111th Graduation

Among these graduates, 173 from the
School of Environment, Resources and Development, and 181 from the
School of Management graduated in a ceremony held in the morning and
279 were from the School of Engineering and Technology in a ceremony
held in the afternoon.

The ceremony in the morning was graced by  H. E. Dr. Tej Bunnag,
Chairman of the AIT Board of Trustees. The Convocation Address was
delivered by Prof. Dr. M.M. Salunkhe, Vice Chancellor, Central
University of Rajasthan, India. Dr. Pornsak Suppataratarn, Business
Officer of the AIT Alumni Association, represented and delivered the
message of AIT Alumni Association President, Mr. Somprasong
Boonyachai.,

Mr. Faisal Alih, an Urban Environmental Management student of
 SERD, represented his peers as the Outstanding Student among
the graduates of the morning session and delivered a speech to a full
auditorium. 
 

Graduation Address by AIT President Prof. Said
Irandoust

H.E. Dr. Tej Bunnag, Chairman of the AIT Board of Trustees
Our Graduation Speaker Professor M. M. Salunkhe,
Vice Chancellor, Central University of Rajasthan, India
Members of the AIT Board of Trustees and Executive Committee
Excellencies and honored guests,
Senior Members of the AIT Alumni, Faculty, Staff,
Our Dear Graduands, Family Members,

It is my great honour and privilege to welcome you to AIT’s
111^th graduation ceremony and to join you, your families,
friends and members of our faculty and staff who have supported and
encouraged you on this important journey in celebration of this
significant achievement and milestone.  

I would also like to acknowledge the presence of so many of our
partners, and to take this opportunity to also thank them for their
valuable contributions made to the Institute, and through whose
support, several of you have been provided with an opportunity to
pursue your higher studies at AIT.  

Never before has the global economy grown and changed so vigorously
and rapidly as is the case at present.  According to the findings
of the emerging Asia study undertaken by the Centennial Group based in
Washington, and headed by Mr. Kohli, who is a member of AIT’s
Institute-level Advisory Board - in the next 20 years, 50 % of World
GPD will be contributed by Asian countries, and 5 of the world's top 10
economies will be based in Asia.

The study also focused on the changing economic demography of Asian
countries and how these changes will be reflected in shaping the
demands of human resources and skills for the future generation of
students. From the study it is apparent that this will create a great
demand for high quality education to be made available for a big
population.

The ADB study on “Education and Skills: Strategies for Accelerated
Development in Asia and the Pacific” notes that while the region
has distinguished itself in the past decade as the world’s most rapidly
developing, the education sector progress in the region has not kept
pace with the fast-changing demands of an increasingly complex and
rapidly developing world.

Universities, at their core, are institutions based on hope and
institutions which must be led with hope. They are extraordinarily
stable institutions, in part due to their mission and role in society
and in part due to how they operate and are managed. Nonetheless, the
current financial downturn is impacting higher education institutions
regionally and globally in a wide variety of ways. The financial
challenges are among the most pressing in recent times and has called
upon universities and its stakeholders to work together in addressing
the near-term fiscal impact on the institution’s operations as well as
longer-term consequences.

An article which was recently published in The New York Times entitled
“End of the University as we know it” highlights the need to
restructure university education, mainly at the graduate level. One
important recommendation put forward towards making higher learning
more agile, adaptive and imaginative is through increased collaboration
among institutions.  The other recommendation is for institutions
of higher learning to expand the range of professional options for
students.

The article notes that most students will never hold the kind of job
for which they are being trained. It is, therefore, necessary to help
them prepare for work in different fields and to provide exposure to
new approaches and different cultures and the consideration of
real-life issues.

Here it is encouraging to note that AIT’s foray into professional
masters and Ph.D. programs, developed jointly with partners from
the public and private sectors has indeed been most timely and very
well received by the Institute’s partners. We believe that the
knowledge and skills our students cultivate will enable them to adapt
to a constantly changing world.

Governments around the world, and particularly those in developing
countries, face significant educational challenges. Global spending on
education has risen substantially over the past decade, and there is a
demand for more and better services, with governments embracing private
sector participation as a way to increase quality and efficiency.

