Report of the President

Executive Committee Meeting

25 February 2008

(Period covering November 2007 to January 2008)

The last report covering the August 2007 to October 2007 period was presented at the 5 November 2007 meeting of the Executive Committee and 26 November 2007 meeting

of the Board of Trustees respectively

January 2008

Executive Committee Meeting25 February 2008 Paper 2.1

Report of the President

January 2008

Period Covering November 2007 – January 2008

Contents

Topic Page No.

1. Introduction 2

2. Progress on AIT Charter 2-3

3. Financial Overview 3

4. Highlights of Initiatives and Activities 3-304.1 Promotional Trips by President 3-44.2 Key Partnerships / New Initiatives 4-164.3 Some of the Key Events 16-244.4 Recognitions by AIT Faculty, Staff, Students and Alumni 24-274.5 Other News 27-30

5. Conclusion 30-31

Annex I: Record of Meetings and Special Events

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1. Introduction

This report provides a synthesis of some of the activities and initiatives undertaken by the Institute during the November 2007 to January 2008 period. The last report covering the August 2007 to October 2007 period was presented at the 5 November 2007 meeting of the Executive Committee and 26 November 2007 meeting of the Board of Trustees respectively.

Members of the AIT Community, Board of Trustees, Executive Committee, alumni as well as other friends and partners of AIT partners have been kept regularly updated on the Institute’s activities and initiatives through my weekly letter.

Reports from the Vice Presidents as well as those from the School Deans, Director AIT Extension, Director AIT Center in Vietnam, and Director AIT Center in Indonesia provides further detailed information on the various activities and initiatives that have been taken during the reporting period (refer to Papers 7.1 and 7.2).

2. Progress on AIT Charter

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Thailand convened the second round of meetings on 28 and 29 January 2008, among representatives of AIT’s partner countries and international entities, to consider further improvements and amendments to the draft of the AIT Board of Trustees approved Charter. The processing of the draft AIT Charter through the intergovernmental Working Group (WG) meeting was chaired by Mr. Ittiporn Boonpracong, Deputy Director General, Department of International Organizations, MFA Thailand, with the participation of official representatives from 21 countries and international entities.

It was most encouraging that at the outset of the WG meeting, all of AIT’s partners were unanimous in their support for AIT to become a full-fledged international organization. There was general consensus arrived at some of the articles of the draft AIT Charter, following the two-days of discussions. However, there still remain major fundamental differences on some of the basic principles.

The MFA Thailand as Chair and host of the WG meeting has been delegated full authority by the WG to decide on the timeline and to also come up with a revised version of the draft AIT Charter, taking into account the 28 and 29 January 2008 WG discussions and intercessional consultation among the WG members which will now take place. It was also agreed that the next meeting of the WG to be convened by MFA Thailand in about 4 to 6 weeks time, would be the concluding one and during which the draft AIT Charter would be finalized.

On behalf of the Asian Institute of Technology, I wish to once again place on record our most sincere thanks and gratitude to MFA Thailand for their continued advice, guidance and strong support, and to the former Chairman of the AIT Board of Trustees H.E. Mr. Anand Panyarachun, under whose Chairmanship work on the Charter was initiated. The primary reason for pursuing a new AIT Charter has been to help upgrade and further strengthen the capacity of AIT, through the reaffirmation of its international character and nature, building on it’s almost 50 years of service to region.

This work has been further consolidated under the helm of our present Chairman Dr. Tej Bunnag, and with the strong show of commitment and confidence from AIT’s partners,

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we remain confident that AIT will in the very near future attain its objective of becoming a full-fledged international organization, which would enable the Institute to more effectively fulfill its mandate of institutional and capacity building for the region and beyond (for further details refer to Paper 2.2)

3. Financial Overview

Looking at the unaudited financial results for 2007 it is most encouraging and gratifying at the same time to note that we have been able to meet and even exceed our commitments made to the Board of Trustee which was to achieve about 80 million Baht net surplus for both operating funds. The combined operating funds (Fund 10 and Fund 21) based on the unaudited financial results shows a net surplus of approximately 114 million Baht for 2007 (Fund 10: ~  75 million Baht; and Fund 21: ~ 38 million Baht). This is indeed a most significant achievement when compared to the financial performance of the Institute in 2004 and 2005. To recapitulate, our operating losses in Fund 10, for years 2004 and 2005, Baht 86 and Baht 128 million respectively, almost wiped out the entire reserves of the Institute. Over the past two years, through various tough but much needed measures we were able to turn the tide, and ended year 2006 with a net surplus of approximately 12 million Baht

Due to the combined hard work and resolve of the AIT community, we managed to overcome a shortfall in tuition revenue in 2007 year by tightening our belts and adhering to strict financial discipline through cost savings. Our overall costs also reduced quite significantly which serves as proof of the level of effort all members of the AIT community put in turning around the financial situation of the Institute. This increase in our net surplus will help us further strengthen our Institute Reserve which has depleted over the past and enable us to make much needed strategic investments into the future (for further details refer to Paper 3.2)

While there has been an increase in the application numbers for the January 2008 intake compared to 2007, it has not been matched by a corresponding increase in offers. Consequently, the decrease in offers in January 2008 was accompanied by a big reduction in enrollment, and also in terms of fee-paying students. Given the reduction in the full-fee paying students for the January 2008 intake, it is important that we put in extra efforts to balance this shortfall by attracting more students in the August 2008 semester.

This also highlights once again the future and inevitable scenario wherein, there will be a gradually decreasing number of scholarships available. Therefore, there is only a limited amount of time and window of opportunity for AIT to try and replace the concept of scholarship with other new and innovative approaches. It is vitally important that our offerings are unique and of a higher quality than the competitors; that we further enhance our interactions with the private sector; use alumni networks in attracting bilateral projects, trainings and degree scholarships, and also try and have structures within our own internal system that enables us to respond faster to potential opportunities

4. Highlights of Initiatives and Activities

4.1 Promotional Trips

Visit to Indonesia (9-14 December 2007): I visited the AIT Center in Indonesia (AIT-CI) and met with Dr. Sugimin Pranoto, Director of the AIT-CI and the rest of the AIT-CI team members. We discussed the need to have in

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place a full-time Director, who would be supported by a full-time Deputy Director, especially during the present initial phase of the establishment of the Center. Dr. Sugimin Pranoto, the AIT-CI Director will from March 2008, serve as the full-time Director of the Center, after his formal retirement from the Ministry. All the operational and administrative costs related to the AIT Center in Indonesia for the first 3 years is supported by the Ministry of Public Works.

I met and discussed with Mr. Achjar Riadi, Deputy Director for Academic Affairs and Development, AIT-CI, the proposal for AIT to develop a training program / master degree program on Airport Planning and Designing targeting groups of future team leaders in airport planning and designing, under a partnership between ICAO-APAC, AIT, and some other partners.

During my visit I also participated in the United Nations Climate Change Conference during which I had an opportunity to meet and interact with several of AIT’s partners, as highlighted below.

- I met with Dr. Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, the UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN-HABITAT, Director-General, United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON). I was able to brief Dr. Tibaijuka on the work of AIT, and she has expressed interest in having an MoU with AIT under which AIT would become a university partner for UN-HABITAT and could directly partner them in various projects. Dr. Auximite Gebre-Egziabher, Director of the UN-HABITAT New York Office was also present at the meeting.

- I also met with Mr. Joël Morgan, Minister of Environmental, Natural Resources and Transport, Seychelles who was accompanied by Mr. Ronny Jumeau, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Seychelles to the United Nations. The Minister was very impressed by the work of AIT and is keen on signing an MoU between AIT and the Government of Seychelles, focusing on the following areas of cooperation namely, aquaculture, agriculture, environment, wetlands, natural resources and transportation.

- I also had an occasion to meet with H.E. Mr. Andreas Carlgren, Minister of Environment of Sweden.

4.2 Key Partnerships / New Initiatives

Partnership Agreements with Bremen University of Applied Science (UAS), Germany and the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), Nigeria: AIT signed two partnership agreements with the Bremen University of Applied Science (UAS), Germany and the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), Nigeria. Since 2002 a faculty member from UAS has taught at AIT in the construction engineering and management field of study. With the conclusion of this agreement, collaborative activities such as joint symposia / seminars, joint research, exchange of faculty and students are expanded, and could be expanded to other schools as well.

FUTA has expressed its interest in entering into a cooperative agreement with AIT in order to facilitate the expansion and scope of FUTA’s development activities and expand linkages in Asia. FUTA is ranked as the best university of technology in Nigeria by the National Universities Commission.

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Partnership with ASEAN Affairs: On 7 November, I along with AIT News and Media Specialist, Mr. Shawn Kelly, met with Mr. S. Roy, Founder, CEO and Editor of the ASEAN Affairs quarterly magazine www.aseanaffairs.com which has just launched its first issue of the magazine. AIT was featured in the online version of the magazine through an interview which Mr. Roy conducted with me and he is keen to further explore areas in which there could be win-win partnerships. Mr. Roy plans to use AIT and as a think tank for ASEAN Affairs, and service provider of news and related information on science and technology, as well as on environmental and sustainable development issues, which could be disseminated through the ASEAN Affairs, to the private sector and other news media in the ASEAN region. He has also offered to help in promoting interactions through ASEAN Affairs with AIT’s academic and institutional partners which would also help further increase the Institute’s visibility in the ASEAN region.

