Mon, 06 Feb 2012

: The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok, will offer scholarships to qualified Myanmar nationals to pursue their master's degree programs at AIT. Under this scholarship program with a total budget of 30 million NOK (approximately 160 million Baht), up to 40 master's students per year for 3 years will be recruited starting from August 2012.

Any Myanmar national who meets the AIT admissions requirements are eligible to apply for the scholarships to study at any relevant field of study available at AIT. Applicants from different sectors such as, but not limited to, the public sector, private sector, civil society organizations, ethnic communities, non-governmental organizations, and unit sites are welcome to apply. The attractive scholarship package will cover all tuition and registration fees, research grant, bursary and accommodation and other study associated costs for a pre-bridging program (up to 4 weeks in Myanmar), bridging program at AIT (up to 8 weeks), and the master's degree program. A return air ticket between Yangon, Myanmar and Bangkok, Thailand will also be provided.

In addition to the AIT admissions application forms, applicants need to submit a 3-page essay (in the Myanmar language) explaining the reason for applying to AIT and how they can contribute towards the future development of Myanmar in the short, medium and long term. In order to receive a qualified pool of candidates from the different sectors, AIT will coordinate a national level pre-screening step, pre-selection interview panel in Myanmar, followed by a final selection by the AIT schools.

AIT is currently closely coordinating with the Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok, as well as with collaborative partners in Myanmar to set up a local application center in Yangon, Myanmar. The detailed announcement of this scholarship program will be available within this week.

AIT is grateful to the Government of Norway for its strong and continued support to AIT and we look forward to closely collaborating in this important initiative.

: The EBARA Corporation has donated one million Yen to AIT to help the Institute in its reconstruction and rebuilding efforts. The donation was made by a delegation of EBARA Corporation comprising of Mr. Kiyoshi Hirono, Executive General Manager; Mr. Katsufumi Nakano, Managing Director; and Ms. Kornkanok Naprasertjkul, Administrative and Office Manager at the AIT temporary office at Pacific Place Tower, Bangkok. During the handover ceremony, Mr. Hirono remarked that the EBARA workshop in Navanakorn Industrial Promotion Zone in Pathumthani was also damaged, since it remained inundated under two meters of water for six weeks. He added that EBARA would be keen to collaborate with AIT and would seek its help when it expands its operations. Mr. Nakano stated that South-East Asia continues to be a very important region for EBARA, and described AIT as a valued partner. The partnership between AIT-EBARA is over two decades old and we are most grateful to EBARA for reaching out to AIT in this time of crisis and look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration with them.

Further details available at the below link:

http://www.ait.ac.th/news-and-events/2012/news/ebara-donates-a-million-yen-to-ait/view 

On 31st January 2012, Dr. Heinrich Geiger, Head of Asia Department, Katholischer Akademischer Auslander-Dienst (KAAD) visited the AIT temporary campus to discuss about renewal of the agreement in which scholarships are provided by KAAD to qualified candidates to study at AIT.

Dr. Geiger expressed his heartfelt sympathy to AIT for the recent flood disaster and extended his best wishes for the quick recovery of AIT. He was also keen to learn about the measures taken by AIT to resume its operation and classes after the flood, as well as AIT’s rehabilitation plan and the plan to return to the main campus in Pathumthani in February 2012.

With regard to the new agreement, KAAD plans to offer 5-7 scholarships annually to qualified candidates who meet AIT and KAAD’s requirements, starting from the August 2012 intake. In his meeting with ERCO officers, he requested for AIT assistance in disseminating the information about KAAD scholarships to prospective candidates during AIT’s promotional activities. Representative from ERCO were Mr. Olivier Dréan, Interim Head-ERCO, and Ms. Tiamkare Thitithamtada, Senior Program Officer-ERCO.

: The Institute recently engaged the services of Dr Sun Sayamipuk and his company, S. N. Engineering Consultants Co., Ltd. to serve as Project Management Consultants to manage, coordinate and monitor all activities and entities involved in the restoration and upgrading work of the AIT Campus, including any work that has already been scheduled or started. The AIT Main Campus Rebuilding and Upgrading Committee will guide and review the work of the Project Management Office. The Committee will look into the implementation of the recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation plan that is looking at the “Social and People”, “Natural Environment”, “Built Environment”, and “Fundraising and Economics”, as well as the implementation of various aspects of the recently developed AIT campus master plan.