Recent years have seen an expansion and broadening of the private
sector’s role in the delivery of education in many countries. A key
trend has been the emergence of more sophisticated forms of private
involvement in education through public-private partnerships (PPPs).
Such partnership arrangements are primarily driven by limitations in
public funds to cover investments needs but also by efforts to increase
the quality and efficiency of public services. This notion of
Public-Private-Partnership is also supported by the ADB and the
International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank. AIT is
considering a similar public-private-partnership (PPP) and is currently
in the process of further exploring this concept with its partners and
networks regionally and worldwide.

On another positive note, I am pleased to report that a new Charter
for AIT has been finalized, which will reaffirm AIT’s status as an
international / intergovernmental organization. This task has been
undertaken with the active involvement of trustees and under the
dedicated leadership of the Board Chairman, H.E. Dr. Tej Bunnag, and
auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thailand.

As new graduates of AIT, and in the changing regional and global
context, all of you are partnering the Institute as it celebrates its
50th anniversary this year, and embarks on the next important phase of
its life. Take your education, your talent, and your energy, and build
a nation and a world community that considers knowledge a gift to be
shared, a healthy planet a place to be cherished and human dignity and
opportunity fundamental conditions to be enjoyed by all
people. Let us translate those noble sentiments into our
aspirations for our institution …for our AIT.

I hope that your future endeavors will resonate with commitment to
developing yourselves further in every respect as a person, to making
the quality of lives of your people and of the world -better, and to
helping people less fortunate than yourselves to realize their
potential. It is for these worthy purposes for which you have been
prepared and equipped.  
What is unique about AIT is that “AITis more than a University”
and it symbolizes not only international operations, but also
partnerships under the broad framework or concept of a regional network
university. The rich multicultural environment at AIT has also
contributed to closer academic relations between Asia and the other
regions as well as strengthened ties of friendship and goodwill amongst
AIT’s graduates. Vikram Seth in his book “From Heaven Lake”
which is an account of his travels through Sinkiang and Tibet, writes
“On a personal level, to learn about another great culture is to
enrich one’s life, to understand one’s own country better, to feel more
at home in the world, and indirectly to add to that reservoir of
individual goodwill that may, generations from now, temper the cynical
use of national power”.

Congratulations to each one of you – not only for your
accomplishments, but also for the enormous promise your future
holds.  

Thank you

111th Convocation Address by Prof. Dr. M. M. Salunkhe
Vice Chancellor,  Central University of
Rajasthan, India

Honorable Prof. Said Irandoust , President of AIT, Excellencies from
the diplomatic corps, Distinguished Guests,
learned faculty members, other staff members of the
university, degree recipients, dear students, and their
parents, representatives of press and media, ladies
and gentlemen! “Sawatdee Khap”! A very Good Morning to all
of you! Sabai dii mai (How are you?)

It is a matter of pride and privilege for me to address the young
graduates on the momentous occasion of the 111^th Graduation
Ceremony of Asian Institute of Technology. The number 111 has a special
significance. The number 111 is sometimes called "a Nelson" after
Admiral Nelson. The number is derived from his three great victories,
Copenhagen, Nile and Trafalgar which gives the sequence "Won - Won -
Won". So my message to the graduates of the 111^th Graduation
Ceremony is very much obvious and goes on the same lines signified by
these numbers.

Fortunately, the institute from where you are graduating has imparted
very good competency for winning in the job market. Winning in your
life is more important than that in the job market and more than that
filling your life with joy and spreading the same in society would much
more value your degrees. I feel that this has already been taken by
your President Professor Said Irandoust, who has expressed in his
welcome note on the AIT website that he is working for increasing
happiness at AIT by acting for development of cultural and mutual
respect and trust, communication, presence and encouraging
participation. All these are the core values of the higher education.
As I observe, for half a century AIT has maintained its status as a
highly reputed Asian institution dedicated to the advancement of
infrastructural and industrial engineering, information and
communications technologies, development studies, energy and
environmental management, resource management, business management and
public management. Commensurate with its mission, AIT has always been
committed “to develop highly qualified and committed professionals who
will play a leading role in the sustainable development of the region
and its integration into the global economy.” More than that, I am
impressed by the nine enduring core values that AIT maintains: mutual
trust and respect; tolerance for others’ beliefs; ethical conduct in
all aspects; social and individual responsiveness; treating others with
dignity; respect for cultural diversity; quality assurance; creativity
and innovativeness; and unity in diversity. All these core values
already inculcated in your curriculum would definitely enable you to
compete in global market.

