AIT President Said Irandoust, together with Professor Vilas Wuwongse, Vice President, External Relations; Professor C. Visvanathan; Dr. Nitin Afzulpurkar; and Dr. Do Ba Khang, took part in the recent AIT Center Vietnam (AITCV) Council of Advisors Meeting, which was chaired by H.E. Professor Tran Van Nhung, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), on 21 September 2007.
High on the agenda of the meeting was a review of the AITCV Strategic Plan for 2006-2010, which was described as a very progressive and forward-looking plan prepared by Dr. Fredric W. Sweirczek, AITCV Director, and other officials at AITCV. The financial forecast of AITCV for 2007 is very promising, officials said, and the Center is expected to end the year in a surplus situation.
Other items discussed at the meeting were a number of new concepts on how to support the capacity building plans of MOET for Vietnamese universities such as the AIT International University (AITU), Doctoral Development Project with the Government of Vietnam, the AIT Preparatory Academy, In-Service Faculty Development, and Developing Academic Leadership.
MOET has a five-year plan to train 2000 doctoral level graduates, and MOET have suggested that AIT take on the responsibility of educating a number of doctoral students soon. This is a unique opportunity for AIT to strengthen its partnership with MOET and to support the future of higher education in Vietnam in a very positive manner.
The recruitment process for a new full-time AITCV Director will soon take place, officials also reported. Dr. Sweirczek, who is currently serving as Interim Director, will be completing his term at the end of 2007. Dr. Sweirczek has made excellent contributions to the AITCV, initiating various new innovative programs, and both AIT and AITCV will continue to engage Dr. Sweirczek in various ways into the future.