The AIT president explained that the center would be similar to
campuses already established in Vietnam and Indonesia. “By establishing
a physical presence in these two countries, we have been far better
able to respond to each country’s educational capacity building needs,
and to understand the domestic marketplace for higher education,”
President Irandoust said.
Such a push directly into Nepal would follow years of engagement by
AIT with Nepalese postgraduate-level students. A total of 5.6% of AIT’s
16,000-plus alumni hail from Nepal, and the institute located 40-km
north of Bangkok is currently home to 86 Nepal nationals studying for
Master and PhD degrees.
To address some of Nepal’s key national-level challenges, the AIT
Center Nepal will focus its postgraduate education and research
programmes on water resources management and hydropower. Once the
center is fully operational, these programmes would be scaled-up with
the full support of the main campus in Thailand, Prof. Irandoust added.
AIT has also recently developed a new legal Charter. Under its new
Charter, which was finalized on 6 February 2009, AIT will operate as a
non-profit, autonomous, regional, international institute.
The AIT President called on Nepal to sign the new AIT Charter, which
he described as more attuned to the changing needs of higher learning
in Asia. With its new international status, AIT aims to extend its
international reach into key target countries around the continent,
starting with Nepal.
Meanwhile in a significant development for AIT, an alumnus Mr. Madhav
Prasad Ghimire has been appointed as the Chief Secretary of Nepal,
which is the highest position in the Civil Service.
Similarly another AIT alumnus Mr. Yuba Raj Bhusal has been promoted to
the position of Secretary in the Government of Nepal.