I was also invited and attended the inaugural meeting of the ASEAN Affairs Business Council (AABC) which was held on 9 November at the residence of AIT trustee H.E. Mr. Ibrahim Yusuf, Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Thailand. The meeting was attended by several representatives from the embassies, governments, and the business sector. AIT was the only academic institution to be invited and on several occasions during the deliberations Mr. Roy highlighted the importance of AIT in the context of ASEAN. Former AIT trustee and Ambassador Bangladesh H.E. Mr. Shahed Akhtar, who serves as the Consulting Editor of ASEAN Affairs was also present.

1st Meeting of the Steering Committee: France / AIT Network Programme: On 8 November, I took part in the first meeting of the France / AIT Network Programme Steering Committee, which was attended by Mr. Maurice Siveton, Regional Counsellor for Cooperation, French Embassy; Ms. Clarisse Hervet, Assistant to the Regional Counsellor Cooperation, French Embassy and AIT participants.

We have jointly discussed and decided which research projects will be funded by the program under the first call for proposals. Three projects out of the 8 submitted will be announced shortly together with the rationale. The objective of the program is to promote and support scientific and technological cooperation between French research institutions and universities, AIT and other research institutions and universities based in Asia, and the public, non-governmental and private sectors. The general theme of the research activities are on “science, technology and development” with an interest on the development of the ASEAN region and a particular focus on multidisciplinary approaches, very much in line with AIT’s thematic research areas outlined in the Strategic Development Plan. We also discussed the criteria, procedures and timeline for next years call for proposals.

Collaboration with Chulalongkorn University: On 8 November, I together with Professor Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, Dean, School of Engineering and Technology (SET) met with Director Professor Dr. Soontorn Boonyatikarn; Research Director Associate Professor Vorasun Buranakar; and Executive Project Coordinator Ms. Patchanok Hirungan, from the Center of Excellence, Building and Environmental Technology, Chulalongkorn University. We discussed possibilities for starting a joint program in architecture and technology as

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international unified bachelors and masters program, conduct of joint trainings for professional development, and also program for professional architects on new technologies, methodologies and its applications.

Partnership in Climate Change & Pacific Rim Cities Project: On 12 November, I along with Dr. Mukund Babel, met with Dr. Richard Drobnick, Managing Director, Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) www.apru.org/awi to discuss possible partnership with APRU in their World Institute (AWI) initiative on “Climate Change and Pacific Rim Cities” research project. The AWI project co-directors and the Chulalongkorn University which is also a partner in this project are all very pleased to have participation from AIT in the Bangkok study team. Dr. Jean-Pierre Verbiest, ADB Country Director for Thailand who is also a member of the AIT Board of Trustees and Executive Committee provided the linkage and helped facilitate the meeting.

Politecnico di Milano-Danieli Group-AIT Collaboration: On 12 November, a high-level delegation from the Politechnico di Milano http://www.polimi.it/english/ and the Danieli Group http://www.danieli.com visited AIT. Danieli is a global company and ranked amongst the three largest suppliers of equipment and plants to the metals industry, worldwide. The Politecnico di Milano which was established in 1863, is ranked as one of the most outstanding European universities in Engineering, Architecture and Industrial Design, and in many disciplines is regarded as a leading research institution worldwide.

Professor Bruno Pizzigoni, Professor of Applied Science and Delegate of the Rector for the Sino Italian Campus; and Ms. Maria Cristina Giurastante, Sino Italian Campus Coordinator from Politechnico di Milano and Mr. Faustino Drigani, Director of Engineering; Mr. Walter Bianchi, HR and Organization, Senior Advisor; Mr. Carlo Pagano, Sales Manager, Thailand and Mrs. Lucia Meden, Human Resources Manager from the Danieli Group were part of the delegation.

AIT has agreed to a tripartite agreement between AIT, Politecnico di Milano and Danieli to start with in the areas of industrial engineering and manufacturing, mechatronics and microelectronics. Under the collaboration, AIT would jointly with its partner’s select 30 participants early next year to the program. They would be employed by Danieli, Thailand for 3 months during which time Danieli would conduct their own evaluation of the participants, and if there is mutual agreement on the part of the participants and Danieli, they would then receive a masters scholarship from Danieli to pursue their studies at AIT. Part of their studies would also entail some time at the Politecnico di Milano. Politecnico di Milano would also be actively engaged in the development of some new courses and support in the teaching at AIT. Professor Mario T. Tabucanon helped initiate this important partnership and for also accompanying the delegation to AIT.

ASEAN Round Table on MDGs: On 13 November, Dr. Hanifa D. Mezoui, Chief, Non-Governmental Organization Section, Department of Economic and Social Affairs http://www.un.org/esa/coordination/ngo/, Dr. Francois Loriot, Vice President of AIFOMD, and Center of Excellence for MDG (Geneva) http://www.aifomd.org, and Mr. Nico Barito, Senior Fellow, UNITAR who is also a member of the Institute-level Advisory Board and the AIT Center in Indonesia

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Steering Committee, visited AIT and discussed with the AIT team the preparations for the “ASEAN Round Table on MDGs” which will be held at AIT for 2 days in late March 2008. The objective of this Round Table is to generate substantive multidisciplinary and cross sectoral discussions to improve the implementation on MDGs, in order to achieve and meat the 2015 targets, through education and training tools and materials. The 2008 Round Table is an attempt to involve ASEAN participants more actively in MDG education and training. The possibility of creating a Regional Center of Excellence on MDGs will be discussed at this Round Table, as a tool and framework within which similar initiatives at the national and local levels can lead to creating centers of Excellence in all parts of ASEAN.

Collaboration with NIIT: On 16 November 2007, Mr. Rajiv Goel, Director and Ms. Natcharee Sirichodwaranon, Marketing Consultant from NIIT www.niit-thai.com visited AIT and disused areas in which AIT and NIIT could form strategic partnerships. NIIT are keen on partnering with AIT in some of their training and degree programs with the integrated bachelors and masters program being one such possibility. NIIT’s education program are industry-relevant, applications based and designed to provide students with substantial hands on practice which complements and would support AIT’s efforts in this direction. According to our initial discussions, it was proposed that there be a phased approach for the implementation of the partnership, initially through the establishment of an NIIT Center at AIT, which could then be followed by accreditation of all levels of the program and launching of national diploma and graduate level programs.

Siam Cement Public Company Ltd.-AIT Collaboration: On 21 November, a MoU was signed between AIT and The Siam Cement Public Company Ltd. (SCG). Siam Cement Group (SCG) is one of Thailand’s leading conglomerates established in 1913 following a Royal Decree of His Majesty King Rama VI to produce cement, main building material for infrastructure projects that contributes to the progress of the country http://www.siamcement.com/ The purpose of this MoU is to enable cooperation between AIT and SCG to facilitate and strengthen the collaboration in addressing and implementing important issues related to Human Capital Development and Scientific Research Cooperation. Under the Human Capital Development component, the scope of activities are mainly recruitment of AIT students to be SCG employees, admission of SCG employees to AIT, scholarship and internship programs for international students from countries which SCG has investment, e.g. Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, etc., development of executive management programs for SCG employees and customization of development and training programs for SCG employees.

The second component of the MoU is the Scientific Research Cooperation Program between the Corporate Technology and Intellectual Property Center of SCG and SET. The objective of the Research Cooperation is to strengthen technological development and research capabilities of SCG and AIT. The scope of this Research Cooperation is to establish collaborative research activities between SCG and AIT. The activities include research projects, exchange in R&D resources, and training and educational development.

Partnership with ADB: On 23 November, I met with Dr. Ursula Preuss, ADB

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Vice President for Knowledge Management & Sustainable Development, together with Dr. Jean-Pierre Verbiest, ADB Country Director for Thailand and member of the AIT Board of Trustees and Executive Committee.

We discussed how to further strengthen AIT’s collaboration with ADB and have agreed to work on a MoU which we expect to sign in the near future. One important component of the MoU will include the holding of annual meetings between AIT and ADB during which strategic discussions will take place as well as a review of ongoing and planned projects between AIT and ADB. According to Dr. Preuss, climate change is one of the most important areas of focus for ADB and she recommended that AIT collaborate with ADB in this area in a structured manner. A delegation from ADB will be visiting AIT and an AIT team will also be invited to ADB for discussions on how such collaboration could be made more concrete.

Partnership in CDIO Initiative: Chalmers is part of the CDIO: Conceive – Design – Implement – Operate initiative http://www.cdio.org/ which is a global network and includes MIT, Linköping University, KTH among others. This innovative educational framework for producing the next generation of engineers provides students with an education stressing engineering fundamentals set in the context of Conceiving — Designing — Implementing — Operating real-world systems and products. The CDIO initiative was developed with input from academics, industry, engineers and students. It is universally adaptable for all engineering schools. CDIO initiative collaborators throughout the world have adopted CDIO as the framework of their curricular planning and outcome–based assessment. Chalmers has extended an invitation to AIT to partner them in this initiative.

MoU with Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST): On 30 November, AIT and the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Government of Nepal signed an MoU. Professor Hom Nath Bhattarai, Vice Chancellor of NAST was at AIT for the signing. I had met Professor Bhattarai during my visit to Kathmandu, Nepal in September 2007 during which we had exchanged initial ideas. The purpose of the MoU is to enable cooperation between NAST and AIT to establish a long-term and strategic cooperation with AIT through institutional linkage between NAST and AIT; and to explore other avenues for possible collaboration. The scope of activities under this MoU are focused primarily in biotechnology, renewable energy and environment. The scope of activities also includes joint research projects, short-term and long-term training programs, degree programs and strengthening of laboratory facilities.