I will Chair the AIT Main Campus Rebuilding and Upgrading Committee, which is also composed of the following internal (AIT) and external members: Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai; Dr. Naveed Anwar; Dr. Jonathan Shaw; Head-Finance or representative; ERCO-MCU as Communications In-charge; student, faculty, and staff representatives; Sodexo representative; Prof. Dr. Soontorn Boonyatikarn, Professor of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University; Dr. Ludovic Lacrosse, EEP Mekong, Chief Technical Advisor; Dr. Saeed Zaki (Executive Director - SE Asia and Managing Director - Thailand, dwp Limited). The Project Management Consultants will serve as the Committee Coordinator and Secretariat.

: On 30th January 2012, I met with the Coordinators of the AIT International School (AITIS), Mrs. Nighat Malim and Mrs. Nirja Despande, along with the AITIS Administrative Officer, Ms. Parichat Thummachua. I was also joined in the meeting by the Head-Administration, Mrs. Izel Ann Dante. The main discussion was on the scheduled return of the AITIS to the AIT campus from its current temporary locations in Hua Hin and Bangkok vis-a-vis ongoing restoration of the AITIS building, which will most likely be completed towards the end of March 2012. I affirmed putting high importance in ensuring that health hazards and risks are minimized when AITIS operations are resumed at the AIT campus. We are expecting to receive the results of the post-sanitation tests of the air and buildings at the AIT campus, including AITIS, conducted by an independent company.

Following the confirmed return to campus on 15 February 2012 after a two-week break of the academic operations in Hua Hin, I concurred that there is no reason for AITIS to continue its operations in Hua Hin beyond 15 February 2012, and should only operate at its current temporary location in Bangkok, i.e. at St John's International School (SJIS). All AITIS students from Hua Hin may join their respective classes at AITIS at SJIS.

To allow for smooth and safe transition for AITIS students, the tasks of furnishing the ground floor classrooms to facilitate the return to the AIT campus will be completed during the AITIS mid-semester break (no classes for AITIS students) from 12 to 22 April 2012. AITIS classes will resume from 23 April 2012 at the AIT campus.

: I would like to congratulate Dr. Jonathan Shaw, Director AIT Extension on his appointment as a Member of the Steering Committee of the Asia-Pacific Agricultural Research Information System (APARIS) for the period 2012-2013. The Tenth Meeting of the APARIS held on 29 September, 2011 at AIT, Bangkok under the Chairmanship of Dr Simon Hearn, Principal Adviser, ACIAR had unanimously agreed to have a representation of AIT Extension on the APARIS Steering Committee.

The Committee was of the view that nomination of Dr Shaw as a member of the Steering Committee will be vital in establishing greater cooperation between AIT and APAARI and also for guiding the APARIS program, which is aimed at improving communication, information and knowledge sharing in extension innovation systems in Asia-Pacific region. I fully support this nomination and believe Dr. Shaw's participation will also further strengthen the collaborative work between our two institutions.

On 31 January 2012, we welcomed Prof. Anders Hult, Professor and Director of International Affairs for Southeast Asia, from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden. The purpose of his visit was to discuss the Letter of Intent (LoI) which was recently drafted and finalized to enable collaboration for 1) integrated bachelor-master’s program, 2) dual master’s degree program, and 3) dual doctoral degree program.

Prof. Hult mentioned in the meeting that AIT is considered one of the most strategic partners of KTH in Asia. He is very keen to work closely with AIT to identify the fields of study, which are similar to those of KTH in order to jointly develop the above programs. Furthermore, KTH is interested to work with AIT for development initiatives in Myanmar with prospect of support from Sida. I informed Prof. Hult of AIT’s upcoming trip to Myanmar in early February 2012 by the representative from SET, SERD and ERCO. He suggested there could be possibility to include KTH in the future activities as a result of this visit. I thank Mr. Kyaw Soe Hlaing, Program Coordinator from ERCO, who provided his input with regard to Myanmar to Prof. Hult during his visit.

Joining the meeting was Ms. Tiamkare Thitithamtada, Senior Program Officer from ERCO, who will be working with Prof. Hult in coordinating with the respective schools and in the drafting of the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA). Prof. Hult will be visiting AIT again in April 2012 to discuss further with relevant persons on the development of the programs.