On the occasion of Graduation Ceremony, I suppose the Chief Guest
should share some advise regarding the future career path. As all of
you are aware, due to the global economic slow down, many Companies are
either weeding out their employees or reducing the fringe benefits to
avert the situation out of the recession. All the Industrial Sectors
are reeling under the impact of the Global financial crisis. On account
of the global recession, large corporate worldwide are downsizing their
staff, production and expenses. I would like to rely upon Spencer
Johnson’s famous book “Who Moved My Cheese” to find out the remedy on
the careers in economic melt down. If you thoroughly study the
characters of the two little mice vis-à-vis the two little people,
in the above mentioned book, you will find that the mice are doing
better when exposed to change as they keep the things simple. The two
little people in the book complicate the things due to their emotional
complexity and incompetence towards the adaptation towards changing
situation. The analysis reveals that:

• Change occurs
• Foresee Change
• Keep an eye on Change
• Adapt to Change Quickly
• Inculcate Change
• Get pleasure from the Change
• Be Ready to Quickly Change all over again 

So in today’s tough economical situation you should be
cautious towards noticing even a small change on your career front that
will help you early to adapt to the bigger changes that are to come. In
my opinion ‘recession’ is just a ‘reset session’ and as sure as the
spring will follow the winter, prosperity and economic growth will
follow recession. However, one should utilize this time period to
upgrade the skills and add new qualifications which will be useful in
future. I am sure that you will take the benefit of the academic and
research frame work of the AIT to upgrade you so as to make yourself
recession proof even in future.

When it comes to pursuing proper life time career another
thing comes to my mind is going as per your aptitude or rather
responding to your inner voice. In this context, I would like to quote
Ms. Winfrey who while giving the Stanford's Commencement ceremony in
2008 said: “Feelings are really your GPS system for life. When you're
supposed to do something or not supposed to do something, your
emotional guidance system lets you know. The trick is to learn to check
your ego at the door and start checking your gut instead. Every right
decision I've made—every right decision I've ever made—has come from my
gut. And every wrong decision I've ever made was a result of me not
listening to the greater voice of myelf. If it doesn't feel right don't
do it.

I feel the above mantra will really guide you along your career
path.

Another question pondering in many fresh graduate’s mind is what
he/she should do that will change the life of masses. The only answer
is the fresh graduates should pursue whatever they are doing with
honesty, consistency and most important is by applying the innovative
methods. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft who is known as the
pioneer of today’s digital world was awarded honorary doctorate by the
Harvard University in 2007. A drop out from the same University, Mr.
Gates shared a valuable thought: “We can make market forces work better
for the poor if we can develop a more creative capitalism – if we can
stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a
profit, or at least make a living, serving people who are suffering
from the worst inequities. We also can press governments around the
world to spend taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of
the people who pay the taxes.” The inherent message is fight against
the inequalities and the disproportionate distribution of wealth.
However, this is possible if and only if the young minds like you apply
your minds to the greatest problems in the world. You may dedicate
yourself to prevent the global problems such as environmental
deterioration, global terrorism, nuclear threat, overpopulation,
poverty, religious bigotry, fanaticism and last but not the least
digital divide. All these appears to me as open problems that could be
tackled by well trained motivated youths like imbibed with the values
by your institute. I am very happy to put forth all these thoughts to
you as being the ignited graduates of Environment, Resources and
Development and School of Management, you would be in a better position
to tackle them. The importance of environment and its link to
development and the quality of human life were first addressed on a
global level at the Stockholm Conference on Human Environment in 1972.
I am proud to refer that it was the then Indian Prime Minister, Mrs.
Indira Gandhi, who focused attention of the Conference on this link,
stating that “environment cannot be improved in conditions of poverty”.
I was happy to note that AIT, has maintained the link between the
Environment Resources and Development pioneered by India. Further I
foresee a leading role of AIT for Asian Countries to forge ahead
globally with the development agenda backed by the Environmental
Resources awareness in the present century.
 
