The Cambridge Thai Foundation - How it all began

By Dr. Sumet Jumsai

A close friend and contemporary at St. John's College and Deputy Minister of Finance of Malaysia at the time turned up in Bangkok in 1989. This was the late Alex Lee. We had long chats together during the course of which I complained that when I went back to teach at the Department of Architecture that year, there was not a single Thai student left at the University. Alex then told me that he and his Cantab friends in Malaysia had set up the Cambridge Malaysia Trust which managed to get some 30 students into Cambridge every year. The same arrangement and number of students also applied in the case of tiny Singapore. I asked him how it was done: he gave his advice accordingly, and after returning to Malaysia, sent me additional information.  Based on this I went to see M.R. Sarisdiguna Kitiyakara (Magdalene and my senior by a year) and said we should do something about it.

Khun Chai took up the idea immediately and suggested that we go and discuss the matter with Khun Anand Panyarachun, KBE (Trinity and our senior by several years) with the hidden agenda of asking him to be Chairman of the trust that we had in mind.

Thus was born The Cambridge Thai Foundation (CTF) in 1990. Her Majesty the Queen was then invited to become Patron with the result that, with the Queen's most gracious consent, CTF is under the Patronage of Her Majesty.

In 1990, I was back teaching again in Cambridge and had the occasion to be in touch on a personal level with Dr. Anil Seal, Director of The Cambridge Overseas Trust (COT) under the Patronage of HRH The Prince of Wales. On the Thai side the person who actually negotiated terms and conditions with COT was Dr. Chris Baker, a founding member of CTF and a former Fellow of Queen's College. Due to his hard bargaining, CTF shares half of the funding with COT while the latter would automatically find places in the Colleges for the Thai scholars. What it means in real terms is that the CTF Scholarship is the cheapest scholarship for universities in the West - let alone for the world's top university!

The most difficult part of the work, however, was how to raise funds locally! That arduous task fell to Khun Anand almost exclusively. Due to him CTF has been able to accumulate a good sum, the interest from which has enabled so many Thais to be sent up to Cambridge. This is not to belittle the role of other founding members of CTF, all of whom have worked very hard to get as many bright young Thais into the University, including an early member of the CTF Board, the late Christian Adams, the then British Ambassador, who was an Oxonian! ( I remember telling him, and the late M.L. Birabhongse Kasemsri, another Oxonian, that an Oxford Thai Foundation should also be set up and become associated with CTF).

To this day (2010) 105 Thai students have been awarded the CTF Scholarship, with two full scholarships and five bursaries on average annually. Compared with Malaysia and Singapore, this is minimal. But we can claim that from now on there would be no more break in the Thai Cantab continuity. More important still, we can claim, beyond all other claims in the region (although I will always remain indebted to Alex) that we have the exceptional historical link with the University in the august person of His Majesty King Chulalongkorn who was a recipient of the Cambridge Honorary Doctorate Degree in 1907.

 Royal Patronage

Her Majesty the Queen had graciously consented to be the Patron of the Cambridge Thai Foundation on 31st  October 1990.

As a Foundation under Royal Patronage, members and scholars of the CTF have had an audience with Her Majesty on more than one occasion.

On 20th September 1991, the Committee of the CTF was granted an audience at Chitralada Palace in order to present the first group of scholars to Her Majesty.

In addition, on 27th February 2007, the CTF Committee was granted an audience at Boromaratchasatitmahoran Hall in the Grand Palace to present the CTF's donation to Her Majesty's "Rice Bank" project. The CTF delegation presented Her Majesty with a total of 720,000 Baht towards the project, a sum contributed by Cantabs as well as other benefactors.

Our Objectives

Since 1990, the CTF has supported a significant number of Thai students during their time in Cambridge. The objectives of the CTF, as stated in the CTF Charter, are as follows:

1. To grant educational scholarships or subsidies to person(s) who will be studying or doing research work at the University of Cambridge.

2. To arrange for the conduct of activities which would be inductive towards the dissemination of knowledge both in the technical and cultural field.

3. To be the centre for meetings and the conduct of technical and other activities for the public good to be held by former students of the University of Cambridge.

4. To conduct activities for the public good or to cooperate with other Charity Organizations in public charity work.

5. To refrain from conducting any political activities of any kind.

Cambridge Trust

Throughout its history, the CTF has been exceedingly fortunate in having a unique and privileged relationship with the Cambridge Trust (formerly the Cambridge Overseas Trust). In the early days, when the CTF was still finding its feet, we were extremely fortunate and honoured that HRH The Prince of Wales granted that the Cambridge Trust would provide support to the amount of half of each scholarship awarded.

Although the CTF started off on such a strong foundation, fundraising was challenging. This was compounded by the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 and devaluation of the Thai Baht which resulted in an effective threefold increase in the funding requirement for each scholarship and a consequent strain on our ability to maintain the level of support for existing and new Thai scholars.

In such a time of need, we were one again extended a generous helping hand by the then Cambridge Overseas Trust. This time it was Dr. Anil Seal who constantly sought out alternative sources of funding, often at rates even more favourable to the CTF, and helped both relieve the financial strain as well as allowing the available funds to be stretched even further.

In all this, the CTF and our scholars owe a debt of gratitude at the individual and collective levels to those on both sides who have worked tirelessly to ensure that so many Thai students have received support during their time at Cambridge and we sincerely hope that this very special relationship will continue well into the future.