstable Place

Born in Tabriz located in the Azerbaijani province in the North West
corner of Iran, Said ethnically is an Azerbaijani-Turk. He hails from a
middle class family, where his father was an academician who worked in
management for colleges and high schools.

“In my family education was always important. My mother paid lots of
attention to issues relating to education and becoming independent
through skills and education. So for me it was natural that I would be
serious about my studies. I was always ambitious at school,” Said
recalls.

Between two older brothers and one younger sister he says he worked
hard to gain his brothers’ respect and in return was lumped with their
household chores.

“I had to do the hard work because as the youngest boy everything was
delegated to me. I chopped bread in the morning for breakfast and all
those kinds of things. But it makes one independent from an early age
too. I always liked to work hard and have ambition. I have only good
memories of my childhood.”

At age 17 he entered Tabriz University to study chemistry and
sciences, but the political unrest in Iran at the time began to close
in.

“I only attended classes for three or four days because Iran at that
time was going through huge turbulence. University management decided
to close down the classes and my parents recommended me to move to
another university in a new country.”

The teen was caught in the midst of the 1979 Iranian revolution which
overthrew the Pahlavi dynasty under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and
replaced it with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini,
the leader of the revolution.

“I was in the middle of everything when the upheaval started. For me
it was quite exciting because you could feel things changing and the
general population believed the changes would be for the better.”
His brother was already studying in Sweden and Said’s parents
organized for him to follow due to the chaos.

Academic Life and Scholarly Progress in Sweden

Said left Iran on the very last flight of SAS in January 1979, to a
snowy Sweden.
“Everything was very exciting for me but my main focus was always
study. My parents had sacrificed to send me here to study so that’s
what I needed to do. I started studying chemical engineering at one of
the best universities in Europe, Chalmers University of
Technology.”

Shackled with having to learn a new language, his hard work however
allowed him to complete his Combined Bachelor/Masters degree six months
early. He went onto study his PhD in Chemical Reaction
Engineering.

“That was known as the hardest subject at that time but I liked it
because it was a challenge. In 1989 I graduated with a Ph.D. on the
topic of monolithic reactors.”

After leaving Sweden for Post-doc in Canada to attend Ontario’s
Waterloo University he was soon invited back to Chalmers in Sweden as
an assistant professor.

“After four years, I was promoted to associate professor. Then in 1998
I was promoted to the rank of full professor. I was 38 at that time so
it was a big honor. A year later I was appointed as Vice President for
Chalmers. Just twenty years back I had to a new country to study and
now I was vice president of the same university, so it showed me
everything is possible if you have ambition and do hard work.”

In 2001 he was offered the Vice Chancellor position for Boras
University, Sweden and remained there for four and half successful
years.
“My task was to build up the research strength of the
university. We did a good job. In four-five years we were able to
significantly raise the standard of research and today Boras is widely
recognized in certain research areas.”

Arrival at AIT and Immediate Crisis

It was at this point that the opportunity arose for the Presidency at
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). Founded in 1959 as SEATO Graduate
School of Engineering, AIT began with a mission to develop highly
qualified and committed professionals who will play a leading role in
the sustainable development of the region and its integration into the
global economy.

Celebrating its golden jubilee in 2009, AIT is renowned in Thailand
and the ASEAN region as a high-ranking university with international
leanings. Former alumni include Her Highness Princess Maha Chakri
Sirindhorn, Minister of transportation and Communications for China,
Mao Chi-kuo and former Thai Army Chief, Boonsrang Niumpradit. It was
this prestigious history that attracted Said.

“I started at AIT on July 1, 2005. When the opportunity came I was
excited, the region was growing and dynamic, so I wanted to be
here.”

Once again challenges came knocking on his door as soon as he arrived
at AIT.
“In 2005, very few people were aware that AIT was almost bankrupt. I
had to implement a number of very difficult decisions – nothing you
wish to do as a new president. I had to cut salaries and rightsize by
230 people and also outsource some functions.”

