Hard-hit universities begin counting the cost
Nov 29, 2011
Losses estimated in hundreds of millions of baht; students' courses disrupted
The flooding has hit universities in the Central region hard, especially those in Pathum Thani, with losses estimated in the hundreds of millions of baht.
Apart from damaged infrastructure and educational equipment, students are unavoidably affected as floods have forced their schools to postpone the start of the second semester.
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thammasat University (TU), Kasetsart University (KU) and Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi (RMUTT) have experienced problems with their science and engineering |laboratories, where immovable machines worth millions of baht have been submerged.
KU's agricultural machinery |has been inundated, while AIT's library has been hit hard - books kept on the first floor have |been under water for more than a month.
Rangsit University (RU)'s |studios for use by mass com-|munications students have also been hit hard, as has the univer-sity's expensive dental equip-|ment. Also, Bangkok University (BU) has a big problem with its electrical systems in many buildings, as most of the boxes used to control the systems are on the first floor. Its mass communications studios have been partially affected, according to president Mattana Santiwat.
These universities have almost completely dried out, except for AIT.
AIT waited until TU dried |out before it began pumping |water off its campus last week to avoid flooding TU, and expects |the campus to be dry by December 5. Damage assessments and |professional cleaning opera-|tions will start after that. AIT's |president, Prof Said Irandoust, |said the remaining restoration |work may take a few months to |finish.
To be able to start the new term in December, AIT plans to relocate classes temporarily to Stamford International University and Silpakorn University's Petchaburi Information Technology Campus in Cha-Am.
"We will make sure that the negative impact on our students will be minimised. AIT will try to make sure that the students who will be relocated to Cha-am will not face a negative cost impact. So, they don't have to pay for any extra charges," Irandoust added.
Each of them has suffered tremendous losses from inundated assets, totalling from Bt500 million to more than Bt2 billion.
The Office of Higher Education Commission has reported losses at 17 flooded state and private universities of Bt6.7 billion to the Education Ministry as part of its request for a recovery budget for them.
Despite such huge losses, the universities have been trying |hard to dry their flooded cam-|puses and are going to begin |rehabilitation or restoration as |soon as possible so as to have |their students start studying |in time. They don't want to postpone the reopening days any |further. The first days of the |new semester were postponed |from this month to next month, while TU, RU and BU will reopen in January.
Therefore, they are finding different ways to recover and limit the negative impact on their students. Many plan to spend their own budgets to cover urgent needs first, and will use the funds allocated by the ministry later to buy more expensive equipment and machines.
KU president Assoc Prof Vudtechai Kapilakanchana said he would spend some of the university's income to buy tools and machinery for students who have to hand in their research findings urgently, before the Education Ministry allocates the recovery budget.
RMUTT will buy objects used in classrooms, including tables and chairs, by itself but will wait for the recovery budget to buy expensive items.
However, private universities RU and BU will mainly rely on their own resources.
BU president Mattana San-|tiwat said she would file an in-surance claim and spend its own funds on recovery. "We won't |wait for the recovery budget |from the ministry. We have to help ourselves first so as to start teaching as soon as possible," Mattana said.
A source from RU said it, too, planned to spend its budget and file an insurance claim to restore damaged assets.
AIT's president said the school needed to make sure that the structure of the 40-year-old buildings on its campus were safe after being partially submerged for about a month
AIT is filing an insurance claim and seeking donations to fund the recovery of its flooded campus. Those wishing to donate should visit www.ait.ac.th/support.php for more information.
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