Investing in people

The scholarship allowed Daniya to get her foot in the door at the Phillips Exeter Academy, a preparatory school in New Hampshire. Later, it became her passport to the prestigious Yale University’s department of psychology. At Yale, Daniya is now in the middle of a four-year undergraduate course. She then plans to move on to law school.

About 120 kilometres away in New York, Tara Chalermsongsak is also studying thanks to a scholarship. After winning a bronze medal from the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) in 2001, Tara was automatically granted a scholarship — sponsored by the Institute for Promoting for Teaching Science and Technology — to study physics in the US. Tara is now a third-year undergraduate student at Columbia University.

Daniya’s and Tara’s situations are more common than many people may realise. In fact, up to 260 government scholarships, including the King’s Scholarship awards, are available for open competition among Thai nationals.

Administered through “Kor Por” — known formally as the office of the Civil Service Commission (OCSC) — the scholarships are regarded as an investment in people by the government. The idea is that Thai nationals gain valuable knowledge and experience overseas and then bring their skills back into Thailand.

Punroung Puntuhong, director of the Education and Training Abroad branch of Kor Por, explains: “We think of these students as government assets, and we believe that this ‘human capital investment’ helps the government to develop top-quality brains and human resources for our country.”

Labelling students as “assets” or “resources” may sound a little harsh to Thai ears. However, the processes that shape the requirements for these “assets” identify real gaps in knowledge and skill sets within Thai working society.

Punroung expands on this by explaining that each year, Kor Por studies the Thailand’s National Economic and Social Development Plan to determine shortfalls in specific fields of expertise. At the same time, state agencies submit petitions calling for trained experts in certain fields. Kor Por then matches the two up and assigns grant money accordingly — grant money that comes from the state agency’s annual budget.

“Recently, our studies found that 65 percent of the experts we need are in science and technology, with the other 35 percent required in social sciences such as economics and law,” Punroung says.

In general, Kor Por calls for applications from students in November or January. Specific schemes, such as scholarships for state officials or for students already studying abroad, are open a little later in the year, in June and July.

According to Punroung, most students coming in for scholarship advice at Kor Por narrow down their searches by first pinpointing a specific country — only then do they choose a subject. However, this approach can be problematic.

“Students must begin by asking themselves whether or not they have a genuine interest in the subject area that they want to apply for,” Punroung says.

This reasoning is simple: this decision will have a crucial impact on the student’s future. Under government scholarship schemes, for example, students have to return to Thailand to work in a certain state agency related to their study subject for twice as many years as the time they spent abroad.

“Young people sometimes disregard the fact that they have no interest in the subject area that they are required to take on for the next 4-10 years of their lives,” Punroung says. “They want the scholarships only because of the status.”

Other problems can arise because some students are required to apply for scholarships at a very young age — 15 in the case of some scholarships to Japan. At this young age, says Punroung, many students are still working out what to do with their lives.

This was not the case for Tara and Daniya, however. Tara decided very early on to follow in his physics professor’s footsteps.

“The scholarship assures me that I will have a job after I graduate and my professors inspired me to become a professor, so it’s not a big deal for me to work as a physics professor for 10 or more years,” he explains.

Daniya’s study plan is less structured, however, because under the King’s Scholarship scheme, she has more flexibility in where she looks for work. At the time of her scholarship application, Daniya knew only that she would have to come back to Thailand and work in any organisation that has an opening. Now, with a law degree firmly within her sights, she intends to apply for a job with the Department of Justice on her return.

The prospect of working for the government doesn’t always appeal, of course. According to Punroung, many scholarship returnees complain about low salaries and bureaucracy at work and do not follow through with their side of the scholarship “contract”. Although there is a way out — repaying all the grant money, plus a fine — many choose to disappear.

“For these people, their cases go to court and we always win,” Punroung says. “But even though we get the money back, it’s not worth it. With the lost time, we’d rather have the person back to work for us,” he adds.

When asked about the salary problem, Daniya acknowledges that money can become an issue. “But think about all the expenses that we have received for all these years,” she says. “We’re talking about a tremendous amount here. So, when we work for the government later on, it’s not just for the salary, it’s a way to pay back our gratitude.”

Tara agrees. He says that the aim of all scholarship students should be to bring something back to Thailand. “If a Thai awarded a scholarship gets the opportunity to work in the US and decides not to return to Thailand, then there was no point in sending him or her abroad in the first place.” Wise words, indeed.