“I have always been goal oriented – from childhood. But consensus must
prevail when it comes to leading an organization. Of course I listen to
everyone but you also realize that somebody needs to take the unpopular
decisions. Do you save 200 jobs or do you risk the jobs of 1000?
Sometimes you have to choose between the bad and the very bad. I was
not scared to take the tough decisions. That’s me. I like challenges. I
always like to make things better.”

It was these tough decisions that Said says invariably saved the
Institute.

“The institute was in financial deficit for a number of years before I
came in mid-2005. However, by end of 2006 we were in balance
financially. By the end of 2009, from starting with nothing, we had
built up a reserve of almost 550 million baht through the changes we
implemented.”

“We also began to analyze AITs financial problems. It was established
in 1959 as a cold war political project but when the cold war ended –
everything changed in the world. I realized that AIT had not adjusted
to this new reality.”

AIT was unique and privileged in the higher education landscape of the
time, but over the years, competition emerged as Asian countries
started to build their own national higher education infrastructure and
systems.
After stabilizing AIT financially, in 2006, under the guidance of the
Board of Trustees and as directed by the then Executive Committee, Said
and his administration started to develop the ‘Strategy 2013’ to expand
the institute’s capabilities.

“We decided to be complimentary to national universities in Thailand
and in the region. This meant developing programs that were needed such
as professional master programs and professional doctorate programs.
And strengthening areas that were already performing well. So we
started the Center of Excellence on Sustainable Development in the
context of climate change and other similar innovative
initiatives.”

“Under guidance of the Executive Committee, we also started to explore
a new funding model for AIT. One where AIT could be scaled up with
satellite campuses in many countries, feeding into the mother campus,
starting of undergraduate programs, exploring possibilities to starting
online education platforms, engaging more dynamically with the public
and private sector, etc.”

The Legal Status That Changed Everything

AIT’s founders established AIT as an international organization in
character but the process to consolidate AIT as an international
organization under international law was never completed. This meant
that AIT never had clear owners and clearly responsible governing body.
In the meantime, the host country Thailand also enjoyed significant
economic and social development since 1959, signaling international
donors who perceive AIT as a Thai institute, to stop funding AIT.
During this period, Thailand had to bear a big share of the financial
support to
AIT.

While alternative models of sustainability for AIT were being
explored, organized and implemented, an important feature of ensuring
that AIT had a well-defined legal status was also already underway from
2004. One that would upgrade the status of AIT, and also make it more
relevant to work with the public and private sector. It was Said’s
responsibility to carry this through as per the direction provided by
the host country Thailand and the Board of Trustees of AIT.

“The idea started before my time in 2004 by the former Prime Minister
of Thailand who was the Chairman of AIT, H. E. Mr. Anand Panyarachun.
When I came in 2005 I simply took over this work under the direction of
the Board of Trustees and the chairmen of that time, H.E. Mr. Anand
Panyarachun and subsequently H. E. Dr. Tej Bunnag.

The process was led by the government of Thailand because they
realized that AIT can be more useful for Thailand if it is
international and intergovernmental in its status.”
“We actively worked
with our board to make sure AIT has the legal status of the
inter-governmental international organization just like the United
Nations University and other UN agencies – because our mandate is
similar.

The benefits of having the legal rank of an international,
intergovernmental Institute as outlined in the new and now embattled
charter that came into force on 30 January 2012, are clear for
Professor Irandoust.

“The whole idea was to affirm AIT’s internationality and to promote
Thailand, the host country of AIT, as a regional education hub just
like Singapore.”

It took until August 2010 to finalize this new charter that recognized
AIT as an intergovernmental organization, as was the vision of the
founders in 1959. And this was seemingly straightforward in the
beginning says Said.

“This was finalized, adopted, signed and endorsed by the host country,
Thailand. The government of Thailand then opened up the charter to be
signed internationally and twelve countries and one international
organization signed it in a ceremony organized by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs Thailand on 25 August 2010. And as per the norms laid
down by the charter, as soon as five countries ratified through their
parliament or legal systems, then six months after that, AIT will
become operational as an international organization.”

