November 12, 2016, for the Commencement service the president wore a pretty new robe.  Some personnel and outsiders asked how the idea developed.  So I would like to tell you that the idea came from the monthly meeting of the deans and executives.  The deans said that the president represents the university in the presentation of diplomas to graduates.  So it would be appropriate for the president to wear a robe specific to the President of Payap University.  This would instill pride in the graduates.  In addition the robe could be worn for other university occasions as well.

The meeting appointed the Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration (Aj Komkrit Wongnang) to design a president’s robe and then the committee offered suggestions for making it still more appropriate and proposed the design to the Board of Trustees, which made a few additional suggestions and approved the robe design for the president.

The President’s Robe was based on the robes designed for members of the Board of Trustees of the University.  The robe is black with a wide “sky blue” panel down the front bordered in white which are the university’s colors.  A gold clip symbolizes stability, warmth, beauty, valuable worth, durability and utility for many purposes.  On the sleeves are four blue and white chevrons and below those on a black background is a grape-vine design derived from a Biblical symbol for Jesus Christ as vine with those who are disciples as branches, wherein those who stay attached to Christ bear fruit, prosper and thrive.  In addition Jesus used the vine as a symbol of his sacred blood, shed for the salvation of humankind from sin.  The hood is blue and white.  The robe is worn with the seal of the university suspended on two chains over the hood which are the symbols of the President.

[Translator’s note: It is now customary in both private and public universities in Thailand for members of governing boards to have a robe in the style adopted by the university, and for the President (Rector or Chancellor) to have a similar robe with additional regalia, rather than to wear the robe of the university from which the President graduated.  Faculty members still customarily wear gowns and hoods presented by their own universities, with the hoods lined with the university colors and the color of the outer velvet border signifying the field of study (scarlet for theology, purple for philosophy and all PhD degrees, dark blue for education, orange for nursing, dun for business administration, white for English, etc.).  More and more national variations are appearing.  In Thailand robes are strikingly different from institution to institution.]