Asia-Africa Initiative: During 3-4 December, AIT organized a workshop on the topic “Doing Business in Africa” at the Siam City Hotel in Bangkok, which was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand. Senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Thailand and other related government agencies in Thailand, ambassadors from several of the African nations, leaders of international organizations such as the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the African Development Bank, academia, leaders from industry and finance discussed how business relations could be further strengthened for the mutual benefit of Africa and Thailand. Thai investors learned more of the abundant business opportunities that are emerging in Africa and also how to establish effective business networks and linkages. For African nations this event offered

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opportunities to attract Thai investors, to promote trade and to establish important partnerships and linkages. The event was covered by many news media from Thailand and abroad and also included a joint press conference by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thailand and AIT.

AIT is proud for having played a seminal and active role in this project since its inception stage. I was able to share some of my thoughts during the keynote lecture I delivered on the topic “Prospects of AIT in Promoting Cooperation and Business in Africa for Thailand” during the opening ceremony of the workshop on 3 December.

Partnership with Saitama University Graduate School, Japan: On 7 December 2007, Dr. Koji Tsunokawa, Head of Special Graduate Program for International Students, Saitama University Graduate School visited AIT. The purpose of the visit was to explore possible collaboration between AIT and Saitama University, particularly for their International Graduate Program. The program is highly competitive and admits about 20-25 students each year. The selected students are awarded scholarships from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of the Japanese Government, Asian Development Bank-Japan Scholarship Program and the Joint World Bank-Japan Scholarship Program. Apart from these scholarships, several public and private organizations also award scholarships to international students for their study at Saitama University.

In the past 10 years, the international graduate program of Saitama has produced over 80 Ph.D. students out of which ¼ or 20 were alumni of AIT. Dr. Tsunokawa shared with us the mission of Saitama University to enhance the international graduate program and has expressed his appreciation to AIT for the high quality of its students that have helped contribute to the success of their graduate program. Dr. Tsunokawa has requested us to further promote their program within AIT and interested students are encouraged to apply.

Although it was the first visit of Saitama to AIT, Dr. Tsunokawa has ensured us that this will be the beginning of a long-term and fruitful cooperation with AIT. The Government of Japan has recently provided a grant in the amount of 1 million US dollars for the program. The program for international students of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Saitama University offers individuals from overseas opportunities to pursue graduate studies and research in the field of civil and environmental engineering. In this regard, I have suggested various forms of collaboration that AIT and Saitama could partner each other such as through an integrated master’s and Ph.D. program in the civil and environmental engineering fields. The possibility of student exchange programs and distance based lectures in modules via the use of internet / satellite were also discussed during the meeting.

Partnership with the Mountbatten Institute: On 4 December, Dr Paul Beresford-Hill MBE, the Director-General of the Mountbatten Institute, and his colleagues Ajai Randhawa and Isabel Hedges visited AIT for further discussions on a possible collaboration between AIT and the Mountbatten Institute. The Mountbatten Institute is an exchange organization established in 1984 to support the internationalization of the workplace. Its mission is to foster international and cross-cultural understanding through experiential education, practical training and

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residence abroad, and to provide opportunities for personal growth and professional development. This is very much in line with AIT’s own orientation towards professional programs which stresses the importance of work experience and reflection with the help of academics.

Next year, it is expanding its successful internship programme to offer interns an opportunity to earn an  MBA based on workplace, experiential learning. The MBA is being granted by the American International College, and the Mountbatten Institute is exploring options for collaborating with partners in Bangkok who can deliver Part II of the degree. In an earlier meeting on October 25, it was agreed that AIT Extension would be the best partner for Mountbatten in this collaboration, and we will explore all options for bringing the students together with AIT students. The Mountbatten Institute is looking at various options in Bangkok for  Part II, and Dr Beresford-Hill and colleagues were very impressed with AIT's facilities.

Partnership Agreement with Islamic University of Indonesia: On 6 December, we welcomed to AIT a delegation from the Islamic University of Indonesia (UII) lead by its Rector Professor Edy Suandi Hamid. UII has over the past three years been sending one of their staff to AIT every year for their higher studies.  UII has a long-term plan to develop their faculty members mainly in the area of industrial engineering, mechatronics and computer science. We have signed a MoU with UII which will further strengthen the cooperation between AIT and UII through joint academic, research, training, advisory, and consultancy activities. The scope of activities under this MoU are AIT-UII joint education program and research covering all relevant disciplines in AIT and UII. Priority areas are UII staff development, dual degree program, faculty / staff exchange and joint research. We have agreed to follow up two stages/dual degree program between UII and AIT wherein two institutions will jointly seek funding including from Ministry of National Education, Indonesia. 

Royal Thai Government (RTG) Support for FY 2008: Approximately 166 million Baht was transferred to AIT by the Government of Thailand for FY 2008, which corresponds to the Thai budgetary / fiscal year from 1 October 2007 to 30 September 2008. This generous grant provided by the Government of Thailand will be used for the following activities:

- Their Majesties the King and Queens Scholarships (approximately 29 million Baht)

- RTG Fellowships (approximately 97 million Baht)- Continuation and further strengthening of the joint research activities with

universities and the corporate / private sector through joint projects (approximately 19 million Baht)

- Operational support which includes promotional activities related to the RTG-AIT partnership, meetings, conferences, publications etc. (11 million Baht)

- Support for the Greater Mekong Subregion Academic and Research Network (GMSARN) – 10 million Baht.

AIT-NECTEC-WD Joint Press conference: AIT, the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC), and Western Digital (WD) held a joint press conference at AIT on 14 December 2007, to announce the signing of the partnership agreement for "The World's 1st ever Masters Degree Program in  Hard

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Disk Drive (HDD) Engineering". Western Digital (Thailand) Co, Ltd. (WD), the world leading hard drive manufacturer, has joined forces with AIT and the HDD Cluster Center of NECTEC to launch the "World's first Masters Degree in Hard Disk Drive Engineering project". This unique project aims at enabling, developing and elevating Thailand's hard disk industry to compete with other countries in the region. The project is intended to produce, within the next 5 years, 56 experts who have very advanced hard disk drives technology at the masters degree level.

This venture brings committed cooperation between government bodies, educational institutions and the private sector: In addition, these professional master degree participants are all experts from industry which is a good sign for the project since they can also contribute in the further development of the program through sharing of their experiences. Thailand's hard disk industry is growing at a very fast pace but at the same time facing a severe shortage of engineers who have acquired degrees at masters or doctoral levels. We are hopeful that this project will help in providing a solution to this human resource problem and create engineers who are qualified to develop and improve product quality for this growing industry sector.

Regional Seminar of the STIC-Asia Programme: AIT has accepted the proposition by the French cooperation to hold the sixth edition of the regional seminar of the ICT-Asia programme at AIT. The regional programme ICT-Asia is an initiative of the French cooperation aiming  to create and reinforce collaborations and networks with and in the Asian region involved in research and development in the field of information and communication technology and to reinforce on a mutual benefit basis high level collaborations with emerging and developed Asian countries and to contribute to the integration of less advanced countries in the area into the information society. The Bangkok seminar will mark the 5th anniversary of the programme and the first time that the seminar returns to the same location, as the French ICT-Asia programme was launched from AIT in 2003. ICT-Asia seminars usually draw ICT researchers and experts from the whole Asia and from France, representatives from the main French research institutions involved in ICT (INRIA, CNRS, GET), representatives from the French Ministry of foreign and European affairs and possibly other ministries, as well as the scientific attachés from the French Embassies in the region, all of whom will get an occasion to discover AIT and interact with us during the seminar. To mark its fifth anniversary, it is also proposed that the Bangkok seminar highlights the main achievements of the programme so far and be given special visibility. The seminar will take place from 20 to 22 October 2008.

Partnership with ITS Surabaya and ITB Bandung, Indonesia: On 17 December, AIT welcomed the delegation from Institut Teknoligi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) constituted of Prof. Ir. Priyo Suprobo, Rector; Prof. Ir. Soegiono, former Rector; and Dr. Ir. Sudiyono Kromodihardjo; and the delegation from Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Indonesia constituted of Prof. Dr. Edy Soewono, Deputy Vice Rector for Quality Assurance; Assoc. Prof. Syahril Badri Kusuma, Deputy Vice Rector for Research; and Assoc. Professor Budi Isdianto, Deputy Vice Rector for Community Services. Both delegations from ITS and ITB discussed the possible partnerships with AIT in dual degree program(s) with funding provided by Indonesia’s Ministry of Public Works and Ministry of National Education. ITS delegation visited SET and discussed with the Dean for possible dual degree programs to train 400+ candidates. ITB’s School of Business

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Management is keen to develop the dual degree program with AIT’s School of Management, and ITB is also interested in collaborative activities with AIT Extension for short-course training programs wherein online delivery may be applied. It was also informed that ITB, University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) and University of Indonesia (UI) are planning to develop the Bachelor-Master’s program in infrastructure, and thus the ITB delegation visited GGE/SET and AIT Extension to discuss about possible collaborative activities.