Fortunately your generation is blessed with the magic tools like
internet. In Bill Gate’s word : “The magical thing about this network
is not just that it collapses distance and makes everyone your
neighbor. It also dramatically increases the number of brilliant minds
we can have working together on the same problem – and that scales up
the rate of innovation to a staggering degree.” So in this age of
globalization, there is no dearth of opportunities for you. I would
like to put forth the mission of your life that can be appropriately
quoted in our past Scientist President Dr. Abdul Kalam:

I would also like to make a special mention of the AITs
50^th Anniversary in the current year 2009. I
am impressed by the AIT’s sustainable evolution and evidential
impact on Asia and foresee its major role to play in the
process to develop a more coherent approach for
improved natural resources management and poverty alleviation amongst
the Asian counties. More significant from my viewpoint is the AIT’s
contribution in limiting material and spiritual poverty in Asia through
education for last five decades. 

So once again best wishes to the graduates and also to AIT and thanks
for giving this opportunity to share my views

Message by Mr. Somprasong Boonyachai
AIT Alumni Association President

AIT President, Professor Said Irandoust, Our Guest Speaker, Mr.
Rajisr Bunya-ananta, VIP Guests, parents, spouses, Fellow Alumni
and graduating students, good afternoon.

It is an honor and privilege for me to join you and to address this
special gathering here on behalf of Mr. Somprasong Boonyachai,
President, AIT Alumni Association.

He would like to join you on this special occasion but due to his
prior commitments, he is unable to be here today. He asked me to
extend his congratulations to all the Graduates on your
achievements.

AIT has equipped you with knowledge and intellectual skills on which
to build your professional career. Education brings knowledge and
builds understanding among people. It is a tool, which enables us
to lead a quality life. Once we leave AIT and take another
important step into the real world, we are of course well equipped with
this essential “tool”.

Don’t think you know it all because education does not stop here. I
believe that the true education lies in the outside world. It is
important to continue to learn and welcome new perspectives in
life. 

AIT acts as an important platform, preparing you to accept and learn
new things. Think back to when you were studying at AIT where you
noticed many differences among the students. Remember how
fortunate you are, to be part of AIT, because here is where you learned
the differences in culture among many other wonderful aspects. You
can bring with you and apply these experiences and what you have
learned once you are in the real world. Life is very different
when you are out there. If you don’t judge these differences
shortsightedly, you will be able to turn these differences for our
benefit. And we can create value for both ourselves and the
society.

Let me give you an example. While we were at AIT we have noticed the
differences among students, but once we are in the outside world there
are more dimensions in those differences. There is a combination
of people with varieties, i.e. education, background, experiences,
beliefs and many more. If we are not too stiff with ours, we will be
able to bring those differences and put them to use. Those who are less
fortunate than we are may have many good ideas and experiences that we
do not have. When we bring all these together, we can create
wonderful or even better knowledge and result.

As alumni of AIT, you are the institution’s ambassadors of
goodwill. Be proud of your achievements and of your association with
this institution. Value this academic community and the friends that
you have made here. Keep those friendships alive, as they will be of
great importance to you in the future.

Finally, I would like to wish everyone a great success in your future
endeavors with the tool that AIT has provided, combining with your
ability to apply, new things you will learn and what you will
experience in life in the real world.    

On behalf of Mr. Somprasong and the rest of AITAA Mother Chapter
Executive Committee and members, I would like to welcome you to your
unique extended family…the AITAA family.

Again, my sincere congratulations to you, Graduates of May 2009.

Outstanding Student Message
by Mr. Faisal Mamicpic Alih
UEM, SERD

AIT President Prof. Said Irandoust, Chairman of the AIT Board of
Trustees Dr. Tej Bunnag, Excellencies, Members of the AIT
Administration, Faculty, Staff, Guests, fellow graduates, good
morning.

