The Chevening Scholarships are administered by the British Embassy in Thailand. Winners study for a one-year master’s degree programme in the United Kingdom. Scholarships include return airfare, tuition and a living allowance of about ?16,000 (Bt1.2 million).

The change in the selection process was made because of a reduction in the number of scholarships. About 10 will be awarded this year, half the number granted in 2004.

“Because the number of scholarships is smaller, we want to be more focused,” said Ian Proud, head of the political section at the British Embassy. “We need to think of how to administer and allocate the scholarships in the most practical, efficient way.”

The British Embassy is inviting the Bank of Thailand, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Commerce Ministry, Royal Thai Police and Institute of Forensic Science to submit applications, along with a handful of other groups. “We’re inviting organisations that we have regular relationships with or would like to develop links with,” Proud said. The nominating organisations will be changed each year.

The new scholarship allocation system is fair, said Sub-Lieutenant Vasu Saengsingkeo, a former Chevening scholar, who works at the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

“If you wanted to open a very good restaurant, Vasu said using a hypothetical example, you would expect a culinary institute to recommend better-qualified candidates than you would get if you hung a sign in the eatery’s window.”

Simply being nominated by an approved organisation doesn’t guarantee a scholarship. “The organisations provide a list of applicants and we interview them,” Proud said. “We decide select the strongest applicants.”

The Chevening Scholarships programme was launched in Thailand in 1983 and has since been awarded to almost 300 scholars. The scholarships’ goal is to maintain academic exchange between the two countries.

Pimtong Srihera, a former German Academic Exchange Service scholar who holds a doctorate from the National Institute of Development Administration said “I believe they must have been researching the programme to see if everything met their objectives before making the decision to stop giving the scholarship [directly] to the public.”

The requirements for the Chevening Scholarships remain the same. Applicants must be between 25 and 35 years of age, hold a bachelor’s degree with a grade point average of at least 3.0, have at least two years’ work experience, and be able to speak and write English fluently or score at least a 6.5 on the IELTS.

Approximately 20 scholarships were granted last year. But the budget was halved to fund a new programme called the Chevening Fellowship.

The number of Chevening Fellowships has not yet been decided, nor have the selection criteria. The fellowships will likely run six weeks to three months and focus on themes or topics. They will be for professionals established in their careers. Studies may range from cross-country politics, to human rights, to the environment.

Rojana Manowalailao

The Nation

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2 minute facts: super-size me!

The United States has an insatiable appetite for fast food. Burgers, chips, chicken wings, thick shakes . . . oh yeah, bring it on! US citizens spent $110 billion (Bt4.5 trillion) on fast food in 2000. That’s more than any other country in the world, and a lot more than the $6 billion Americans spent in 1970. The US has 300 different fast-food chains and these account for 40 per cent of all restaurant sales each year.

Want to know more?

As tasty as it is, nutrition experts will tell you that fast food isn’t very good for your body. There’s loads of sodium (salt) in chips and snacks, and too much causes your body to retain fluids. High sodium intake contributes to hypertension, stroke, and heart and kidney disease.

Burgers and chips are pretty fatty, too. On average, Americans get about 36 per cent of their calories from fat. That’s too high for good health. Dietary guidelines suggest that 30 per cent or less of a person’s calories should come from fat.

So you’re going to swear off burgers, fries and chips? Don’t think that shakes are the fast-food industry’s answer to health food. The typical strawberry milkshake contains more than 50 chemicals.

Hold the xanthan gum, potassium sorbate, FD&C red #40 and calcium chloride, please.

Source: www.guinnessworldrecords.com, www.mcdonalds.com

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Scholarships: Free English classes

Log on to www.eccthai.com to test your English proficiency and enrol in a free 40-hour English course taught by native-English-speaking teacher trainees under the Certificate English Language Teaching to Adults (Celta) programme. Classes will cover listening, speaking, reading and writing, with a focus on speaking.

The course is free, but there is a Bt300 fee for testing and registration. Classes will be held 2pm to 4pm Monday to Friday at ECC (Thailand) in Siam Square. There is a maximum of 16 students in each class.

Organisations offering scholarships can send press releases to Smartlife at The Nation, Smartlife, 44 Moo 10 Bang Na Trat Road (Km 4.5), Bang Na, Bangkok 10260, or via e-mail to

education@nationgroup.com.

To check dates and learn more about the programme, call (02) 253 3312 or visit www.eccthai.com.