AIT President visited Taiwan, 22 December 2005
On 22 December 2005, Prof. Said Irandoust (above, fourth from left), AIT President, accompanied by Prof. Vilas Wuwongse (above, third from left), Vice President, External Relations, made a short visit to Taipei, Taiwan.
In the morning, the AIT delegation met with the following staff of Taiwan's Ministry of Education: Dr. Chin-Sheng Chang, Director General, Mr. Robin Yun-Pin, Secretary; and Mr. James Chang, Chief, Protocol Section, Bureau of International Cooperation for Culture & Education.
Dr. C.S. Chang said AIT might avail itself of some 85 Ph.D. scholarships and that if Taiwanese faculty might be available to AIT. Three faculty members, one for each of the three schools at AIT, will be proposed through Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Bangkok as soon as August.
The group also discussed the possibility of training professionals at AIT. Technological and vocational education is currently the most active sector and AIT could help Taiwan in the field in two directions: upgrading TVE universities in Taiwan and helping Southeast Asian countries in TVE.
Senior alumni joining the meeting were Dr. Yuh-San Liu (CRD'74), Deputy Secretary General at the Prime Minister's Office; Mr. JY Chen (GTE'84), President of AIT Alumni Association Taiwan; Mr. Yen-Yi (CRD'73), Chairman, ASE Group (Hung Ching Development & Construction Co. Ltd.); and Dr. Der-Guey Lin (GTE'93), Associate Professor, Department of Soil and Water conservation, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung.
Later, Prof. Irandoust (above left) visited National Taiwan University where he and Dr. Si-chen Lee (right above), President of NTU signed agreements for academic collaborations and student exchange. After lunch the AIT delegation toured the campus.
In the early evening, the AIT delegation paid a courtesy call on H.E. Prof. Sheng-Cheng Hu (above, fifth from left), Chairman of Council of Economic Planning & Development. Attending the meeting were Mr. Jeremy S.C. Chen, Director General, Department of Manpower Planning; Mrs. Cheng-Chung Hsia (HSD'80), Director General, Department of Supervision & Evaluation; Mr. Wei-Kung Liang (EV'76), Senior Engineer & Division Chief, Department of Urban & Housing Development; and Mr. I-tsai Ma (HSD'84), Senior Specialist, Department of Urban & Housing Development.
It was discussed that AIT should focus on the scholarships for council staff in the following fields: human resources development, solar energy, English, environment, disaster management and information communications technology.
One thousand scholarships are available in three years under the Taiwan Merit Scholarships Program, and there are various types of scholarships for: post-doctoral students, master's and doctoral students, business and technical staff and English training. They agreed there is a need to globalize Taiwanese officials, and it was also informed that sending students to AIT should be reinstated.
In the same evening, there was a meeting with alumni followed by dinner hosted by the AIT alumni Association -- Taiwan. Mr. JY Chen (standing left above), President of AITAA-Taiwan, welcomed the president to Taiwan and presented him with a gift.
In this trip, AIT thanks and acknowledges the support of AITAA-Taiwan as well as the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Thailand.