Coming to AIT for the first time is like being introduced into
the whole world, where people of different cultures live together,
where harmony, freedom and understanding reign supreme. It was not
difficult to make friends as everyone welcomed one another as members
of a family—and that’s when we realized that, yes, we finally belonged
to the AIT family.  Our social life in AIT taught us to be
independent and well-prepared for the challenges ahead. It provided for
a holistic sense of being where nights at the SU Café, hours spent on
Facebook and the events organized by the Student Union balanced the
quest for academic excellence.

Academic excellence, with its multicultural ethos, is the hallmark of
AIT education. Some say that the “A” in AIT stands for assignments, but
we realized that those assignments were designed for us to explore
different subject matters outside the classroom. Our studies and
activities inside the classroom provided avenues for intellectual
exchange where our experiences and perspectives added to the lectures
of our teachers. The workshops and fieldtrips demonstrated that
learning is not confined in the classrooms; learning extends to the
outside world where problems are authentic and where solutions can be
proven realistic. AIT education offered us a comprehensive and
integrated system of learning where we were able to grasp the essence
of theories and concepts in relation to the conditions of the world we
live in. More importantly, AIT education has equipped us with
the necessary skills—technical and social—to cope with any situation in
our future working environments.

We come from different fields of study but we all are qualified
and committed professionals who must lead in efforts towards regional
and global sustainable development. This is both a caveat and a
challenge for us to carry on the ideals and principles taught to us
during our stay here in AIT. While we may have proven our academic and
technical abilities, we must always carry with us the values of hard
work, understanding, and, most importantly,
friendship.

In one of the welcome parties for new students, our professor
shared with us a story of their own welcome party. They had a single
watermelon for their food. They proceeded to divide the fruit equally
among themselves. Our professor told us how that single watermelon
created a bond of friendship between them—a bond which continues today.
Our fields of expertise are varied but we need such kinds of bond or
network of friendship among us to be able to deal with the various
social, economic and environmental problems surrounding us.
According to a French statesman....”it is courtesy and friendship
that will lead us to where we want to go and what we want to
achieve.”  As educated persons, we must exude the virtue of
humility and therefore embrace stakeholder partnership and
collaboration.  By this, we should recognize each other’s
qualifications as well as each one’s contributions towards achieving a
higher goal. Global change is inevitable but the challenge lies
in cooperating with one another to meet such change for the betterment
of our world.

As we leave the halls of the Asian Institute of Technology, we
should never forget the values we learned, the hardships we endured,
the women and men who have helped us in one way or another, the fun and
laughter we all shared, and even the thunder that explodes like bombs,
the monitor lizards and the frogs that croak louder than
buffalos.

We will always be grateful to the Administration, the donors who
made it possible for us to get the much sought-after AIT education, the
staff in our respective fields of study, our parents who have been
supportive, and above all, to the Source of Life who made all these
things possible. 

In our academic lives, we have our academic parents. May I
request our professors, advisers and thesis committee members to please
rise..... It is with a sincere heart that we say thank you so much for
your valuable guidance, supervision and care. We will always remember
how you all inspired and motivated us to think beyond. Thank you
very much and we share the honor with you.

To all of us here today, congratulations and congratulations.
May we always continue to pursue our dreams for a better world to live
in.

Sawasdee krap!

Graduation Address by Mr. Rajisr Bunya-ananta
Vice President, Hard Drive Operation
Western Digital (Thailand) Co., Ltd.

Good afternoon, Excellencies and Honored Guests, Trustees, Faculty,
Graduates, Honorable AIT President Professor Said Irandoust, His
Excellency Chairman of the AIT Board of Trustees, Dr. Tej Bunnag,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

Congratulations to the 2009 AIT graduates! Let’s give them a big
round of applause, shall we? And, I would like to specifically
recognize the Western Digital employees who are part of the graduating
class. I am proud of you. 

It is an honor to have been given the privilege to speak to you
today. Before I address the graduates, I want to touch on what I
view as a vital challenge facing most developing nations today, that
is, the transition to a technology-based economy. As you are
aware, this requires hardware and know-how along with the
“technologists” to properly employ them. The government can only
do so much on its own. Therefore, it becomes crucial that industry
and academic institutions play an active role in developing capable
“technical” resources such as researchers, scientists and
engineers. They are the key ingredients in the process of
transformation. As an employer of more than 900 engineers and
scientists, I say quality education is critical. Consider the
difference between a graduate who can be productive on the job from day
one and another who requires two to three years’ training before he or
she can start producing measurable results. 