The fifth country to ratify the Charter was Pakistan which deposited
its instrument of ratification with the Thai government on 29 July
2011. Six months after that was January 30, 2012. From that day
onwards, as directed by the then Board of Trustees and as directed by
the Thai government, and as per the transitory provisions of the
charter, AIT started to operate as an international intergovernmental
organization. However, with the same functions and objectives as was
laid down when AIT was established in 1959 and as laid down by the
charter of 1967. “For us it was a great day because we felt it was
recognition of our fifty years in Thailand and would provide us new
opportunities.”

But just before the January instatement of the charter, problems had
already started to brew for Irandoust and AIT. First, the disastrous
floods of 2011 completely inundated the AIT campus. The whole AIT
campus was underwater and all residents were evacuated – this was the
biggest crisis in the university’s history.

“We lost everything – there was three meters of water on campus. After
fighting the floods for three weeks, on 21st October 2011 we were
forced to evacuate because there was just too much water. It was a very
scary time. But immediately the day after evacuation we started to
function from new places and locations. Students graduated in January
2012 with only a few weeks delay, in spite of the academic functions of
the institute remaining closed for over 6 weeks, during the flood
time.
“It was a great success in that sense. But only six days after
AIT was submerged and evacuated and we were struggling to survive, and
a massive attack of false accusations started against us.”

“Anonymous emails full of slander, libel and false accusations were
circulated, while assaults were also initiated via social media. It was
this anonymity that made it hard to track down the real culprits. After
a while, some sections of the AIT Alumni Association Thailand started
promoting the same anonymous attacks and initiated more attacks of
their own. Disgruntled people from the past also started to support
these attacks.”
But Said says he has heard rumors about the different motives why they
moved to strike AIT, when AIT was on its knees.

“We can still only speculate on the motives. Some people have
indicated that there are reasons to believe it’s about money. Whoever
they are, knew AIT would get compensation from the government after the
floods and insurance for the damage. So if they could somehow force
management to work with them through threats, some of the flood payouts
would simply be put in certain pockets.

“Their tactic probably was to pressure me to resign so that they put
someone they like in my place to collaborate with them and start to
work with them. But of course we would not do that. I have a
responsibility to AIT and as its Chief Executive I had to ensure that
AIT’s best interests are always put first.”

The types of accusations leveled at Said and his administration at
this point, Said says were simply “ludicrous.”
“Any decision we made, they opposed and connected it to a conspiracy.
There were allegations like we are “selling” AIT to private companies,
that I purposely flooded AIT to destroy evidence. These allegations
were false but damaging. You cannot imagine how bad and incorrect these
attacks were,” Said grimaces. “I knew it was not true so I had to focus
on my task of flood rehabilitation. It was one of the toughest periods
in my life.”
The timing of the attacks made it clear to Said that these groups were
not friends of AIT especially when they were utilizing the huge
weakness due to the floods and putting the most fragile constituents of
AIT – the students – as hostages.

“If they were sincerely worried for AIT they would have tried to save
the institute first.”
Amid all tensions, the charter came into force in late January 2012
and the campus was re-opened for living in late February. It was at
this time that some people started openly opposing the charter using a
nationalistic vein saying that AIT should remain under Thailand’s
control.

“In my opinion there are two very dangerous things that can be used
for any purpose – good or bad. One is religion, the other is
nationalism,” Said says.

But it was in May 2012 that Said says he was completely blindsided
when the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs abandoned all efforts to
ratify the AIT Charter due to a “letter of complaint” (sic) filed by
the AIT Alumni Association Thailand Chapter. AIT has 27 Alumni
Association Chapters and one mother chapter.

“Based on that letter we were informed that the government will not
release any form of rehabilitation funds for AIT – nor any scholarship
budget that was about 130 million baht annually. And they will not
process the ratification of the new AIT Charter. Suddenly, even though
we were promised that we would not have any problem with our new
charter during the transition phase and until Thailand ratifies the new
charter, they said since we have not ratified, you can’t operate in
Thailand. They said either we get back to the old charter or we are
illegal and AIT degrees are invalid in Thailand.”

A sore point for the President is that he still doesn’t know to this
day what was written in the complaint letter. Something he says is
unheard of in such a case.