Partnership with Yunnan and Guangxi University, China: On 17 December, AIT received a delegation from Yunnan University, and Guangxi University at China. The delegation from Yunan University included Dr. Xiao Xian, Vice President; Dr. Zhang Jiandong, Director of Teaching Affairs; Dr. Kang Yunkun, Deputy Director of Graduate School; Dr. Yang Yunpeng, Dean of the School for Overseas students; Dr. Li Bing, Vice Dean of the School of Humanities; Dr. Wang Weidong,  Head of the Chinese Department; and Dr. WU Yun, Deputy Director, Office for International Cooperation and Ex. The delegation from Guangxi University included Prof Youzhi Li, Prof. Li Xiaocong, Dr. Tang Yankui, Dr. Fan Zuo Jun, and Dr. Zeng Xianyou. The areas of collaboration suggested were student exchange programs and dual degree programs (with unified bachelor-master and master-doctoral programs, and two-staged master’s program); faculty exchange and the possibility of establishing an AIT Center at Yunan University. The fields of studies for collaboration suggested with Yunan University were Software Engineering, Urban Planning, Management and Energy; and with  Guangxi University were Energy, Electrical Engineering, Business Management, Food Engineering, and Paper and Pulp Engineering.

Greater Mekong Subregion Academic and Research Network (GMSRAN) Related Events: The Second GMSARN International Conference 2007 was successfully organized by GMSARN on 12th – 14th December 2007 at the Ambassador City Jomtien Hotel, Pattaya. The aim of the conference was to provide one of the biggest GMS forums for participants to disseminate and discuss their research findings. AIT co-organized this conference along with Khon Kaen University and Thammasat University. There were paper contributions from 12 different countries along with 140 participants. Out of the 110 abstract submissions, 74 papers were selected for presentations which comprised of 32 on Energy, 11 on Environment, 9 on Natural Resource Management, 13 on Development Planning and 9 on Material and Engineering. Selected papers would be peer reviewed for publication in the GMSARN International Journal. The GMSARN International Journal is a journal published by GMSARN dedicated to advance knowledge in energy, environment, natural resource management and development planning in GMS countries. It is expected that the increasing paper contribution will be from the GMSARN member institutions. Online paper submission is a new feature of the journal in the near future. From 2008 onwards, GMSARN International Journal will be published 4 issues per year.

At the Eleventh Joint Meeting of the GMSARN Board and Council of Advisors, there were Rectors, Vice Rectors, Vice Presidents, and authorized representatives from eleven GMSARN Board Member institutions, ADB representative, along with council of advisors and observers. Acceptance of Guangxi University as a new GMSARN Member Institution was one of the main events that took place in the meeting. Guangxi University has corporations and academic exchanges with 100 universities or research institutes in 28 countries and regions.

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Partnership Agreement with University of Washington Educational Outreach: On 21 December, we signed a MoU with University of Washington Educational Outreach, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. Under the partnership agreement AIT and the University of Washington will endeavor to cooperate on a broad range of strategies, which initially will include: cooperative development of programs and/or program content relating to Tsunami Science and Preparedness, disaster relief, or other projects of mutual interest, alternate hosting of the above programs by AIT and the University of Washington in locations in Asia and North America, or other collaborations as mutually agreed to between the parties.

AIT has been presented with a Certificate of Appreciation signed by H.E. Mr. Ralph L. Boyce, Ambassador of the United States of America to Thailand and Mr. Olivier Carduner, Missions Director, USAID Regional Development Mission for Asia, which reads as follows:

“The US Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System Program recognizes AIT for its outstanding partnership and contribution to the development of an Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System”

Scholarships during 2008-2012 for Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative’s personnel: The Thai cabinet approved the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives' proposal of the second-phase 5-year project on the scholarships for its personnel to continue their studies in Thailand. As part of the project 25 master's and 25 doctoral scholarships will be made available for studies at AIT during 2008-2012.

Meeting with Dr. Surin Pistuwan, New ASEAN Secretary General: I had an opportunity to meet with Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, the new Secretary General of ASEAN, on two occasions. One was during the farewell reception hosted by H.E. Mr. Anand Panyarachun for Dr. Surin on 4 January, and the other over lunch on 9 January. We discussed ways in which there could be synergies and closer partnerships between AIT and ASEAN, especially under Dr. Surin’s new leadership of the ASEAN. Dr. Surin has given very strong assurances of support and encouragement to AIT and its planned activities and initiatives. Into the future, and with its almost 50 years of proven excellence and commitment of service to Thailand and the region, I am confident that AIT can further work with ASEAN, serving as an effective capacity building and implementing arm of ASEAN. The ASEAN Roundtable on MDGs which AIT will be hosting in March 2008, and will see the establishment of an Asian MDG Center of Excellence for Education and Training at AIT on some of the MDGs, is one such initiative. Dr. Surin has kindly offered to consider ways in which ASEAN could also partner, and probably take a lead role in this unique initiative. I am also most grateful to Dr. Surin for his offer of support and intervention in assisting AIT with its new Charter and in further promoting it within the ASEAN, and other partner countries.

University of Tokyo Support to AIT for AGS Affiliate Membership: Professor Hiroshi Komiyama, President of the University of Tokyo, has written to me formally expressing his strong support to AIT in becoming an affiliate member of the Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS) initiative. The AGS is a unique, international partnership between four of the world's leading science and

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technology universities namely, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (ETH); Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); University of Tokyo; and Chalmers, with the aim of pursuing research and development within complex global issues, focusing on environmental science and sustainable development. Created in 1997, the AGS today brings together hundreds of university scientists, engineers, and social scientists to address the complex issues that lie at the intersection of environmental, economic, and social goals. In his communication, President Komiyama writes that AIT will be able to contribute to the AGS with its strength in the region, particularly South East Asia. The AGS annual meeting will take place at MIT at the end of January 2008, and President Komiyama, has offered to raise this subject in the agenda of the AGS Presidents Meeting. I am most grateful to President Komiyama for this strong show of support and confidence in AIT.

http://globalsustainability.org/

Partnership Agreement with Gender and Water Alliance: AIT has signed a MoU with the Gender and Water Alliance (GWA). The GWA is a network of organizations and individuals from around the world with an independent steering committee. It is an association under Dutch Law and currently has more than 1000 members worldwide. The GWA was formed to promote strategic improvements in the practice of gender mainstreaming in the water sector through a network committed to gender mainstreaming in their own work and that of their partners. Under the partnership agreement the AIT Gender and Development field of study will work closely with GWA, serving as the focal unit from AIT.

Partnership with Cetana Foundation: On 10 January, Dr. Juleen Eichinger, Chairperson of the Cetana Foundation’s Academic Affairs Committee visited AIT, to discuss Cetana’s current and future partnership with AIT. The Cetana Educational Foundation is dedicated to helping the people of Myanmar through education and works with partners to provide educational opportunities outside of Myanmar for students and professionals, while also engaging in educational activities within the country. Cetana has financially supported the education for about 10 qualified students from Myanmar for master’s degree programs at AIT in areas of need and relevance to the country. Currently, one student to AIT is sponsored by Cetana. Dr. Eichinger has expressed Cetana’s keen interest to send additional students to AIT and mentioned that AIT is a priority academic institution for Cetana as they feel that the courses offered at AIT are relevant to the needs of Myanmar and the developing nations in the region..

Partnership Agreement with EGAT, Thailand: On 11 January, Professor S. Kumar, Dean SERD, represented AIT, at the MoU signing ceremony between the Electricity Generating Authority, Thailand and AIT, among other partners, to participate in the “Thai People Network against Global Warming with New Thinner Fluorescent Lamp”. The objective of this undertaking with AIT and several other partners is towards energy saving and global warming mitigation benefits by encouraging all members to replace their existing 36 watt fluorescent tubes with new thinner 28 watt fluorescent lamps (T5) which would result in 30% savings on energy consumption. Public participation in this network is expected to result in 5 million tons of carbon dioxide emission reductions, power bill reduction by 25,000 million Baht, and imported fuel savings by 15,000 million Baht. A total of 33 organizations are entering into partnership with EGAT in this

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initiative and AIT was prominently featured at the event, and is the only educational institution participating in this program.

Partnership with Asian University of Science and Technology (AUST): Dr. Viphandh Roengpithya, President and Vice Chancellor of AUST accompanied by Mr. Robert Shrubsall, Dean, Faculty of Liberal Arts at AUST, visited AIT on 10 January. AIT and AUST are exploring the possibility of jointly promoting activities in Central Asia, wherein an undergraduate and postgraduate offering could be offered as a package. Mr. Shrubsall visited the AIT Language Center and met with Mr. Matthew Laszweski, Director of the AIT Language Center for possible collaboration on English training of students.

Scholarships from the Office of the Supreme Command, Thailand: The Office of the Supreme Commander has granted approval for the Army Training Command Department to send 3 applicants from the Office of the Supreme Command Secretary to study at AIT at the master’s level in the academic year 2008, which commenced on 14 January 2008. This initiative is in honor of in His Majesty the King’s 80th Birthday Anniversary. The proposed fields of study are, namely RS & GIS, Regional and Rural Planning and Computer Sciences. Study expenses of the applicants are generously supported by the budget from the Office of the Supreme Command. Since all 3 applicants have met the admission requirements of AIT, they have joined AIT in the mentioned fields. AIT is most grateful to distinguished AIT alumnus General Dr. Boonsrang Niumpradit, Supreme Commander, Royal Thai Armed Forces and former President of the AITAA Mother Chapter, for this generous support provided to AIT.

Hosting of ABEN Website by AIT: To follow-up with the participation of Vice President for Research, Professor Sudip Rakshit at the Workshop on Biosafety Education in Asia on 31 October-1 November 2007 organized by University of Tsukuba, Japan, the Asian Biosafety Education Network (ABEN) website is currently being hosted AIT (www.aben.ait.ac.th). It is envisaged that ABEN (with members from scientists and academicians, public sector from China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) will foster dialogue and research collaboration in the area of biosafety education

Cooperation Renewed with IBRD / World Bank: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development of the World Bank, and AIT has renewed its cooperation through a MoU signed on 18 January 2008. Under this MoU, the World Bank through the collaboration under the Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarships Program (JJ/WBGSP) supports master's degree studies in development related fields at AIT. AIT has offered 6 credit fellowships to each of the JJ/WBGSP scholar. We are grateful to Mr. Kamel Braham, Scholarships Administrator, The World Bank Institute, and Washington, D.C., USA for his instrumental role in renewing the cooperation program with AIT.