So, what then is the model for success? Fortunately, in Thailand
today, universities (like AIT) and major corporations (like Western
Digital) recognize the need for a solid understanding of industry’s
requirements so that practical curricula can be
implemented. Qualified, “ready-for-action” graduates can be
developed to fuel R&D centers and energize the industry at
large. Industrial growth can then accelerate and the revolution
can take place.

AIT is a model among Thai universities, recognizing the need
for cooperation with the business sector and various other government
agencies to promote technological advancements. The Western
Digital graduates sitting in this room today are testimonies to the
success of this collaborative model; you represent the next generation
of ‘brains’ who will run our company. So, my message to the AIT
Board and members of the faculty – thank you very much for your vision
and mission. You are certainly on the right track. Please
continue to expand this partnership program. 

Now, what advice do I have for our graduates? With almost 300 of
you coming from 18 nations and representing many different cultures and
values, I thought long and hard about a message that would be relevant
for everyone. It eventually dawned on me that I should share
insights from my 30 years of experience, giving you a few beneficial
pointers on how to navigate the rough waters and come out relatively
unscathed.

While most countries share the same basic ‘requirements-for-success’
in their working environments, each culture carries nuances that may
lead to conflicts. For example, Americans have a tendency to be
assertive and direct, a behavior that may not yield positive results in
Asian contexts. Thais provide another good example; many books
have been written on the subject of ‘working with the Thais’. We,
myself included, are generally ‘reserved’ and ‘humble’, sometimes
overly so, which can be an impediment to our career growth. 

Having countless opportunities to interact directly and actively with
various ethnic groups over the past three decades, I am confident that
I can equip all of you with a ‘recipe for success’ that can be easily
remembered and applied for the rest of your working careers. So,
please listen carefully.

‘P’ for Passion. I’m referring to a behavior, a
conviction. A passionate person is an ‘inspired’ individual, one
who seeks challenges outside one’s own experiences, learning from
others and constantly raising the bar on his or her own standards and
performance, enthusiastically. These individuals help create a
‘high energy, high achievement’ work environment. With passion,
almost anything is possible. 

‘R’ for Resourcefulness. This highlights your ability to manage
any situation. One needs to be capable of devising effective
strategies to overcome obstacles, no matter how daunting. It is
not an easy task to develop solid ‘problem solving skills’. You
have to take every opportunity to expose yourself to new situations so
that lessons can be learned and the ability to devise clever tactics
can be refined. Keep working at it! Senior managers expect
you to bring them solutions, not problems. You’ll feel the same
way, too, when you’re the boss. 

‘I’ for Integrity. This is at the top of my list as the most
important personal value for any professional, especially when your
rank is high in the organization. Some notable key attributes of
integrity are: trustworthiness, meeting commitments, consistency
in words and actions, and representing information and data accurately
and completely. As Asians, these values are particularly important
to appreciate because some of the practices that we consider ‘normal’
might be viewed as unethical or unacceptable in the eyes of other
cultures.

‘D’ for Discipline. This implies a rule or system of rules that
govern conduct or activity, a self control. In working
environments, discipline is about not missing a day of work without
compelling reasons, about finishing your daily responsibilities before
going home, about respecting urgency and putting everything aside to
address the issue. Without it, goals cannot be accomplished and
life becomes disorganized and dysfunctional. Jim Rohn, a business
philosopher, noted, “We must all suffer from one of two pains: the
pain of discipline or the pain of regret”. I think his point is
pretty clear. I’m certain that all of you understand the
importance of being ‘disciplined’; otherwise, you would not be sitting
in this room today. 