“The first thing we did was to ask for the letter to be disclosed so
we could clarify the issues raised. There were three serious decisions
made about AIT without disclosing the letter. We still do not know what
was in that letter and we are still suffering because of its
implications.
“Students were rightly worried because someone is
questioning their degree. It’s the same professors, same students, the
same quality – why are you questioning the validity of the
degree?”

The precarious situation became such that the new charter was not
ratified by the Thai government and the degrees held no validity in
Thailand. With the previously approved budget of 292 million for flood
repairs and another 200 million estimated to reach them also now
frozen, Said and his team mobilized many different means to address the
situation.

“Since the then Board of Trustees had dissolved itself on 25 January
2012 and AIT was instructed to work under the AIT Council, comprised of
nine countries who had already ratified the new charter. The AIT
Council could have met formally and charted a course forward for AIT.
But out of respect for the host country, in the very first meeting, the
AIT Council decided that they would wait for Thailand to ratify the
charter and join the Council and until then they would not take any
strategic decision relating to AIT. However, since the problems
escalated in an unforeseen manner, AIT worked with these nine countries
to seriously dialogue with Thailand and find a solution that was in the
best interest of the students. This was a very delicate issue
concerning international law, Thai government’s interpretation of the
situation and the commitment of sovereign states. This issue could only
be solved through opened the door to dialogue, mediation and pragmatic
solutions according to the Asian ways.”

Although, the people who lodged the complaint against AIT never
disclosed their secret complaint letter, a consistent attack that Said
and AIT kept on receiving, which was vociferously promoted by some
members of the AIT Thai alumni association through mainstream and
social media, was that Said was trying to “sell” AIT.
Said laughs off this allegation.“Have you ever heard of anyone being
able to “sell” an international intergovernmental organization? How
much more ridiculous can allegations become?

“AIT was facing serious financial trouble and with stop gap measures
we implemented immediately after my becoming President, the institute
was able to survive. However, AIT also needed a long-term plan for its
sustainability. So the then Board of Trustees and the then Executive
Committee employed independent consultants to conduct studies on the
higher learning arena in the region and how AIT should move forward. As
also recommended by this study, undergraduate programs were initiated
at AIT, which was completely endorsed by the then Board of Trustees and
the then Executive Committee. This received a lot of flak from some
sections of the Thai alumni association because they probably thought
we were impacting their business.

“As per the recommendations of the study, and under the guidance of
the BoT, we were looking into developing satellite campuses around Asia
and beyond, and also at possible online education platforms. AIT did
not have the resources to do this and we looked for soft loans. There
were none were available. Public-Private partnership was one of the
possibilities. After weighing all these options, the then Board and the
Executive Committee guided AIT to sign an exploratory MoU with Laureate
Education Inc., co-signed by myself and the Executive Committee
Chairperson.

“In 2008, AIT invited expressions of interest based on which three
companies responded. Of the three organizations who had applied with
interest, Laureate Education Inc., whose Honorary Chancellor is Bill
Clinton, former President of USA, was the strongest and had the kind of
profile that AIT was looking for. Hence, a non-binding MoU was signed
to explore possible partnership. However, the same section of the Thai
alumni association started the attacks that AIT was being sold. The MoU
expired on 31st January 2012.”

Discussions about exploration of possible partnership with Laureate
Education Inc. had begun in 2008. In spite of everything being clearly
laid on the table, some Thai alumni who had previous business
associations with Laureate were not happy that AIT was in discussion
with Laureate as a partner.

“An institution cannot run on the whims and fancy of some disgruntled
alumni,” Said bemoans. “The Board and the Executive Committee were
clear about this and things were moving forward to get a new funding
model in place so that AIT could be sustainable. But all this was
stopped because some powerful alumni were unhappy.”

AIT needs to move forward

So how does the man who has headed up the faculty for seven and a half
years feel about the turn of events affecting the university he is so
proud of?

“It’s frustrating. It’s very difficult to address all the rumors
because there is so much misinformation and the attacks are so well
organized with allegations and they are using social media which makes
it quick to travel, hard to verify and hard to aptly respond
to.“Everything went well for my administration in terms of performance,
results and achievements. We saved AIT from bankruptcy, introduced new
initiatives such as under graduate programs, integrated bachelor and
masters programs, professional masters and doctorates and strengthened
the research profile of the institute. We had a very stable and growing
financial base and we had good plans for the future.”

