consideration for next year, he announced.AIT has already signed an agreement with India’s prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU). As a consequence, 74 students from India will join the Master’s level program in 2014, Prof. Worsak revealed.
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA) has also increased the number of annual scholarships it supports for students from Myanmar to attend Master’s programs at AIT from 40 to 50 for 2013, increasing the total number of scholarships under the three-year scheme to 130.
AIT is considering offering scholarships for students from Vietnam, he added, and is holding talks with a premier donor agency for capacity building of Myanmar faculty at Yangon University, in partnership with a highly reputed foreign university. He added that AIT received considerable insurance monies which offset some of financial burden
incurred from the flood of 2011.
Responding to questions about financial expenditures, the acting president delved into issues of responsibility, transparency, checks and balances, salary hikes, and remarked that there are considerable lessons to be learnt for achieving better governance and financial responsibility, as AIT moves forward.
He also answered questions on issues related to employee work permits and the undergraduate program stating that both issues should be resolved soon. Prof. Worsak stated that he has been entrusted with responsibility of coordinating AIT affairs as acting president until 30 June 2013.
Earlier that day, chairing the inaugural meeting of the Task Force on Revenue Enhancement (TFRE), President Worsak called for all AIT senior officials to “think out of the box” to correct some downward financial trends.
The Task Force met to evaluate the current financial situation and to devise a global, institute-wide strategy for revenue enhancement based on AIT’s core strengths. Outlining the partial findings from the Financial Health and Budget Review Task Force which worked in April, President Worsak asked for collective ideas for boosting AIT’s coffers.
Senior faculty and administration officials responded with numerous innovative ideas for advancing the institute’s fortunes, and these will be refined into specific strategies with supporting objectives, deliverables, and deadlines, explained TFRE Convener Dr. Greg Chiu, of the School of Engineering and Technology.
“It’s exciting to see AIT moving forward in a collective way,” said Dr. Chiu, summarizing the positive results of the first meeting.
