On 6 June 2018, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs co-hosted a reception with the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok to congratulate Thai Fulbright awardees for the academic year 2018 at Vithes Samosorn. Mr. Manaspas Xuto, Chairman of the Fulbright Thailand’s Board of Directors and former Thai Ambassador to the U.S., and Mr. Glyn Davies, U.S. Ambassador to Thailand, presided over the reception. Over 120 participants attended the event, including members of the Fulbright Board of Directors, Fulbright alumni, American Fulbright scholars, and family members of the awardees.

          For the year 2018, twenty-two Thai Fulbright awardees were named, including 7 Fulbright Thai Graduate Scholars (TGS), 3 Thai Visiting Scholars (TVS), 4 Junior Research Scholars (JRS), 6 Foreign Language Teaching Assistants (FLTA), and 2 U.S.–ASEAN visiting Scholars (USAS). 

          The Fulbright program in Thailand was founded in 1950 under the name “United States Educational Foundation in Thailand.”  In 1963, the governments of Thailand and the U.S. co-signed a new agreement and changed the name to “Thailand-United States Education Foundation (Fulbright)” to highlight the distinctive “bi-national” characteristics of the Foundation.  For the past 67 years, Thailand has continuously increased its annual contribution to co-fund the Fulbright program in Thailand, with the current amount of 15 million baht (approximately USD 450,000) annually, or 35 percent of the total budget.

          The Fulbright program in Thailand currently provides a wide range of educational and research opportunities up to approximately 70 scholars a year, including Thai awardees travelling to the U.S. and American grantees coming to Thailand. In addition to the aforementioned scholarships, another widely-recognized activity is the English Teaching Assistantship Program (ETA), which brings in more than 20 Americans with bachelor degrees to teach English language in local Thai schools every year. The Fulbright program in Thailand, therefore, elucidates the long-standing bilateral collaboration that contributes to promoting academic excellence and personnel development, while cultivating cross-cultural understanding and people-to-people correspondence for the mutual benefits of Thailand and the U.S.