Mr. Zhou Gaoyu (left) with Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai.
China’s top universities have benefited from working closely with Western universities, in recent years. Now, a number of leading Chinese universities aim to establish partnership arrangements with well-known higher education institutions in Southeast Asia, including the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT).
administrators brought to AIT during a visit on 20 June 2014. Joined by
Mr. Zhou Gaoyu, First Secretary for Education, China Embassy, Thailand,
a large delegation representing the ASEAN-China Centre in Beijing and
high-ranking officials from The Excellent Alliance of University (E9)
consortium expressed a collective desire to work with AIT.“China wants to emphasize cooperative relations with Thailand’s
universities,” said Mr. Zhou, praising AIT as amongst the country’s
best higher education institutes. China will support many more students
to study in Thailand in the future, he added. Mr. Wang Daoyu, Deputy
Director of Education at the ASEAN-China Centre based in Beijing,
accompanied the delegation.
The visitors included senior representatives from Harbin Institute of
Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Beijing Institute of
Technology, Southeast University, Northwestern Polytechnical
University, South China University of Technology, and Tianjin
University. All members of The E9 rank highly in national and
international university rankings.
“We believe it’s high time to work with our neighbors,” said
delegation leader Dr. Yang Fuling, Director, Office of International
Cooperation, Tianjin University, who explained that the E9 promotes its
programs together as group. All members of the grouping are amongst
China’s finest “first top tier” research intensive universities, she
said.
Welcoming the guests, AIT Interim President Prof. Worsak
Kanok-Nukulchai led a meeting focused on opportunities for faculty and
student exchanges, and cooperation in academic programs and research
projects. He said that China has a number of world-class universities
which could benefit from more internationalization.
The president invited each university to send their faculty members to
teach at AIT on special secondment, just as the United States, Europe
and Japan have done. “AIT can be your gateway to connect with
universities across Asia and beyond and to build up your international
faculty networks,” President Worsak said.
Each E9 member university representative introduced their respective
institution, and later exchanged individual friendship tokens with the
AIT president.
Earlier the same day, the Chinese delegation visited the AIT School of
Management where Dean Dr. Donyaprueth Krairit led exploratory
discussions for cooperation on one-plus-one programs, dual degree
programs, faculty exchanges, and research industry linkages.
The E9 visit to AIT was one leg of a three-country regional mission
that also included stops in Indonesia and Vietnam. In Thailand, the
consortium also held talks with Chulalongkorn University.
Speaking on behalf of the seven universities present, Dr. Yang Fuling
said the E9 are planning a follow up visit to the region by a large
delegation of well-known professors.
The officials also welcomed more detailed discussions on joint
academic programs and invited AIT President Worsak to visit all nine E9
universities which are located in Guangzhou, Tianjin, Chongqing, Xi’an,
Shanghai, Nanjing, Dalian, Beijing, Tianjin and Harbin, respectively.
At present, the E9 secretariat office is located at Tongji
University.
The E9 delegation included Yang Fuling, Director, Office of
International Cooperation, Yuan Bo, Deputy Section Chief, Office of
International Cooperation, Tianjin University; Zheng Mingdong,
Deputy Director, International Office Harbin Institute of Technology;
Du Fang Assistant Dean, School of International Education &
Director, Admission Office, and Meng Xiuli, Director of Admission
Office, Graduate School, Dalian University of Technology; Beijing
Institute of Technology; Xing Qingqing, Deputy Director, International
Office, Beijing Institute of Technology; Sun Wubin, Deputy Dean,
International College & Deputy Director, Office of International
Cooperation, Hou Jun, Deputy Dean, Graduate School, Chen Huasheng,
Section Manager, Division of Academic Affairs, Northwestern
Polytechnical University; Qiu Bin, Dean, College for Int’l Students,
Cai Yifeng, Director, Admin Office, International Students Office, Hao
Qingjiu, Vice Director, Office for International Cooperation, Li Dong
Vice Dean, School of Economic & Management, Wang Lixin, Vice Dean,
School of Medicine, Li Xiangfeng, Deputy Party Secretary, School of
Architecture, Southeast University; Liu Kang, Head, Admin Office,
School of International Education, Wei Xianpeng, Secretary, Admin
Office, School of International Education, South China University of
Technology.
AIT was also represented at the meeting by Prof. Voratas
Kachitvichyanukul, Dean, School of Engineering and Technology; Dr.
Doyaprueth Krairit, Dean, School of Management; Prof. Louis G. Hornyak,
Director, Center of Excellence in Nanotechnology; Dr. Gabrielle Groves,
Head, ERCO; Ms. Wannapa Pliansri, ERCO, Mr. Shawn Kelly, Head, MCU; and
Mr. Qi Xinjian, AIT doctoral candidate, President of the Chinese
Students and Scholars Association in Thailand (CSSAT).
