Earlier AIT President Said Irandoust briefed the Ambassador on issues
related to AIT’s strategic directions apart from outsourcing and the
public-private partnership. The Ambassador remarked that the Indian
government was already outsourcing a significant number of service
operations to the private sector since the public sector was unable to
cope with the volume of services. “What we have had during the last 40
years may not be relevant to the current scenario. We need to adapt and
move on as well as face the challenges and create opportunities to
all,” the Ambassador added.
During an interaction with senior AIT management as well as members of
the AIT-India Task Force, the Ambassador revealed that during a recent
education fair at Bangkok, almost 60 institutes from India had
participated. He recalled that during his school days, many of his
classmates were from Thailand.
AIT President hoped that the Indian government would continue to
support AIT as the Indian community had contributed significantly to
AIT. The Ambassador reaffirmed the Indian support adding that he would
be happy to support AIT.
Dr. Barbara Igel, Dean, School of Management at AIT informed the
visiting dignitary that the chair of the school advisory board is the
famous Indian businessperson Narayan Murthy. She sought greater
collaboration with the private sector in India, particularly in fields
of crisis management and negotiations. The Ambassador suggested a few
Indian corporates who could be contacted by AIT. Dr. Nitin V.
Afzulpurkar, Dean, School of Engineering and Technology (SET) mentioned
the agreements with various Indian universities and stated that AIT is
looking forward towards the opening of the educational sector in India
to foreign universities. Dr. Weerakorn Ongsakul, Dean School of
Environment, Resources and Development (SERD) sought to encourage more
Indian students to join AIT for higher studies.
Dr. Jonathan Shaw, Director, AIT Extension revealed that AIT Extension
is looking at the hospital sector for imparting training to delegates
from India. Dr. Ajit P. Annachhatre, Director, AIT-UN Office sought
greater collaboration with the Indian government in various research
projects. Others who participated in the meeting included Prof. Sudip K
Rakshit, Vice President (Research); Prof. Asit K Biswas, founder of the
Third World Centre for Water Management; Prof. Jayant K. Routray,
Director, ARCMDG; Dr. Jai Govind Singh of SERD; Dr. Pritam K. Shreshta,
Head External Relations and Communications Office (ERCO); Mr. Tezin
Rabgyal, Program Officer, ERCO. The session also saw participation from
Indian faculty, staff and students including Ms. Namita Sravat,
Secretary to the Academic Senate; Ms. Jagriti Shankar of ARCMDG; and
Mr. P V Gopi Krishna , Coordinator, Sponsored and Contracted Projects.
Two students, Shravan Reddy of SOm and Parish Nalavade of SERD, also
interacted with the Ambassador.
Earlier in the day, the Ambassador was welcomed by Dr. Pritam and Mr.
Tenzin. This was followed by a discussion with the AIT President, Prof.
Rakshit, Mr. Kottaram Viswanathan Ramesh, advisor to President on
Indian affairs, Dr. Pritam and Mr. Tenzin.
AIT President Said Irandoust interacting with Ambassador of Republic
of India to Thailand, H.E. Mr. Pinak Ranjan
Chakravarty.