Education Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng has vowed to look into a complaint by a group of university lecturers and executives that their university rector fixed grades in eight subjects on behalf of his son.
Mr Chaturon's pledge came after news outlets reported yesterday that Tawil Paungma, rector of King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Lat Krabang (KMITL), stands accused of abusing his authority in changing his son's grades when he was a freshman.
Mr Chaturon said the KMITL academics had lodged the complaint with the Office of the Higher Education Commission (Ohec), asking authorities to take action.
He said Apichart Jeerawut, secretary-general of Ohec, had informed him about the petition and said the university was also investigating the matter. " I have told Ohec to monitor the matter and provide justice for all parties involved," he said.
The reports said the grades of the rector's son in the first semester of the 2012 academic year were intentionally changed in eight subjects.
The report said the rector's son received a D in Basic English 1 but his grade was changed to a B. In General Physics 1 he received a D, which was changed to a D+. In General Chemistry the son received a D+ and this was changed to a B+. And in Engineering Materials he received an F which was changed to a C.
The scandal broke after a university student last year petitioned a group of Basic English 1 lecturers to review the grade of the rector's son. They found the grade issued by the university's registration and assessment services division did not match the initial grade which the lecturers had issued. The report said the group of English teachers then found the rector's son had received better grades in seven more subjects.
However, Mr Tawil said he believed the charges were political, and stemmed from the upcoming selection of seven rectors and deans for the suburban Bangkok campus. "It is not an easy task to change the grades of students. The lecturers of each subject and the registrar are only authorised to correct the grades and they must have a code.
"Even though I am the rector, I can't change any grades as I don't have the code," he said.
Mr Tawil said a KMITL committee had investigated the claims and found he had nothing to do with them.