Contribution from Government of Japan for Fiscal Year 2007: The Government of Japan has confirmed its support to AIT Institute for the fiscal year 2007, amounting to US$ 101,307 for scholarships (US$ 81,307) and Gender and Development Studies (US$ 20,000).

Partnership with University of Oulu, Finland: On 21 January, Dr. Matti Latva-aho, Director of the Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC), University of

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Oulu, Finland, accompanied by Mr. Attaphongse Taparugssanagorn, Research Scientist visited AIT. The University of Oulu and AIT are finalizing a agreement on a dual doctoral degree program which will enable selected doctoral students form both institutions to be jointly supervised by both institutions and split their study time between Oulu's campus and AIT's. All aspects will require joint supervision and hence would lead to better research collaboration as CWC Oulu is a top center in wireless research in the world. I strongly support and encourage the launching of this kind of collaborative programs.

Afghanistan Related Initiative: AIT alumnus, Dr. Venkatesh Sundararaman, Economist with the South Asia Human Development Sector (SASHD), World Bank, has been in contact with AIT and informed us of a potentially big project in Kabul, Afghanistan, in which AIT could play an important role. It is the setting up of a National Institute of Management and Administration in Kabul which is a priority project of the government and will be funded by the US and Norwegian Governments. It will have three schools namely, in IT, management, and accounting, and to start with offer 2 years undergraduate programs. The Institute is planned to be inaugurated by the President of Afghanistan in September 2008, and we shall be following up on this initiative. A group of officials from Afghanistan will be visiting AIT at the end of February 2008, to further explain about the project and also discuss AIT’s interest and possible engagement.

Visit of the Finnish Identification Mission: On 24 January, we received the visit of the Finnish Identification Mission, lead by Dr. Göran Nillson Axberg and Dr. Marko Mannila, who were joined by Ms. Helena Ahola, First Secretary (Development Cooperation) at the Finnish Embassy in Bangkok. The purpose of the mission was to further define potential areas for future co-operation within the Mekong region particularly in Lao PDR and Cambodia consistent both with the regional and national development and Finnish development policy priorities. This new phase of the Finnish development cooperation in the region is due to start in 2009, and will replace the agreement for institutional cooperation with AIT currently in place. It is foreseen that the Finnish development cooperation would devote an amount of 28 M€ for a period of 3 years in the Mekong region, relying on partnerships with a limited number of institutions, including AIT.

During their visit at AIT, the members of the mission also interacted with representatives of the Wetland Alliance Programme, another regional cooperation endeavor with objectives related to those of the Finnish development cooperation. They also held specific meetings with faculty involved in ICT and PPT, which are the programmes currently supported by the Finnish Cooperation. The draft proposals we presented to the mission were very well received and, while this is only a very first step which is still far from any decision on funding and implementation as the mandate of the mission is consultative in nature, I am very confident that we are on a good track to renew our decades long partnership with Finland at the service of the development of the region.

4.3 Some of the Key Events

Passing Away of Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana: I represented AIT and participated in the ceremony which took place at the Dusit Throne Hall on 9 January 2008, which was presided over by their Majesties the King and Queen, marking the end of the seven days of mourning at the Sahathai

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Samakom Pavilion. I also signed the condolence book prepared by the Royal Household Bureau for the late Princess, and have expressed on behalf of AIT, our sincere condolences to His Majesty the King, members of the Royal Family and entire Thai nation on the sad passing away of Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana. HRH Princess Galyani was loved by the Thai people and will always be remembered as a wonderful princess who was a great humanitarian and contributed so much to the fields of literature, the arts, culture, history, education, sports, and social welfare among others.

Royal Audience for the Recipients of Their Majesties King and Queen’s Scholarships(2005/2006): Her Royal Highness Maha Chakri Sirindhorn granted a Royal Audience to AIT students who are recipients of Their Majesties King and Queen’s Scholarships for 2006 / 2007, on 23 November, at the Chitralada Palace.

The delegation was headed by Dr. Tej Bunnag, Chairman of the AIT Board of Trustees. Dr. Sumet Yamnoon, Secretary General of the Commission on Higher Education Thailand also participated in the ceremony. The 30 recipients of Their Majesties King and Queen’s Scholarships for 2006 / 2007 include 16 students from Thailand, and 14 from Myanmar, Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Mongolia, and Turkmenistan. Their Majesties Scholarships comprises of 9 Queen’s Scholarship for the environmental field of study, and 21 King’s Scholarships open to all fields of study at AIT.

108th AIT Graduation Ceremony: Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn graciously presided over AIT’s 108th Graduation Ceremony, during which she conferred the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (honoris causa), to His Excellency Mr. Anand Panyarachun, former Prime Minister of Thailand. The degree was in recognition of His Excellency Mr. Anand’s outstanding contributions as a diplomat, business executive, constitution writer, and twice Prime Minister of Thailand and more importantly for AIT as its former Chairman of the Board of Trustees. The citation was read by Dr. Tej Bunnag, Chairman, AIT Board of Trustees.

During the luncheon which was hosted in honour of HRH Princess Sirindhorn, Her Royal Highness informed us that she had met with His Majesty the King of Thailand prior to her visit to AIT, who conveyed through Her Royal Highness, His Majesty’s continued interest and support for AIT and its work. Her Royal Highness also made a personal contribution of 1 million Baht towards scholarships for needy students to pursue their studies at AIT. Her Royal Highness had very fond memories and recollections of the time she spent at AIT in 1984, when she attended a two-month course at the Asian Regional Remote Sensing Training Center. Her Royal Highness remarked that she had enjoyed her time at AIT, and also greatly appreciated and benefited from the international and multicultural environment which AIT provided, and which Her Royal Highness viewed as one of the Institute’s unique strengths.

Inaugural Meeting of the School of Engineering and Technology (SET) Board: On 1 November, I took part in the inaugural meeting of the SET Board, under the chairmanship of distinguished AIT alumnus, Dr. Tongchat Hongladarom, who is also a member of the AIT Board of Trustees and serves as Chairman of the University Council, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi. The other participants included Dr. Srisook Chandrangsu (Vice Chair),

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Former Chairman, Board of Directors, Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited; Dr. Prasarn Trairatvorakul, President, Kasikorn Bank Public Company Limited; Mr. Sathiht Sathirakul (representing the President, The Siam Cement Public Company Limited); Mr. Brent Bargmann, Former Vice President of Thailand Operations, Seagate Technology (Thailand) Limited; Mr. Jonny Axelsson, General Manager, Phelps Dodge Thailand Limited; Mr. Tetsuji Banno, President, Marubeni Thailand Company Limited; Mr. Sigve Brekke, Chief Executive Officer, Total Access Communication Public Company Limited; and Mr. Nak-kil Sung, Managing Director LG Electronics (Thailand) Company Limited.

Important issues such as the performance of SET in 2007, financial situation, new ventures as strategic positioning of SET and future directions were considered.

UNEP.RRC.AP 10th Annual Advisory Committee Meeting: On 6 November, I participated in the 10th Annual Advisory Committee Meeting of the UNEP Regional Resource Center for Asia and the Pacific (RRC.AP). The meeting was chaired by Professor Nay Htun, who is a former AIT faculty member and previously held very high-level positions in UNDP, UNEP, having also served as UN Assistant Secretary General. The other participants included Mr. Nessim J. Ahmad, Director, Environmental and Social Safeguards, ADB; Mr. Lasse Nymoen, First Secretary, Royal Norwegian Embassy; Mr. Chatre Moonstan, Senior Program Officer, Royal Norwegian Embassy; Dr. Anders Granlund, Counsellor / Senior Regional Environmental Advisor, Swedish Environmental Secretariat for Asia (SENSA); Mr. Hideyuki Mori, Vice President, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies; Mr. Raghunathan Rajamani, UNEP Regional Advisor; and Mr. Oliver Deluze, Chief, Major Groups and Stakeholders Branch, Division of UNEP Regional Cooperation.

The committee was very supportive and encouraged the further strengthening of partnerships between UNEP and AIT. A training manual of “Environmental Management Tools” published jointly by UNEP and AIT, which was edited AIT faculty member Professor Jayant K. Routray, and includes several articles contributed by other AIT faculty members as well, was launched on the occasion of the meeting. AIT is a collaborating center of UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook (GEO) endeavour and a copy of the GEO-4: Environment for Development assessment report prepared in partnership with AIT and many governments, institutions and individuals was also provided to members.

On 7 November, I participated in the dinner reception of the “Regional Workshop on National Sustainable Development Strategies in Asia and the Pacific” which was held in conjunction with the Advisory Committee meeting. During the reception, I met with Professor Makhmadsharif M. Khakdodov, Deputy Minister of Energy and Industry and Mr. Kodor Boturov, Head of International Relations Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Nature Protection, from the Republic of Tajikistan, who subsequently visited AIT. There are currently many donors such as JICA, KOICA, ADB and World Bank etc. engaged in infrastructure and environmental related development projects in Tajikistan and the two ministries are interested in exploring the possibility of engaging AIT for purposes of capacity building. They will provide AIT with the needs assessment reports prepared by the two ministries based on which AIT and the ministries could try and jointly identify in more concrete manner areas in which there could be

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specific collaboration.

