Dr Virachai Techavijit
The Chairman and Founder of Regent’s schools takes a holistic and balanced approach to education. He believes the purpose of a school is to give students the chance to experience real-life situations which will require them to exhibit generosity, courage, and imagination, and which will place demands on the firmness of their resolve and strength of their principles.
“By generosity, I mean that I hope students will have the instincts to help the less fortunate. In terms of courage, the school should be able to take students out of their comfort zone. To stimulate imagination, we should present difficult problems that will allow them to imagine solutions. As for principles, students should always maintain underlying principles such as honesty, truthfulness, punctuality, and such. Lastly, resolve; I think this is important because it requires children to look at their own weaknesses every day. Nobody’s perfect.”
In 1992, Chairman and founder, Dr Virachai, armed with his innovative educational visions, started The Regent’s School’s story with 32 rental houses in Pattaya, Chonburi. The residents, who were executives of Exxon, Foster Wheeler and Fluor Daniel, inspired him to set up an international school to attract foreign engineers to work in the eastern part of Thailand.
Dr Virachai started Regent’s School, Pattaya in 1995 with around 100 pupils. As the school continued to grow and see success in Gulf of Thailand, he recognised that he could take his experience and provide the same top quality education to students in the Thai capital, which he did four years later in 1999.
The first Bangkok campus opened near the Thailand Cultural Centre. As the school grew and welcomed more families into its international community, the second and current Bangkok site opened to Early Years and Primary classes. The same year, a Joint Venture Agreement was signed to establish Regent’s School UK in Norfolk, not far from Cambridge.
Investment in top quality teachers – who must all possess Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and almost all of whom are British – has been the key to the school’s success. It has resulted in top university destinations including Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, Imperial College London in the UK and Stanford, Cornell, Wharton and UCLA in the United States.
Today, the school attracts children of international royalty and ministers, and it hopes to continue to go from strength to strength and maintain its reputation as a top academic international institution in the Thai capital.
Dr Virachai Techavijit CV(in brief)
| 1995 - Present | Chairman - Regent’s International Schools and Colleges, Thailand and the UK |
| 1999 - Present | General Consul a.h. – The Republic of Estonia in Bangkok |
| 2021 - Present | Member - Hua Chiew University Council |
| 2017 – 2023 | Chairman - Real Smart Ltd. |
| 2015 – 2019 | Advisor – National Legislative Assembly Committee on Education |
| 2016 - 2019 | Chairman - University of London - Recognised Teaching Centre |
| 2018 – 2022 | Chairman – Thai Blockchain Association |
| 2013-2014 | Chairman - Nonpartisan House Subcommittee on Law Amendments for AEC |
| 1996-1997 | Official Advisor – Prime Minister |
| 1994-1995 | Chairman of the Board - Mass Rapid Transit Authority (MRTA) |
| 1993-1994 | Senior Executive Vice President – Bangkok Metropolitan Bank |
| 1989-1993 | Executive Advisor – Thai Bankers Association, Executive Committee |
| 1986-1992 | Secretary General Council Chair - ASEAN US Business Council |
| 1981-1985 | Special Assistant CP Group CEO for international trade and investments |
| 1981- 1981 | Full time Lecturer at MBA Program, University of California–Los Angeles (UCLA) |
| 1980-1981 | Associate Professor – University of Nevada – Las Vegas (UNLV) |
| 1978-1980 | Assistant Professor – University of Nebraska – Omaha (UNO) |
| 1976-1978 | Lecturer – Columbia College – Columbia, MO |
| 1974-1977 | Graduate Instructor – University of Missouri – Columbia, MO |
| 1967-1969 | Headmaster – Joseph Upatham School, Sampran, Thailand |
Education
| PhD and MA | University of Missouri – Columbia, USA (1979 and 1974) (Accountancy) |
| BA | Thomas More University, Cincinnati USA (1973) (Accountancy) |
| CPA | Certified Public Accountant State of Nebraska, USA (1980) |
| PhD dissertation | “Internal Control in Database Management System” |
Decorations
| THAILAND | Knight Commander (2nd Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant |
| ESTONIA | The Order of Merit of the Estonian Red Cross (3rd Class) |
| SMOM | Knight of Magistral Grace of the Order of Sovereign Military Order of Malta |
Special Lecture
- Oxford University, “International Education in Thailand and IB Philosophy”, 1 March 2007
See the script here. - Cambridge University, “Is Education Effective in Tackling Collective Corruption?”
12 October 2011. Read an article, click here.
Contact
Email: chairman@regents.ac.th, Mobile: 089-313 7777
(30 April 2024)
