The AIT Coronavirus Task Force meets daily.
May 31, 2020
Since January of this year, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has spread across the world. By the end of May, the situation was quite good in Thailand, but there are places around the world, including many of the countries where our AIT students, faculty, and staff come from, which are still heavily affected.
AIT took action very early to make sure our campus is safe. We formed the AIT Coronavirus Task Force at the end of January to monitor the crisis, both in general and specifically on how it affects the institute. The Task Force has been devising policies, measures and advice, and has kept the AIT community informed through a dedicated Intranet column—with links to the Thai Government public health websites—and through frequent emails. As the number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus increased daily worldwide, the work of the Task Force shifted into high gear, and more and more restrictive precautionary steps have been taken by AIT to ensure a safe and healthy environment on campus. For example, the Task Force ensured that all AIT students overseas—who wanted to—have returned to AIT, and those arriving from highly infected countries were placed on a 14-day quarantine. All were pronounced healthy and no one is in quarantine at this time on campus. Following the declaration of National Emergency by the Thai government, contingency operational plans were put in place, strict measures were imposed on AIT campus, and donated masks were issued to the entire AIT community. In May, however, steady relaxations have taken place. So far, the AIT community is slowly opening up but still vigilant and making sacrifices to protect the campus, and no Coronavirus cases have occurred at AIT.
Back on March 18, AIT officially closed, following the policy announced by the Thai Government, and all face-to-face classes were cancelled for the rest of the Spring Semester to move to online interactive instruction. About half the 1400 students chose to remain at AIT, with the other half, including exchange students from around the world, going back to their home country or their home in Thailand. All students were able to learn via interactive online instruction. Final exams and theses defense were online also. Those who are scheduled to graduate this summer are able to do so. Unfortunately, the May Graduation Exercise was cancelled, but all who graduate this summer are welcome to attend the December Graduation Exercises if they wish. The campus is not “locked down”, but work by AIT faculty and staff is now on a “Work from Home” basis, with only mission essential personnel coming to the office very occasionally. This situation is expected to last until July 1.
Meanwhile, looking ahead to the Fall Semester, we expect AIT will be open for students in August. However, there is a possibility that some students, because of the virus and travel situations of their home country, may not be able to join us in residence on campus initially. But AIT faculty and staff are working very hard to make sure that our online education will be enhanced by then, with more innovative interactive online instruction on different platforms available this August in modern Hybrid Classrooms. Therefore, with new technology and methodology, AIT “will not miss a beat” and will welcome students to enroll in August 2020, both in residence and online. Quality Education and Research— “Social Impact with Innovation”—will go on at AIT!