‘E’ for Execution. Execute, execute and, when in doubt, execute
more; that’s what my boss tells me every time we meet. Arguably,
execution is as important as integrity. According to Franklin R.
Covey, “Execution is the discipline of getting the most important
things done”. Execution is about taking the ideas, the passion,
and the strategies and turning them into desired outcomes. Many
organizations fail not because they lack good vision or plans, but
because of bad execution – not getting things done, not delivering on
commitments. Solid execution starts with individuals in the
organization – that’s you, be a “doer”! I could spend the whole
day on this, but in the interest of time I will instead highly
recommend that you read one or two of the many books written on the
subject. 

There you have it, take “PRIDE” in your work! This formula has
worked wonders for me over the years, and I am convinced that it will
also serve you well. 

It is an honor to be a part of this auspicious ceremony. Thank
you very much for your kind attention. Best wishes and good luck
on your successful careers ahead.

Outstanding Student Message
by Mr. Saeed Ul Hussan
CSIM, SET

Respectable President of AIT, Prof Said Irandoust,  members of
the Board of Trustees,  Vice Presidents,  Deans, dear faculty
members, graduating students of AIT and honorable guests, ladies and
gentlemen, good afternoon .

It’s my great pleasure and honor to outline my feelings and
experiences on behalf of all graduating students.    
   

Before coming to AIT we left our homes behind seeking for a bright
future ahead. AIT is a multicultural community    where
I believe we have learned many lessons from our teachers, friends,
environment and the people around us, at the same time experiencing the
diversity of culture, languages, beliefs and as well as academic and
professional competence.

Being outstanding students in our respective fields of studies is, of
course, a matter of happiness. We all are thankful to our faculty and
classmates for their encouragement and support during the tough time
of  our course work. But whatever we learned during this period
through lateral integration of knowledge among our colleagues counts
much more than the award that only one person gets among
many. 

Honorable guests, graduation from AIT is not merely getting a piece of
paper, which signifies our academic progress   or a degree
which will augment  our professional competence after. What’s
really factual is that we have had very superior multi dimensional
experience here in this institute.

No doubt, our parents were not here but our teachers were there to
support us in all ups and downs during this course of time. No doubt,
our brothers and sisters were not here but the love and devotion of our
friends had never left us alone. We have spent our time in sharing
constructive thoughts, feelings and ideas, which have broadened our
vision,  extended our reach to the outside world and  gave us
with better understanding of other cultures and
beliefs,          which I
hope will benefit us in many ways of our life.

Dear guests, we will definitely miss this generous atmosphere of AIT,
the time we spent together and the struggles we had put in, I will
really miss you all. I will never forget the sleepless nights I spent
here fighting with mosquitoes on one hand while enjoying the awaking
songs of frogs on other hand. I will never forget Turbo 286 my beloved
bicycle, that always kept me moving, I will never forget the food 
in the cafeteria  and  I will never forget the smiling faces
of security guards at AIT main gate with sweet  welcome saying
sawasdee krap. Last but not the least, I will never forget
that once my friend told me that teacher is God and now in AIT I
believe this fully.

AIT fulfilled my many dreams, but two of my dreams remained dreams.
One is to learn the Thai language and the other is to see my advisor
coming in late for class or for a meeting. I do not want to mention the
name of my advisor who is the vice president for academic
affairs.

Dear guests, I would like to extend my profound gratitude to the
honorable AIT president for his firm leadership and untiring
efforts  to regain the stability of this institute. We all are
witnesses of his commands and excellence. I would like to thank all our
donors, and I wish they will continue facilitating  the
scholarships in this uncertain time.

Dear fellows, we are now  heading towards the real world where we
have to exhibit ourselves as ambassador of AIT,    
our professional competence, intellectual abilities and beautiful well
being will not only help us succeed in this life but we will also
promote good image of AIT as an Institute that offers quality learning,
invokes intellectual growth and polishes individual’s
attitude. 

I learned during my research that there is plenty of room for
developing countries to catch up and integrate and excel into the
international arena. 

Dear parents we are all very thankful to you for all your love, your
affection  your prayers and all your emotional support  that
enabled us to reach our goals. May God grant you long life and
happiness forever and ever.

In conclusion I would like to say: Lives of great men all remind us
that we can make our life sublime and depart  
    leave behind us footprints on the land of
sand.

A very warm congratulations and congratulations to all graduates.
Thank you very much and good evening!

To view the graduation ceremony
photo gallery, click here.