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BPS:
I welcome you to the Hot Seat, the first of its kind atAIT. We are very glad that you have agreed to be the first guest at the
“Hot Seat”.
AIT President Said Irandoust: Thank you.
BPS: AIT has just crossed a very important milestone.
It has celebrated its golden jubilee. How does it feel to be President
at such a critical juncture?
President: It is a great feeling to be part of a
great institute when it celebrates its 50 years of excellence and
contribution towards the development of human resources for the Asian
region. But with it also comes a great sense of responsibility.
BPS: While the first 50 years have been remarkable,
how is the Institute going to prepare and position itself for the next
50 years?
President: The entire landscape of higher education
and research within Asia and in the globe has changed. When AIT was
established in 1959, the region was completely different. AIT was one
of the very few, if not the only institute of higher learning in the
region which focused on a developmental and capacity building mission
at advanced level for the region. It more or less enjoyed a
monopoly.
Today, the political environment and context in which AIT was shaped
and existed has radically changed. Change is not just a challenge, but
also a source of inspiration and opportunity. Compared to a situation
where we were the only one enjoying a monopoly in this sector, we are
now confronted with a scenario in which many nations in the immediate
neighborhood are actively inviting top international universities to
establish campuses in the country.
To quote one example − Vietnam already has universities with strong
international profiles, such as those from Australia and Germany. The
government is facilitating the entry of more international players, and
in a short time Vietnam will have five or six full fledged
international university campuses. It is not difficult to imagine the
effects on AIT in terms of having students from Vietnam apart from
projects from Vietnam.
We are now more and more moving from a monopoly situation to a free
market scenario. We need an urgent change in direction and
strategy.
BPS: What do you imply by change in direction and
strategy?
President: Since Asia is changing, the Asian
Institute of Technology should also change. In order to prepare for the
next 50 years AIT must radically change its direction and its strategy.
Our financial and business model must reflect the changing times. We
have to put in place a new financial or business model, while
strengthening our existing linkages and forging new ones. We now have
to move from the donorship model to a partnership one. The previous
model worked well earlier, but not anymore. We have to respond quickly
to the needs of the market. If we do not, others will take our role and
place. Those organizations which can respond faster to needs emerge as
winners. The ability to respond to market needs will be very important.
I refer to AIT as a flexible institute. We are much better equipped
than other universities and institutions to respond to changes quickly.
We need also to reach out to the younger elements of society.
BPS: How do you propose to reach out to the younger
generation?
President: We need to further develop our
communication and branding strategies while illustrating what AIT
branding and image stands for. Our mission and vision remains
unchanged, which is to partner in the development of the region. But we
need to broaden our horizons and view it as an integrated platform. In
order to reach out to the younger generation we also need to enter into
undergraduate programs.
BPS: Why is AIT launching undergraduate programs?
There are voices against the introduction of undergraduate programs
which move away from the traditional focus and uniqueness of AIT as a
purely postgraduate institution?
President: While our vision and mission remains the
same, this is a change in strategy and direction. There are a couple of
reasons. The first being the change in the pattern of financing. It is
very difficult to financially manage an institute only with graduate
programs. Many good students in many countries receive full
scholarships for Masters and Ph.D. programs, especially in areas where
AIT has traditionally focused − engineering and technology.
Even in the Asian region such as Korea, Japan and China, universities
are covering all expenses of many foreign students to help their
national universities acquire an international edge.
Secondly, we need a minimum number of students at the undergraduate
level to sustain the graduate programs of AIT. Universities which are
covering both graduate and undergraduate programs are simply more
successful in maintaining and developing quality. Undergraduate
programs will also function as a feeder to the postgraduate programs.
If a faculty member is engaged in teaching both graduate and
undergraduate students, pedagogically that faculty member will be
better equipped to meet complex challenges of teaching and learning.
Teaching undergraduate programs will enhance the quality of teaching of
graduate programs and vice versa.
Lastly, we need to catch the brightest and the best students and catch
them young.
BPS: What makes you believe that the AIT
undergraduate program will be successful in attracting students, when
there is a decline in both applications and enrolment of postgraduate
students?
President: If it is done in a planned manner; if we
ensure that the program has the expected quality; if the program is
linked to professions; if we provide internships and linkages to work
life for students; if AIT concentrates on the employability issues; and
if it is designed to cater to the needs of public and private sector, I
am sure it will be very successful.
