“The AIT Road Map is an operational guideline for 2014-2018,” Dr.
Subin remarked at the beginning of the workshop held on 22 January 2013
at the AIT Conference Center. The AIT Road Map, which was approved at
the meeting of the AIT Board of Trustees held on 16 January 2014, was
presented to the AIT community, which began its deliberations on
operationalizing an action plan.
“I identify myself as a member of the AIT community and I have come to
work with you,” is how the Board Chairman described the day’s workshop.
Welcoming Dr. Subin, AIT’s Interim President Prof. Worsak
Kanok-Nukulchai remarked that this was the first time that the Board
Chairman has come down to work with the entire AIT community.
The original idea of conceptualizing the AIT Roadmap came from Dr.
Subin. Introducing the document, Dr. Gregory Chiu, Professor of
Practice, AIT remarked that the AIT Road Map seeks to prioritize
activities for the next few years. It focuses on the Institute’s
current abilities, and seeks to identify priority activities that have
measurable and achievable results. He mentioned that AIT continues to
be a very special place with excellence, relevance and internationality
being its key words. “The Road Map is a policy and administrative
guide, but it is not strategic action,” he added. Five themes of food,
energy, environment, infrastructure, and Informatics and Information
Technology were brought up for discussion as being fundamental to AIT.
However, these themes are not exclusive, and AIT would continue to work
in other areas, he added. The Road Map is a collective effort of
the community which has been guided by Board, and the Action Plan
will incorporate the input of the AIT community.
As the community deliberated on the Action Plan and specific tasks to
be undertaken, the Board Chairman heard out opinions of the AIT
community stressing that AIT has an important role as a “service
provider.” He impressed upon the need to focus on human resource and
programmatic needs assessment. AIT needs to focus programs, research
and outreach based on the needs of its users, he added. Dr. Subin
sought inputs of the resource requirements of AIT, asking for specific
details on faculty requirements and infrastructure needs. The
discussion was moderated by Dr. Jonathan Shaw, Executive Director, AIT
Extension.