Lecture by Dr. Pachauri, Chairman of the Nobel Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: On 2 November, as part of the Institute’s participation to the Asia Pacific Initiative’s Advanced Seminar on International Environmental Studies, Dr. Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change delivered a special lecture on "The IPCC Fourth Assessment and Beyond". The lecture, delivered via video-conference from The Energy Research Institute (TERI) in India to such prestigious institutions as Keio University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, the University of the Ryukyus, the National University of Samoa, the Asian Institute of Technology and the University of Hawaii, was very well attended on all sites. As one of the commentators to the lecture during the session, I emphasized the key role that network universities such as AIT can play in developing and promoting strategies and solutions to the challenges that mitigation and adaptation to climate change pose.

Student Activities: I participated in the AIT Food Fair on Saturday evening, 3 November 2007. The Food Fair, tagged as “Celebrating Harmony Amidst Diversity, Clean Green AIT” was a success. A festival of sorts, the activity showcased the different cultures and dynamic campus life at AIT. The event consisted of food and fund-raising activities. It started with a variety show and ended with a live band concert. What made this activity different from the earlier ones? It was an overt act in promoting Clean-Green AIT's push in having the campus plastic-free. The concept of a plastic-free AIT was launched by members of the AIT Environment Task Force (Envi-TF). Biodegradable and recycled tableware were advertised and sold through an Envi-TF booth where eco-friendly items were displayed The AIT Environment Task Force and the Student Union teamed-up in giving away surprise complementary prizes to bio-tableware users that night which added fun to the occasion. The Fair also highlighted the most eco-friendly booth on which the first prize went to Indonesia followed by Sri Lanka and Cambodia.

ARRPET Annual Review Workshop: On 13 November, I participated in the Asian Regional Programme on Environmental Technology (ARRPET) Phase II Annual Review Workshop which was sponsored by Sida and took place at AIT. Members of the ARRPET Swedish evaluation team also participated in the workshop. ARRPET involves 18 National Research Institutions (NRIs’) from 8 Asian countries, namely China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, and was initiated through Sida support in 1998. ARRPET is an excellent example of how AIT can initiate and conduct regional research programs on issues relevant to Asia and its sustainable development.

WAP Strategic Partnership Board Meeting: On 15 November, I participated in the Wetlands Alliance Program (WAP) Strategic Partnership Board Meeting, which was chaired by Ms. Tran Minh Hien, Country Director WWF-Greater Mekong-Vietnam Country Programme, who is also an AIT alumnus; and attended by Dr. Ratner, WorldFish Center; Associate Professor Wichien Chatupote, Prince of Songkla University; and Mr. Hans Guttman, WAP Coordinator. Dr. Anders Granlund, Counsellor / Senior Regional Environmental Advisor, Swedish Environmental Secretariat for Asia (SENSA) and member of the SERD Board and AIT Institute-level Advisory Board; Ms. Yasuda from WWF; Dr. Boromthanarat

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from CORIN and Professor S. K. Rakshit, Vice President for Research were invited and participated as observers. Introduction of the newly appointed WAP Coordinator and role and scope of work, review of previous actions, progress and achievements since the last meeting, and also upcoming issues such as funding strategy and donor relations, program revisions / updates and institutional indicators were among the items discussed.

Institute Forum on Responsibility Center Management (RCM): On 26 November, we had an Institute Forum to present the outcomes and recommendations of the RCM Task Force, which will implemented phase wise during the 2008 fiscal year. RCM is a decentralized approach to financial management that seeks to create an environment for effective financial operation by helping among others to integrate and coordinate both academic and financial planning; decentralize the decision making to the responsible units thereby aligning authority with responsibility; increase awareness of costs; provide positive incentives for income generation; foster an information rich arena that promotes open discourse on the budget; and places responsibility for revenue generation at the levels at which spending decisions are made.

The basic principles of RCM are that all costs and income attributable to each academic unit should be assigned to that unit; costs of support units should be assigned to academic units based on usage; and appropriate incentives should be created for each academic unit to increase income and reduce costs to further a clear set of academic priorities.

Participation in the 2nd National Education Leaders Forum: On 29 November, I participated in the 2nd National Education Leaders Forum, and chaired a session on the topic “Science and Technology Education: New Challenges for Education for Sustainable Development”. The other speakers under the session which I chaired were Professor Surin Phongsupasamit, President of the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology, Thailand; Dr. Azian T. S. Abdullah, Director, SEAMEO, Regional Center for Education in Science and Mathematics (RECSAM); and Professor Dr. Sim Kwang-Souk, Provost and Executive Vice President, Korea University.

During my presentation, I was able to highlight some of our ongoing efforts to better integrate sustainable development throughout our curricula, plans to launch new masters programs in sustainable development and disaster preparedness, mitigation and management; initiatives such as the Wetland Alliance, ICT for Development (ICT4D), 2008 ASEAN/AIT Roundtable on MDGs, as well as recent projects targeting Afghanistan and Africa.

Career Fair. A Career Fair was held on 30 November participated by 28

companies. Many of them are giants in their respective industries such oil and exploration, engineering, steel, cement, banking, semiconductors, logistics, telecommunications, and consumer products. Whereas before, companies came to AIT Fairs only for job recruitment, this time, majority of them have equal number of opportunities for internships actively recruiting current students for internships that go from 8 weeks to 6 months.

Prior to the Fair, the Career Center also organized a number of activities that spurred a lot of interest, especially from students. The Center held workshops on

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CV and Interview Techniques Workshops, a 'Learning Day' at General Electric Co., Ltd, out of which, 2 students were short listed for the leadership program focusing on energy; Career Talks from Maxim Integrated Technologies and Siemens out of which over 20 were interviewed for internships; and a Career Day with Aditya Birla India) where 5 SOM students got instant internships under the company’s “Young Talent Management Program”.  The 5 will be sent to different companies of the Aditya Birla group such as China, Canada, India, Egypt, etc. They will spend 8 to 12 weeks working on a project of their choice.

Lecture by Former Secretary-General of Commission on Higher Education, Thailand: On 28 November, Dr. Krissanapong Kirtikara, Former Secretary-General, Commission on Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Thailand delivered a seminar on the new 15-year Thai higher education plan, highlighting the important areas of focus, and also ways in which AIT’s collaboration with the Commission could be further strengthened.

AIT Alumni Association Related Events: On 29 November, I participated in the dinner reception which was hosted by the AIT Alumni Association (AITAA) Mother Chapter following a charity golf tournament which they helped organize. AIT trustee H.E. Mr. Han Tae-kyu, Ambassador of Korea to Thailand; the Ambassador of China to Thailand; Mr. Masaya Fujiwara, Minister, Embassy of Japan; Military Attaché from the Embassy of Indonesia also participated in the event..

On 30 November, I participated in the AITAA Thailand Chapter organized homecoming event which was held at AIT. The program included the general body meeting for 2007, awarding of certificates to distinguished Thai alumni for 2007, donation of 1 million Baht to AIT towards renovation of the AIT Library, followed by musical and other performances and dinner.

Talk by Professor Chin on Peer Review and Quality Assurance of Teaching and Learning: On 28 November Professor Roland Chin, Vice President for Academic Affairs of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), delivered a talk on "Peer Review and Quality Assurance of Teaching and Learning".  His input to AIT's ongoing discussion of how to improve teaching and learning at AIT will be greatly valuable. It is important for AIT to continue inviting other experts in the field of teaching and learning who could share with us different views and opinions on the subject. The nature of teaching and learning is complex and a knowledge area in itself. Therefore, it is important that we have a chance to hear different perspectives on the topic.

Visit of Minister of Finance of Nepal and Handover of Contribution to Local Currency Fund: On 6 December, H.E. Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat, Minister of Finance, Government of Nepal, who was also a former AIT trustee, visited AIT, and was accompanied by Mr. Arjun Kant Mainali, Charge’d’ Affaires a.i. Embassy of Nepal, and Mr. Aditya Baral, Advisor to the Prime Minister and Senior Expert-Foreign Relations, Government of Nepal. During their visit to AIT, Minister Mahat formally handed over to AIT, the Government of Nepal’s contribution to the Nepalese Local Currency Fund in the amount of 1 million Nepalese rupees (equivalent to approximately 16,000 US dollars). The Minister also pledged the Government of Nepal’s contribution for the years 2008 and 2009 as well.

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AIT-AITAA Collaborative Workshop (For Homecoming 2009): The AIT-AITAA Collaborative Workshop for Homecoming 2009 was held on 7 December. This was organized jointly by the Golden Jubilee Fundraising Campaign and the AITAA Mother Chapter. This collaborative workshop was organized to seek the suggestions, support and input of alumni in three distinct areas namely: (1) the fundraising campaign, (2) the 50th Anniversary celebrations of AIT and (3) the future development of AIT. The workshop was conceptualized to be a brainstorming session for ways in which alumni can participate and contribute to AIT’s fundraising campaign. This was the first in a series of meetings and forums that are going to be organized to seek closer collaboration and engagement with AITAA and the alumni body at large. The outcome of the workshop was very positive and AIT GJFC was requested to provide such kind of forum annually back to back with the AITAA Governing Board Meetings.