BPS: You mentioned a shift from donorship to a
partnership model. What partnership model is currently under
consideration?
President: There are three different partnerships
that we are talking about. The first is a partnership with other
research and academic institutions in terms of delivering joint
programs. This is what the newer generation wants. They do not want to
stay in the same institution for 4-6 years. They want to be mobile,
exposed to different environments which help them broaden their
networking. The other partnership is with both the public and the
private sector for their specific needs, where the partnership is for
research sponsored by various companies and professions.
The third is the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.
BPS: The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) financing
model which you are exploring for AIT has generated debate and
discussion. How will this model help AIT?
President: AIT needs to scale up its operation. We
cannot be viable and sustainable if we continue to run our institute on
the current concept of a limited pool of graduate students. This model
is not viable without huge funding from donor countries. We need a
certain minimum number of students to financially operate AIT and this
scaling up cannot be done without a partnership, that would bring in
resources both financial and in terms of the needed manpower and
related skills.
BPS: How many students is AIT talking about?
President: Based on the experience of many
universities, 4000-6000 students are needed to help a university to
function in a financially viable way. This is almost three times our
current scale. In addition, for AIT to remain regional and
international in terms of the composition of faculty, staff and
students and in terms of regional impact, we need to establish campuses
in number of countries in Asia. All this requires lots of resources and
the PPP model is an option.
BPS: So PPP is only a financing model?
President: No. It is not just about finance. It is
also about sharing knowledge, sharing experience, sharing networks,
sharing expertise, experience and responsibilities, apart from sharing
risks and benefits. If it was only a matter of cash, then I would term
it as a contract and not as a partnership. That would be a Public
Private Contract and not a Public Private Partnership.
BPS: What are the benefts to AIT of this model?
President: It is an operational gain. AIT will be
able to deliver better services, and gain efficiency. We will be able
to expand and scale up our operations. We will be able to focus more on
outputs and quality of graduates, as well as quality of research and
enhance the impact of our research. A lot of time and effort is
currently spent on the processes of generating resources which is a
very difficult task due to the current lack of scale and critical
mass.
BPS: And what do you want to do?
President: We have to increase the number of students
for long term viability. We need a bigger impact, and we need to expand
our horizons.
BPS: So AIT is planning large campuses in various
countries in Asia?
President: Nothing is planned as yet. From my point
of view, AIT needs to seriously consider establishment of 6-7
full-fledged campuses in Asia to maintain its position. We have to
scale up not only in one country but a number of countries in
region.
BPS: Do you foresee a risk in diversification in
AIT’s academic portfolio?
President: When I refer to diversification, I am only
in favour of diversification in the educational offerings and not in
the diversification of research. If diversification of educational
offerings is planned, it will result in a competitive advantage. The
more we can offer, the more attractive AIT will be.
I believe in broadening and diversification of the base. The base,
undergraduate programs should be wide. It should be narrower at the
Masters level and taper at the doctorate level. For research, it should
be narrower still. That is the only way for research to remain focused.
AIT must concentrate on a few key research areas and any ambition of
being anything lower than being the leading research institution in any
area is not viable.
BPS: Can you elaborate on the concept of a
“university of professions” which you have been so strongly advocating?
Often times this seems to be mixed or confused with a “vocational
school” or “school of professions” type of concept.
President: The concept of a “university of
profession” is a unique pedagogical one and not to be mixed with the
concept of “vocational schools” or “school of professions”. The concept
is about developing new advanced knowledge for the professions and not
only for the academic profession. The basic goal is to bring together
and further develop the scientific knowledge, characteristic of the
universities and the knowledge of working life. Such a concept is
characterized by systematic cooperation with the public and private
sector. Education and research is not a one-sided commitment, but is
planned, carried out and evaluated in cooperation with stakeholders and
partners. The professions’ competence needs their development and
problems to take center stage at institutions like AIT. Professional
programs are in a way even more advanced than regular academic programs
since professional programs must fulfill the requirements of both
academia and professions. I see the realization of this concept
primarily as a gradual quality and profiling process.
As an example Infosys recently inaugurated their Global Education
Center-II in India which has state-of-the-art facilities, and will
increase their capacity to train 14,000 employees. Infosys spends Rs.
