Made in the image of Thailand

There was no rush in AIT to create an inter-governmental organisation. The process took more than four years after its initiation by the Board of Trustees. The then Board included the president of the AIT Alumni Association and several distinguished Thai members, representatives from the Commission of Higher Education of Thailand, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and ambassadors of stake-holding countries. The new charter was negotiated under the chairmanship of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with AIT as observer. It was signed on August 25, 2010, and Dr Subin was present on the occasion. Following normal international legal procedures, the charter came into force on January 30, 2012.

The attainment of this status is a great achievement for both AIT and Thailand. Our regret is that the host country, which is the depository of its charter, has not ratified and become a member, and has not presented a new Enabling Act to the National Assembly even though as recently as December 27, 2011 the Cabinet had agreed to do so.

The international character of AIT is not “new”, since AIT was originally created as the SEATO Graduate School of Engineering, which had always enjoyed recognition as an international institution in Bangkok.

There is no hidden agendum to bring the Laureate Group into partnership with AIT. A non-binding memorandum of understanding was signed between AIT and Laureate on September 30, 2011 to explore a possible strategic partnership, and try to define the broad parameters of a potential partnership.  The matter of public private partnership (PPP) had been under discussion for years in the Board of Trustees. There was a consensus on the need to explore a new financial model to sustain AIT in the years to come. The exploration did not reach any conclusion and as of January 30, the MOU between AIT and Laureate has ceased.  AIT has always insisted that it is a non-profit organisation; this is clearly stated in the new charter.

AIT has been supported by Thailand and numerous other countries since it came into existence. Now when the day has arrived for Thailand and AIT to become truly international players in the field of higher education, there are attempts to throttle it. We wonder if there is a hidden agendum behind this movement.

We quote the exact words from the vision of the Thai government as stated by the minister of foreign affairs during the signing of the charter on August 25 2010:  “As signatory to the new AIT charter and host country of the institute, Thailand would be in a position to guide the policy and direction of the AIT to help advance Thailand’s national strategy for technical assistance to neighbouring countries and those in South Asia, and to promote human development including research and development of science and technology as well as the social and economic development of Thailand and of countries in the region.”

That is the vision that we strive for.

The Institute has been hosted by Thailand for more than 50 years since its inception, and made significant contributions to Thailand and the region. AIT’s image is the image of Thailand and it is in the interest of Thailand to ratify the new charter, so that AIT can become the flagship of Thailand’s international higher education.

 

Tej Bunnag, former foreign minister of Thailand, was the chairman of the former board of trustees of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). Professor Said Irandoust is president of AIT.