36th AITAA Governing Board Meeting and Related Events: The 36th Annual Meeting of the Governing Board of the AIT Alumni Association (AITAA) was held during 7-9 December under the leadership of distinguished AIT alumnus and President of the AITAA Mother Chapter, General Dr. Boonsrang Niumpradit. This was the largest gathering of the alumni in terms of the national chapters represented. During the meeting, Mr. Somprasong Boonyachai, Group Chairman of Shin Corporation Plc. Was unanimously elected as the next President of the AITAA Mother Chapter. The progress on the alumni contribution to the AIT Landmark Project was also discussed. The construction will start in January 2008, and will be completed before the 2009 GBM.  The US, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thai and Mother Chapters provided generous contribution towards the shortfall in the project. I also had a chance to have face-to-face meeting with a number of our alumni who have proposed various innovative and interesting ideas for cooperation and partnership with AIT.

International Symposium on Geotechnical Engineering Ground Improvement and Geosynthetics for Human Security and Environmental Preservation: On 6 December, I attended the “International Symposium on Geotechnical Engineering Ground Improvement and Geosynthetics for Human Security and Environmental Preservation” was organized by AIT’s Asian Center for Soil Improvement and Geosynthetics (ACSIG), SET; and its partners which includes the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS), Thailand Chapter; Southeast Asian Geotechnical Society (SEAGS), King Mongkut’s University of Technology (KMUTT), and the Department of Environmental Quality and Promotion in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), Thailand; with the support of the International Geosynthetic Society (IGS) and the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE).

AIT Side Event at Bali Conference: AIT, the Global Carbon Project (GCP), and the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) jointly organized an official side event entitled “Carbon Management in Cities: Gaps in Policy Discussions and Scientific Understanding” during the UNFCCC COP 13 / CMP3 meeting in Bali on 6 December. The side event, which was attended by more than 100 people, was instrumental in initiating discussions on the importance and role of cities and carbon management for mitigating global climate change. The side event highlighted not only the importance of mitigation at the city scale but also the adaptation mainly in cities. In addition, the event also put to attention the needs for better science, bridging information gaps and more thrust for urban

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issues in global climate debate. Professor S. Kumar, Dean, SERD, who served as moderator of the event; along with Professor Ram M. Shrestha; and AIT alumnus Dr. Shobhakar Dhakal, Executive Director of GCP along with AIT’s other partners organized this important event. The presentation and related documents on the side event as well as photographs can be viewed at the below link:

http://regserver.unfccc.int:80/seors/reports/events_list.html

AIT Interviewed on Climate Change: With the UN Conference on Climate Change in Bali dominating the global media, it was encouraging to note that word of AIT's research on the issue of climate change attracted the interest of an international radio correspondent from America. Mr. Jason Margolis, a journalist from Boston, visited the campus on December 13th to learn about AIT's work in this area and interview a group of six faculty members of the School of Environment, Resources and Development (SERD). The correspondent from Public Radio International (PRI) was reporting for the program "The World", which is a co-production of BBC World Service. As part of his reports on climate change, and in particular the impacts it will have on Thailand in terms of rising sea levels, the reporter also interviewed also AIT faculty members.

Top Thai Engineering Students Visit AIT: On 11 December, for the second time this year, AIT had an opportunity to host a visit of top Thai engineering students who were in Bangkok to take part in an award ceremony at the Royal Palace. While 45 students visited last year, there were 80 students this time around, all selected by the Engineering Institute of Thailand (EIT) to receive the “Best Engineering Student Achievement Medal” from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Thailand. Professor Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, Dean SET, helped coordinate the visit, and as Vice President of the EIT, also chaired the committee which selected the students. The students rank first in their respective fields of study from universities all over Thailand, all with a GPA of 3.60 or higher and hence qualify for the award of a full-fee RTG fellowship. The students were very impressed by the AIT academic atmosphere as well close attention paid by faculty towards the individual students and have agreed to serve as our ambassadors in also informing their classmates and friends about AIT.

The 3rd Meeting of SOM Board:  I took part in the third Board meeting of the School of Management on 20 December 2007.  The meeting was chaired by Mr. Narayana N. R. Murthy, Chairman of the Board and Chief Mentor, Infosys, India and attended by external members Mr. John W. Hancock, Honorary Chairman and Senior Advisor, Baker and Mckenzie Co. Ltd.; Mr. Lothar Herrmann, President & CEO, Siemens Ltd., Thailand; and our new board member, Mr. Arun Balakrishnan, Chairman & Managing Director, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), India. 

Thank you and Farewell Party for Retiring Colleagues: On 18 December, we had a thank you and farewell party for several of our retiring colleagues. It provided us with an opportunity to thank all of them for their dedicated efforts and contributions made to the Institute. As stressed during the party, AIT owes its success to the many dedicated faculty and staff colleagues who have all contributed in one way or the other, in bringing AIT to its current eminent position.

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Evaluation of Leadership and Administration: For the second year the AIT administration conducted in a systematic manner an evaluation of its leadership and administration, with the view to bringing about continuous improvement in the performance of the administrators, through feedback received from the different constituencies at AIT. Such an exercise is not only important for our internal purposes but also to our external partners and stakeholders who have placed their support and trust in AIT (refer to Paper 4.2).

Extramural Lecture by Dr. Bindu N. Lohani: On 4 January, distinguished AIT alumnus Dr. Bindu N. Lohani, Vice President (Finance and Administration), ADB delivered a lecture on the topic “Challenge of Climate Change: How to deal with it?” to a full house at the Milton E. Bender Jr. Auditorium which was attended by members of the AIT community, alumni, former faculty as well as some of AIT’s other external partners. Dr. Lohani’s talk covered issues related to the energy and climate change scenarios in Asia, challenges that lie ahead post-Bali, thinking on this issue at ADB, future work and opportunities, and also how Asia can take on a more leadership role into the future.

Video interview with Japan’s Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) and Sentinel Asia: On 24 January, I was interviewed by representatives of Japan’s Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) and Sentinel Asia, (both of which are affiliated with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA), who visited AIT to produce a video interview report to be used for the APRSAF Web site (http:// www.aprsaf.org ) and its e-news mail service. The group comprised Mr. Koichi Ito and Ms. Mai Kido from the APRSAF Secretariat in based in Tokyo, and Mr. Naoki Saito, Director of the APRSAF (Bangkok Office) and Sentinal Asia. Mr. Ito is also the Deputy General Manager, Applications and Services Department of the Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan.

Institute Forum and Tea-Reception : On 25 January 2008, we had an Institute Forum, during which I had an opportunity to present to members of the AIT community, an overview on the financial performance of the Institute, some of the student enrolment statistics, highlights of initiatives and activities undertaken in 2007 and those planned in 2008, and more longer term future, presentation of some of the most hotly debated issues in 2007, as well as share some thoughts and ideas on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for AIT in the next 5-10 years. Members of the community also had an opportunity to raise specific concerns and questions and I was greatly encouraged by the various important feedback which was provided and will be seriously considered and followed up on. Sodexho, our service providers for the AIT cafeteria, kindly sponsored the excellent tea reception following the Forum.

4.4 Recognition of AIT Faculty, Staff, Students and Alumni

Recognition of Faculty, Staff, Students and Alumni:

- Professor Tawatchai Tingsanchali, senior faculty from the Water Engineering and Management field of study, SET, has received a formal invitation from Dr. Rowan Douglas, Chairman of Willis Research Network (WRN) and Managing Director of Willis Analytics, a component of a world wide Willis' re-insurance company in UK www.willisresearchnetwork.com inviting him to

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join the Willis Research Network (WRN) to assist WRN confront the challenges of flood risk modelling in Thailand and the wider Asia and Pacific region.

- Dr. Nitin Afzulpurkar, Associate Dean for Promotion, SET, received an invitation from Professor Teresa Zeilinska, who is from the Warsaw University of Technology, which is a member of the European Master on Advanced Robotics (EMARO) Erasmus Mundus consortium, for AIT to be one of their partners. The Masters course EMARO has been designed and accepted in the framework of the European Union programme Erasmus Mundus, and the aim of the course is to promote high-quality educational offer in the area of advanced and intelligent robots. The other partners in the consortium are the Ecole Centrale de Nantes (France) and the University of Genova (Italy). As a partner in the programme AIT would have some students accepted to the EMARO masters’ program as well teaching engagement of AIT faculty in the EMARO. More information on the programme is available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/mundus/index_en.html

- AIT alumnus Mr. Nguyen Quan (ET 89) was promoted to the position of Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, Government of Vietnam.

http://www.most.gov.vn/a_gioithieu/ac_tochucbm/mlfolder.2006-01-04.5748279349/mldocument.2006-10-03.2683903826/view

- Professor Dennes T. Bergado was invited as one of the Keynote Lecturers of the recently concluded International Symposium on Earth Reinforcement (IS-Kyushu) in Fukuoka, Japan last 14 to 16 November 2007.  His Keynote Lecture was entitled "Combined Technology with Other Techniques-Current Innovation on Earth Reinforcement Technique". The other Keynote Lecturers were from the U.S.A., U.K., and Japan.   The IS-Kyushu is held every 4 years. Professor Bergado was also invited as Keynote Lecturer at the Korean Geosynthetics Society (KGS) Conference in Seoul, Korea on 30 November 2007. His Keynote Lecture is entitled "Sustainable Applications of Geosynthetics for Mitigation of Natural Hazards Caused by Climate Change".

- Professor Bergado, was also invited by the Editor of the “Ground Improvement (GI)” journal www.groundimprovement.com to join its Editorial Advisory Board, along with other leading engineering practitioners and academics in the field. In 2008, GI will be re-launched as a part of the ‘Proceedings of the Institution on Civil Engineers”.