7500 million on training fresh recruits and according to one of their
directors the IT sector would not need to spend that much for training
if universities upgraded and made teaching methods more industry and
employment oriented.
BPS: What does a private partner gain from a PPP?
After all they will not associate with AIT for charity.
President: They will not be here for charity. The
charity model will not work anywhere. Any concept based on charity will
fail. Charity can only be a minor component. There has to be a business
model and not a charity model. We know after five decades that this
model is not going to work anymore.
But the private sector must not be working as a pure money making
machine, and they must share our mission. The partners must share our
vision and mission to help in capacity building and development in this
region. They require a right balance between commercial thinking and
alignment with the Institute’s broad goals and objectives. It is about
taking the best from the private sector in terms of business thinking,
models and disciplines and applying it to AIT. If we cannot balance
this, we will never be able to achieve our goals.
BPS: What would be the role of the private sector at
AIT under the PPP model?
President: The role of the private partner and the
objective of the PPP must be clearly communicated to all partners. It
has to be based on sharing expertise, knowledge and network so that AIT
can scale up in a successful manner.
BPS: But will the private partner decide on which
courses to run, and decide on critical appointments in the
campus?
President: Partnership implies a sharing of decision
making power. Partnership means that we have to share power; otherwise
we cannot have a partnership. So the modalities on “who does what” must
be truly discussed and agreed upon. It is very important that there is
a clear definition of “who does what”. If we believe that anyone will
be interested in partnership with AIT, where only AIT can decide and
dictate, then we can forget about partnership.
BPS: As AIT president can you give a categorical
assurance that the academic freedom and integrity will not be
compromised?
President: If academic freedom means the freedom to
conduct research or teaching as only desired by the faculty, that model
is no longer functional. Already funding agencies are very influential
in terms of what areas they would like to fund. The illusion of “I do
research about whatever I want” disappeared a long time ago.
But if you mean, that I as researcher decide what the research
methodology is, and how I would like to conduct research, then academic
freedom is very critical and it will be maintained. Academic integrity
is very crucial and must be respected. No academic institution of
higher learning can function without academic integrity. It is a matter
of quality and no partner will be interested to dig its own grave by
compromising on academic integrity.
BPS: How far is AIT from finalizing a PPP
partnership? There is a feeling that AIT is going ahead and finalizing
a contract with one particular private sector partner, without
exercising “due diligence”. Is AIT moving too fast?
President: We are exploring this model. We are fully
aware that for successful implementation of PPP, a proper “due
diligence” process is required which we are planning to conduct. We
have started to work in this direction. Nothing has been finalized.
However there is a time factor. There are opportunities but one cannot
assume that the opportunities will remain here forever. But that does
not mean that we are going to rush through this process. Before any
concrete proposal can be made to AIT and before we are ready to go for
a decision from the Executive Committee or the Board, we need to
conduct some exercises that we are currently working on.
We are not rushing through the process.
BPS: Has a detailed investigation been carried out
about possible PPP partners?
President: We are in the process. We have identified
a number of possible partners. We are having discussions with them in
parallel, but there is no final recommendation on the concept, the
modalities of such a concept, or a final partner.
BPS: Let me be the devil’s advocate. In case the PPP
does not work in a way initially envisaged, is there a fall back
strategy?
President: There must be. A part of our exercise is
what I call an exit strategy in case the partnership does not work. In
such a case AIT must have an exit strategy and that is a part of
exercise that we are currently conducting.
BPS: Will AIT continue to work towards solving the
problems of Asia?
President: That is very important, even from a market
and demand perspective. Without that focus and orientation, we will
lose market share. AIT has to ensure that our graduates are equipped to
solve the problems of both the private and public sector and that we
address the research and knowledge needs of the region.
BPS: The new AIT Charter will enable AIT to attain
intergovernmental and international status in the regional and global
arena. How will the PPP model and the new Charter synergize?
President: The Charter is recognition of AIT as a
regional international platform for collaboration in areas of higher
education, research, capacity building and outreach. But it is not a
financial model. I would say it is a political and legal model, but not
a financial model. It invites countries and international organizations
to collaborate using AIT as a platform. But who is going to finance the
collaboration?
I see it both as complementary. The Charter defines the vision and
role of AIT and provides a legal framework for it. Combined with a
business model, it will be very powerful.
BPS: Thank you Mr. President. It was great having you
on the “Hot Seat”.
President: Thank you.
