The scholarships valued at 32 million Thai Baht are provided by the
Royal Thai Government (RTG) to qualified students possessing
outstanding academic qualifications from Thailand and other Asian
countries. They honour His Majesty the King of Thailand, Her Majesty
the Queen of Thailand, and Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri
Sirindhorn.
Each Master level scholarship is valued at 485,450 Thai Baht annually
for two semesters, and includes all registration fees, tuition fees,
accommodation and bursary.
Final review of the scholarship awardees was made at a meeting on 17
July 2013 involving the presence of Ms. Chadarat Singhadechakul,
Director, Bureau of International Cooperation Strategy, Office of the
Higher Education Commission (OHEC), Thailand. The selection process was
extensive, and encompassed the combined expertise of AIT faculty, staff
and an assigned task force.
Interim AIT President Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai oversaw the final
selections, and commented on the extremely high quality of the
applicants and final scholarship awardees. All applicants considered
were honors students as undergraduates and the large majority of those
selected ranked first in their graduating class from prestigious
universities in Thailand and around Asia, he said.
“AIT made every attempt to distribute the scholarships to international
applicants across as many countries in Asia as possible,” President
Worsak said.
A total of 34 people were awarded under H.M. the King’s Scholarships.
Half were granted to Thai nationals and half were awarded to applicants
from Southeast and South Asian countries. Those selected will enroll in
fields of study at the AIT School of Engineering and Technology (SET)
and AIT School of Management (SOM).
For H.M. the Queen’s Scholarships, eight Thai nationals and eight
non-Thais were awarded scholarships to study at the AIT School of
Environment, Resources and Development (SERD).
A total of 16 scholarships were awarded under the Loom Nam Khong Pijai
Scholarships named in honor of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. The
academic awards were open to citizens of the six Greater Mekong
Sub-Region (GMS) countries, including Thailand, Lao PDR, Cambodia,
Vietnam, Myanmar, and China’s southern province of Yunnan.
According to the AIT admissions Office, 332 people from Thailand and
around Asia applied for the highly coveted 66 spots. Officials said the
competition was extremely high and all applicants required a minimum of
3.50 accumulated grade point average (GPA) or equivalent to be
considered.
Of the 66 final scholarship awardees, 28 are Thai and 38 hail from 11
countries, including Bhutan. The soon-to-be AIT students under Thai
Royal Patronage include 36 females and 30 males. Scholarship awardees
are from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal,
Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.