The Ambassador made her remarks during her visit to AIT on 14
October 2010, meeting with President Said Irandoust, senior
administration officials, Filipino nationals in the AIT Community, and
later touring RIMES Regional Early Warning Center, and the
Nanotechnology laboratory.
Ambassador Lacanlale was joined by embassy officials Ms. Maria Teresa
L. Taguiang, Deputy Chief of Mission, and Mrs. Princess Umandap
Tomas-Tayao, Third Secretary and Vice Consul.
Following an in-depth briefing about AIT from President Irandoust, in
which he emphasized AIT’s latest developments such as its New Charter
and its potential new funding model, and its overall competitive
advantages as an international intergovernmental organization that is
uniquely in touch with the development needs of region, Ambassador
Lacanlale remarked that the possibility of establishing an AIT
satellite campus in her country “holds promise” and she invited the AIT
President to explore the idea further with the embassy. “We can work
with you to make AIT better known in the Phillipines,” Ambassador
Lacanlale told President Irandoust.
She also expressed some degree of amazement at the wide array of
impressive academic programs carried out at AIT through its rather
modest budgets.
Referring to her country as one of the most disaster-prone nations on
earth, she expressed particular interest in AIT’s cutting-edge Disaster
Preparedness, Mitigation and Management Program. “We must work hard to
make the Philippines more aware of these and other highly beneficial
programs at AIT,” she stressed. During her brief tour of the Early
Warning Center of RIMES (Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning
System for Asia and Africa) at AIT, she showed keen interest in the
operation of the center.
The Philippines envoy also applauded AIT’s emphasis on developing
quality graduates who match the needs of society and the marketplace
through highly flexible professional programs, as well as its overall
emphasis on practical and relevant skills development through its
pedagogy and curricula.
AIT’s focus on market-driven professional education struck a chord with
the ambassador who said this practice was in-line with President
Aquino’s feeling on curriculum development. “Technology is key,” she
emphasized, agreeing that AIT’s new emphasis on private-public
partnerships and private sector engagement were practical ways for
channeling the institute’s outputs and reaching large numbers of
people.
Impressed with AIT’s ethos of applying learning and research for
sustainable development, the ambassador agreed that the technology
should be all about “how it can help the poor”. “We must get away from
academics only thinking and think about how higher education can be
translated to changing situations of poverty,” Ambassador Lacanlale
stressed.
The ambassador made the case that the poor in her country are now
crying out for livelihoods at the village level. “In the Philippines we
have many Ph.D and Master’s graduates, yet if their knowledge cannot be
applied at the Barangay what real use it?”
She called on AIT to explore ways for society’s disadvantaged outliers,
whom she said need AIT the most, to gain even more access to AIT and
its beneficial and empowering educational programs.
Also attending and presenting briefs at the meeting were: Dr. Naveed
Anwar, Director, AIT Consulting; Prof. Dennes T. Bergado, SET; Dr.
Mokbul Morshed Ahmad, SERD; Dr. Jonathan Shaw, Director, AIT Extension.
Facilitating at the meeting were: Dr. Pritam K. Shrestha, Head-ERCO;
Ms. Kulvimol Wasuntiwongse, Executive Secretary to the Board of
Trustees; and Tiamkare Thitithamtada, Program Officer, ERCO.
H.E. Mrs. Linglingay F. Lacanlale
also met with members of the Filipino community, comprised of students,
staff and faculty members. She emphasized the Embassy's commitment to
serve the Filipinos in Thailand, quickly briefed them of positive
changes in consular administration and encouraged the community to
provide regular feedback.