The Office of the Higher Education Commission (Ohec) said today the Harvard dentist Dr Dolrudee Jumlongras was the only lecturer who skipped out on the scholarship debt in her program.
The office recently researched statistics of scholarships given to Thai university lecturers to study both in Thailand and abroad, and it turns out that Dr Dolrudee’s case was the first of its kind, according to Apon Kaenwong, Ohec Secretary.
The scholarship program that Dr Dolrudee was on, which lasted from 1992 to 2005, granted scholarships to improve the education of university lecturers of 16 academic fields including dentistry, medicine, agro-Industry, architecture, and so on.
During the 13 years of the program, the organization handed out a total of 5,342 scholarships, and 77 lecturers breached the contract, either by not completing their degree or resigning from their post before the period of time stated.
Of those 77 lecturers who breached their contract, 12 had studied abroad — but all 77 paid off their debt, Isara News reported.
Dr Dolrudee, who currently works at Harvard School of Dental Medicine, has come under fire on social media after breaking her contract and not resuming her post at Mahidol University.
She did not pay back her scholarship debt to Mahidol, forcing her four guarantors to pay THB8 million of the THB30 million debt, after they negotiated with the university.
However, Mahidol University and Ohec plan to file a civil lawsuit to force the dentist into bankruptcy in order to help the guarantors.
Dr Dolrudee today told Thai media she intended to repay the loan, blaming personal and financial hardships for her delay in returning the money.
Related:
‘Debt-skipping’ Harvard dentist tells Thai media she’ll repay Mahidol scholarship
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