With all this debate surrounding the new charter, he is however clear
that the intergovernmental status makes AIT ensure its future and
differentiate it from other universities.

“Thailand doesn’t need another national university – there are a great
number of good national universities. What Thailand needs are different
types of higher education institutes – like AIT. If they succeed to
convert AIT to a Thai foundation then I would say AIT is gone. The
reason I say that is because AIT’s “DNA” has always been international
in character. And we wanted to also give it a legal status to match
that. The new charter would open new doors for AIT in terms of
partnership and recognition in wider areas.”

Said says the biggest proponents of the new charter for AIT were not
just him but high profile Thais – former Prime Minister and former
Chairman of the Board of Trustees, H.E. Mr. Anand Panyarachun and H. E.
Dr. Tej Bunnag, also a former Chairman of the BoT and former Foreign
Minister of Thailand.

“This idea came about around 2004 under the chairmanship of Khun Anand
who had a clear vision for AIT. He realized the benefit of an
international AIT for Thailand. The new charter entered into force in
2012, so it’s been a process of many years.”

Said travelled to many donor countries with Dr. Tej to promote AIT and
to seek funding for AIT. However, they were convinced that AIT will not
receive funding in the traditional way and upgrading AIT’s status to
that of an international intergovernmental organization was one of the
very few ways in which donors would continue to engage with AIT.

“With Thailand no longer eligible to receive donors money, especially
from OECD countries, AIT in turn could not receive donation from
governments because of AIT’s unclear legal status. AIT is still
treated, in legal terms, as a Thai institution by donors and they will
not fund a Thai institution.”

“Both Khun Anand and Dr. Tej are great individuals who have done a lot
for Thailand. If they have fought so much for a new charter for AIT it
means it is the right strategy. These two great men would never do
anything against the interest of Thailand. One of the main reasons
people are interested to study at AIT and for partnerships is AIT’s
neutrality and internationality. Once a university is recognized as
international then it’s also a sign of a certain quality.
“Dr Tej told
me one day, if anything negative happens to AIT the biggest loser will
be Thailand because the host country has benefitted the most from AIT.
Thailand has spent and invested so much for 53 years. It’s a mutual
win-win situation – if AIT is damaged or hurt, Thailand is hurt.”

Said says that defining the legal status of AIT doesn’t come in
isolation – his administration also developed a plan to ensure
long-term financial sustainability for AIT.

“AIT can be structured to be a resource and to manage our own revenue
generation. We only need facilitation from the governments. AIT needs
to be seen as a resource by governments and not as a burden. With
proper systems and strategies in place, this can be made
possible.”

With half of the approximate 500 million baht insurance fund now
released to AIT, Said has also focused on rebuilding. But without being
able to cover the 1 billion baht damage bill AIT is still walking a
precarious path.
“We have already done a lot of renovation work. I can promise you that
by the end of 2012, the academic and administrative part of AIT will be
in a better shape than it was before the flood.”

With his Presidency ending officially in June 2013, Said has many
things planned for AIT before he leaves including two huge
Sustainability and Green Business events. He also wants to leave AIT
with the new charter instated and also the business model he created in
2009 for AIT to create its own funds. This would see AIT spread into
many Asian and African countries with satellite campuses.

And even though still facing potentially trying times ahead as he
tries to navigate the storm surrounding him and the institute he loves,
Said remains positive and up for the challenge as always.

“I think we have fulfilled our promises to AIT. I could never resign
when the institute was under its most difficult time. Its not me, its
not ethical, its not professional. My intention has always been to do
what is good for AIT. And I will always continue to do so. But now, it
is time that a robust transition plan is put in place and I look
forward to working this out with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Thailand and the Board and other members of the sovereign states who
have already ratified the new charter to make AIT international and
intergovernmental. AIT needs to move forward.”

Source:
http://www.bangkokbusinessbrief.com/2013/01/14/professor-said-irandoust-ait-needs-to-move-forward/#ixzz2I0JAQwgl