Return on investment

Tara Chalermsongsak, a student studying under a "Kor Por" scholarship, is taking physics at Columbia University.

In the first part of this series, learning post investigated the types of scholarship available to Thai students from the government as well as the Kings’ Scholarship scheme.

The office of the Civil Service Commission, known informally as “Kor Por”, administers government scholarships. By liaising with state agencies —which fund the scholarships — Kor Por identifies areas of expertise in which Thailand is experiencing a shortfall and matches scholarships specifically to those areas.

The relevant state agency responsible then funds the scholarship from its annual budget, also providing for students’ living expenses, which range according to the city size and cost of living. In the US, this amounts to $1,000-$1,400 per month (approximately 40,000-56,000 baht), while in the UK, it ranges between approximately £735 and £830 (50,000-58,000 baht).

This year, the number of students studying abroad under Kor Por’s supervision amounts to more than 6,000, the majority of which prefer to study in three countries: the US (28.4 percent), the UK (16.6 percent) and Japan (11.7 percent).

However, such state-sponsored scholarships require students to return to Thailand to work in the agency that funded their studies — for up to 10 years in some cases. And this aspect is very off-putting to some students, who dislike the low salary and bureaucracy involved. In such cases, aspiring scholars can look to other countries’ governments for their funding.

Among the popular foreign-government-funded scholarships are British Chevening and Fulbright (US). These international scholarships are intended as a gesture of good will — to promote mutual understanding through educational exchanges — and are usually open to students at the postgraduate level.

Like government scholarships, under these schemes students are expected to return to Thailand on finishing their studies, but unlike government scholarships, they are free to work in any organisation of their choice, with no time obligation.

One such student is Pannipa Kiatbaramee. In 2002, Pannipa was one of 20 to receive a Chevening scholarship to study in the UK. With a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Chulalongkorn University under her belt, Pannipa chose to go for a master’s degree in information technology at University College London.

Unlike the common approach to government scholarships, in which students tend to first select a country and then a subject, Pannipa explains that in her case the situation was reversed.

“The first thing you absolutely need to know is your preferred field of study,” she tells learning post. “After this, you can consider the country and the university.”

Pannipa explains that she chose to apply for a Chevening scholarship because it allowed her to obtain her master’s degree in one year without any relevant pre-course work experience.

But a more important reason was because the scholarship came with no other obligation than to sign a contract stating that she would return to Thailand upon completion of study.

Besides the grants funded by foreign governments, many universities abroad offer their own scholarships. According to Justin Moseley of the Bangkok-based consulting firm Euro-Education Services, these universities sometimes need someone to undertake certain type of research and, as a result, offer full scholarships to study at the PhD level.

“Universities are looking for expertise in an area where they don’t have it themselves,” says Mosely. “In the UK, like anywhere else, it’s a business to some extent. They are not in the position to give money for free.”

As Moseley implies, these foreign-funded scholarships are available but not all that easy to get since competition is fierce from students around the world. In most cases, students will be required to take standardised English tests, such as TOEFL or IELTS and have a strong academic background plus related work experience.

In some cases, individual universities do announce country-specific scholarship awards. The University of Warwick in the UK, for example, recently announced five awards of £2,000 each for its 2005 postgraduate entries. Although these awards do not cover full tuition and living expenses, they more or less help students relieve the financial burden of studying. More importantly, there are no strings attached.

According to Moseley, the best way to search for university-funded scholarships is to visit the university websites. In some cases, other university alumni may have established a fund that targets a particular group of students.

At Columbia University’s School of Journalism in the US, for example, international students can apply for the Jack R. Howard Fellowships, which pay full tuition plus a stipend.

These alumni may, at some point, have received monetary assistance themselves and may have decided to give it back so that other people can also have the same opportunity to study as they once did.

This seems like a generous gesture, but all the scholarship students learning post spoke to were grateful for the chance to learn overseas. Even those required to return to work in a state agency were appreciative of the reasoning behind their obligation. The message is clear: investment in people works, and in more ways than one.

If you have any questions or comments about this story, email me at oratipn@bangkokpost.co.th.

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE

Besides the US and UK, countries like Japan, Australia, Germany, and France also offer scholarships to international students. Here is a list of possible sources of government-funded scholarships from around the world.

Reclusive North Koreans tackling English test SEOUL - North Korea may be one of the most reclusive states on the globe, but a growing number of its citizens are taking a common test to measure their proficiency in English as a second language. English entered North Korea's education system in the mid-1960s as a part of a “knowing the enemy” programme: phrases such as “capitalist running dog”, imported from fellow communists in the former Soviet Union, were part of the curriculum. But South Korean officials say that scoring well on a test for English proficiency is now increasingly seen in the North as a way to secure a good job that requires international communication skills. The number of North Koreans taking the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) has risen almost fivefold in less than five years, and scores for North Koreans have also improved, the US-based Educational Testing Service (ETS) said earlier this month. The number of North Koreans taking TOEFL hit 4,783 in the July 2003-June 2004 period compared with about 1,000 North Korean test-takers before 2000, it said in a press release. “The North Korean government has acknowledged the increasing importance of teaching its students English since about 2000,” an official from South Korea's Unification Ministry said. The official, who asked not to be named, said English may soon supplant Russian as the top foreign language studied in North Korea. This comes despite repeated blasts in North Korean official media that vilify the US, and a lack of native English-speaking instructors. In the past North Korea's elite students were taught English translations of its late founder Kim Il-sung's collected works. In 2000, the North started broadcasting a 10-minute weekly segment called TV English that focused on rudimentary conversation. One North Korean defector in Seoul said English is also taught in the military, along with Japanese. Soldiers are required to learn about 100 sentences such as, “Raise your hands” and “Don't move or I will shoot”. TOEFL is not administered in North Korea, which has no diplomatic relations with the US. Most of the test-takers are North Korean residents in Japan, North Korean students in places such as China and the children of diplomats overseas, officials said. TOEFL, introduced in 1964, measures the ability of non-native speakers of English to use and understand North American English as it is spoken, written and heard in college and university settings, ETS said on its website. REUTERS