: Dr C Visvanathan Professor in Environmental Engineering and Management field of study/SERD successfully received Research grants for two projects:

The first project sponsored by University of Tokyo, Japan is titled “Pilot Scale study on maximum recovery of the filter backwash water by using pilot ceramic membrane filter”. The project duration is for 1 year from 1 January 2012 with a budget of THB 414,704. The project facilitates the maximum recovery of the filter backwash water by using pilot scale ceramic membrane filter. It also involves investigating the method for the water recovery and minimizing sludge treatment facilities and investigates the energy saving techniques for water industries.

The second project sponsored by Mitsubishi Research Institute Japan is titled “Review and improve extend and augment the functions and contents of the 3RKH website”. The project duration is for 15 months from 13 January 2012 with a budget of THB 634,400. The project involves expanding content of the 3R related researchers profile inventory, review plastic recycling technologies products and market study of market chain of the plastic recycling business through Public-Private-Participation. 

The AIT Extension will conduct the following training program:

-“Application of Biotechnology in Genetic Improvements of Agricultural Commodities” is sponsored by IAARD, Indonesia. The project will be from 19 March 2012 to 28 June 2012, and has a budget of THB 885,521. There are 10 participants form IAARD, Indonesia expected to be attending the program.

-“International Program on Urban Cooperative Credit Organization” is sponsored by CAB/RBI. The project will be from 19 February 2012 to 5 June 2012, and has a budget of THB 1,171,444. There are 16 participants expected to be attending the program.

I congratulate and wish them all success in their respective projects.

: I met with Mr. Håkan Alm, Founder, Vision House Limited and his colleague Mr. Eric Helander, to discuss the IT audit which they are doing for AIT, free of charge, and I wish to thank Mr. Håkan Alm for his company’s generous support in this important exercise.

: Last week I met with AIT Emeritus Professor Ram M. Shrestha, who is in Bangkok, and took the opportunity to brief him on some of our ongoing activities and initiatives and also sought his advice and inputs.

: During the week I met with 25 Faculty members from the Modern University Governance Program for University Management, Learning Innovation Division, Higher Education Commission, Government of  Pakistan, who were attending an AIT Extension program on “Ensuring Training Effectiveness”.

: I participated in the 62nd Anniversary of the Republic of India reception which was hosted by new AIT Council member H. E. Mr. Anil Wadhwa, Ambassador of India, and a Cuban reception, hosted by H.E. Mr. D. Herrera, Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba, on 31st January 2012 and 2nd February 2012 respectively. On 30th January 2012, I attended the farewell reception of Mr. Daniel Pruce, Deputy Head of Mission, British Embassy.

: On 31st January I attended the Nordic Chambers Breakfast Seminar, which was on the topic Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU) Reopens for Investments for Thailand during which Mr. Leo Emdal Alexandersen and Mr. Poul Weber, made a presentation on how IFU advises and invests together with Danish companies who wish to establish themselves in developing countries and emerging markets. IFU is reopening for co-investments with Danish companies in Thailand, following a decision by the Danish government to increase the Fund’s focus on emerging markets.

The Danish investment fund IFU has made investments in Thailand since 1975. However, in 2009 IFU had to stop making new investments in the country because Thailand had surpassed the income limit regulating which countries IFU can invest in.  The Danish government has now doubled the income limit, and Thailand is among the 26 countries being reopened.  Until 2009, IFU had participated in the establishment of 28 companies in Thailand.

IFU can offer both advice and financing to Danish companies wanting to set up business in developing countries and emerging markets in Asia, Africa and certain parts of Latin America. IFU’s investments are made on commercial terms in the form of share capital and loans and are made directly in a company established in the host country.  As an investor IFU is prepared to share the financial risk with a Danish company, and normally IFU is involved from the first step through the establishment and set-up of the company until it is fully consolidated. Often IFU is also represented on the board of the company. 

http://www.google.co.th/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=investment+fund+for+developing+countries

: This week’s quote is by Anwar al-Sadat who said the following: "He who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never be able to change reality." Former Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat won the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize in conjunction with former Israeli Prime Minister Menachim Begin for the Camp David Accords.

Wish you a pleasant week ahead.

Sincerely,

Said Irandoust

President

Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)