AIT Center Indonesia made official in Jakarta signing ceremony
The Asian Institute of Technology signed an agreement with the government of Indonesia to open a center in Bandung, Indonesia on 28 June 2006. The Asian Institute of Technology Center in Indonesia will collaborate with the Indonesian Ministry of Public Works providing human resource development that will facilitate research and development, consultancy, professional trainings and higher education.
AIT President Said Irandoust and H.E. Ir. Djoko Kirmanto, Indonesia’s minister of Public Works signed the agreement in Jakarta.
“The opening of the AIT Center in Indonesia signals a strengthening in the relationship between our institute and the people of Indonesia, and this can only bode well for all parties involved,” Prof. Irandoust said. “We hope the center will contribute to science and technology in the Asia-Pacific region and produce people with the skills to strengthen the construction industry and public works infrastructure in Indonesia.”
This is AIT’s second international center. The institute has run a center in Vietnam, with locations in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, since 1993.
Through training and education in such fields as Transportation Engineering, Regional and Rural Development Planning, Urban Environmental Management, Agricultural Systems and Engineering and Water Engineering and Management, the leaders of tomorrow will be better prepared to address the practical needs of Indonesia. They will have a world-class, international education earned in their own back yard.
AIT and Indonesia share a history of a strong and fruitful relationship, with nearly 600 Indonesian master’s and doctoral alumni and more than 1,000 Indonesian alumni of short-term training courses. The institute has formal agreements to collaborate with Universitas Andalas in Padang, Petra Christian University in Surabaya, Universitas of Atma Jaya in Yogyakarta and Bogor Agricultural University in Bogor.
The fruits of this collaboration may someday be seen in the application of such AIT research as tsunami early warning sensors and studies of construction on the region’s unstable soils. Additionally, AIT is sending Dr. Pennung Warnitchai, an associate professor in structural engineering at the School of Engineering and Technology, to survey the aftermath of the earthquake in Central Java.
“My heart goes out to the victims of [the recent earthquake], and it is my sincere belief that this center will help Indonesia cope with other crises when they inevitably occur,” Prof. Irandoust said. “Buried beneath the rubble and cloaked under the sadness of such tragedies are the prospects for a future brighter than the present.”