- The Asia Link project of AARM sponsored a session on “Fisheries Education and Society” at the 8th Asian Fisheries Forum in Kochi India which was organized by the Asian Fisheries Forum from 20 to 23 November 2007, during which over 850 papers were presented. Dr. Ram C. Bhujel, Affiliated Faculty at AARM, co-chaired the session together with Prof. Zhou Yingqi, former President of Shanghai Fisheries University. During this session, all the five papers presented by AIT faculty/student, and alumni attracted a large audience. In conjunction with the 8th AFF, the second Gender and Fisheries (GAF) symposium was also organized. A paper written and presented by Ram

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C. Bhujel (Madhav K. Shrestha and Jharendu Pant as co-authors) based on the AARM Project, entitled, “Ethnic Women in Aquaculture in Nepal: A model for Participatory Research and Development”, was rewarded on being among the highly commended papers. On the final day of the forum, Dr. Yang Yi, AARM/AIT alumni and former AIT Faculty took an oath and was formally sworn in as the “President” of the “Asian Fisheries Society”.

- AIT alumnus from SOM, Dr. Phallapa Petison’s research paper was chosen by the Editor(s) of the Management Decision and their judging panel as worthy of a Special Commendation of the 2007 Emerald / EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Award in the category of Management and Governance.

- AIT faculty member from SERD, Professor Ajit Annachhatre was invited by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany to give a plenary lecture in the Humboldt Colloquium in Chiangmai, Thailand. Professor Annachhatre is a past recipient of the prestigious Humboldt Fellowship and is also a life member of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

- Distinguished AIT alumnus and former faculty Dr. Bindu N. Lohani, who currently serves as the ADB Vice President for Finance and Administration was conferred an honorary doctorate degree by Griffith University, Australia on 14 December. The honorary doctorate degree which was conferred on Dr. Lohani, on the occasion of the University’s graduation ceremony, recognizes his work and contribution in the areas of sustainable development, environmental issues and poverty as well as instrumental role in breaking new ground in the incorporation of environmental and social considerations in ADB’s lending and development activities.

- Professor Lalit M Johri, faculty in the School of Management has been invited by the President of the Board of EADA http://www.eada.edu/?idioma=en a leading business school in Europe to become member of their newly constituted International Advisory Board (IAB). 

- AIT alumnus Mr. Alok Jain (GTE ’94), General Manager, Marketing, Transport Division, Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, Hong Kong, has recently contributed to a textbook on Railway Operations and Management published by University of Birmingham, a copy of which he has generously also provided to the AIT Library.

- A research publication of Dr. Suthasinne Nilsang, a student of Professor S. K. Rakshit, “Monoclonal Antibody Production Using a New Supermacroporous Cryogel Bioreactor” has been the most-accessed article published in the journal Biotechnology Progress in the 3rd quarter of 2007 and is being featured on the journal's Most-Accessed Articles website of ACS. This was part of Dr. Suthasinnee’s doctoral thesis and was done with close collaboration with the biotechnology program at the University of Lund in Sweden.

- Professor Rakshit has also been invited to join the editorial board of the new journal “Recent patents on biotechnology” which is brought out by Bentham Science Publishers.  Their journals are indexed by the major indexing media such as, Medline / PubMed, and the Science Citation Index. 

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- Professor Peter Haddawy’s doctoral student Mr. Hameedullah Kazi has been accepted to serve on the Student Editorial Board of the international journal Methods of Information in Medicine.  This is an innovative program in which a few students from around the world are selected to serve on the editorial board in order to gain experience in the editorial process.  Methods in Info in Medicine is a highly regarded journal, so this is a nice recognition of the strength of his research and it's relevance to the field of Medical Informatics.

- Distinguished AIT alumnus Dr. Anusorn Sangnimnuam,  the past President of the AITAA Thai Chapter received the Asia Business Leaders Award under the Corporate Social Responsibility category at the 6th Annual CNBC Asia Business Leaders Awards organized by CNBC on 20 January. The award was presented to Dr. Anusorn, who is the President of the Bangchak Petroleum Plc., in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the arts, education, the environment and community development.  The winner of this award is judged on the ability to translate a company’s success into benefits for the community.

- A team of students from the School of Management has been adjudged as runners-up in the recently-concluded Global Social Venture Competition - South East Asia (GSVC-SEA), which is a Business Plan Competition on ventures with social importance. Moreover, the team has been nominated with two other teams to represent South East Asia in the Asian Regional Finals to be held at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, India from the 7th to the 9th of March 2008. The winning business plan was based on a new type of solar technology ( Dye sensitized Solar Cell) developed in the Center of Excellence Nanotechnology led by Dr. Joydeep Dutta & his team. It was an effort to formulate the commercialization plan of a technology developed through the researches conducted at AIT. Dr. Barbara Igel served as their faculty advisor.

Altogether, 9 teams were selected for the final presentations after a preliminary screening of applications from 16 teams in 6 countries including Australia and New Zealand. The South East Asian Round was hosted by Thammasat Business School from 24th to 26th January 2008. GSVC is a global MBA student business plan competition began in 1999 at the Haas School of Business of the University of California at Berkeley, USA. GSVC was the first competition to promote entrepreneurial start-ups which not only offered financial returns, but also provided measurable social or environmental benefits. In order to expand, Haas joined with several of the world's top business schools, including the Columbia Business School, London Business School, Indian School of Business and the Yale School of Management as partners of GSVC.

4.5 Other News

Appointment of Acting and Associate Dean in SOM: Dr. Barbara Igel and Dr. Rian Beise-Zee have been appointed as Acting Dean and Acting Associate Dean respectively of the School of Management. The appointments would be for a 3 to 4 month period by which time we hope to have on board a new Dean.

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Directorship of AIT Center in Vietnam: Following the completion of Dr Fredric W Swierczek’s one-year fixed-term appointment as interim Director of the AIT Center in Vietnam (AITCV) at the end of 2007. The position of Director of the AIT Center in Vietnam has been open to competition, with calls for nomination and application sent internationally. In the interim, AIT Vice President for External Relations, Professor Vilas Wuwongse, has been appointed to serve as Acting AITCV Director for the period from 1 January 2008 to 30 June 2008. Professor Vilas shall oversee the overall operation and management of AITCV and maintain the effective liaison between AITCV and AIT main campus.

Project Manager Position for Afghanistan Project: One of the AIT students Mr. Mohammad Qaasim, who will be graduating this coming May 2008, has been selected for the Project Manager position of the AIT-Afghanistan World Bank Project (Balkh University). Mr. Qaasim, who is an Afghan national, and will be completing his masters program in Structural Engineering, from SET in May 2008; has more than ten years of experience in several organizations, international and government agencies in different positions; and several years of experience with Balkh University, from where he completed his bachelor degree and later joined as a full time faculty member in the Construction Department of the Engineering Faculty. His earlier experiences include working with the International Red Cross for Afghanistan as Project Engineer while acting as the Deputy Director for Kahkashan Engineering and Construction Company, in concurrent capacity; Senior Engineer for the National Solidarity Program under United Nations (UN) Habitat Mazar-i-Sharif office; and later with the United Nation for Food and Agriculture Organization as Team Leader and Design Engineer for Emergency Irrigation Rehabilitation Project (EIRP).

AIT Outreach Council: AIT has set up an AIT Outreach Council working group that with the objective of further strengthening developmental activity that the Institute has been involved in, develop monitoring for determining the effectiveness of the programs / projects and measures of the contribution by the colleagues involved, suggest administrative changes to facilitate such activities, etc.

AIT City Campus Concept: On 23 January, I met through contacts provided by Dr. General Montri Supaporn, President of the Community Support Foundation Thailand; a delegation comprising of Dr. Chiradaporn Supaporn, Admiral Thomrat Hatayodom, Vice President of the Community Support Foundation Thailand; Dr. Chainaron Cherdchu, Head, Chemical Metrology and Biometry Department, Ministry of Science and Technology, Thailand; and Dr. Pongskorn Ridchomporn. We discussed the possibility for AIT to have access to one of their buildings in the olden part of Bangkok, which could be used by AIT under a city campus concept, wherein AIT through its campus in town could offer professional programs for executives during the evenings and weekends. Aside from hosting AIT in one of their buildings, we are also discussing how they could help promote and market AIT’s executive programs through a revenue sharing structure.

AIT and Partners Set up Field-Server in the Himalayas: Dr. Kiyoshi Honda, faculty in the Remote Sensing & GIS field of study, and the colleagues successfully setup a Field Server (FS) - Internet Field Observation Robot, at Imja Glacier Lake, which is located at an altitude of 5,000 m in the Mount Everest region of the Himalayas in Nepal. The lake was identified as being one of the

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potentially most dangerous glacial lakes which could cause large scale damage and destruction to people's lives and infrastructure and the FS will form part of a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood Monitoring and Early Warning System (GLOF).

Mr. Aadit Shrestha, who is one of AIT’s Project Researchers working on the FS sensor network project, was joined by other team members from the National Research and Education Network (Nepal); International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) based in Nepal; Keio University (Japan); National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) in Japan; and the University of Tokyo. The setup of the FS was undertaken under extremely difficult and adverse weather conditions. The activities are also supported by other agencies and companies. The team extended WiFi (wireless LAN) from the Namche village to the lake which is more than 27 kms away. The FS is capturing images and several types of meteorological data that is being transferred real- time to a server located in Japan. Dr. Honda’s team at AIT is currently working on the integration of the sensor network and GIS. There are also plans to have similar field servers’ setup in other parts of the region for various applications such as disaster, food safety and security etc.

http://www.rsgis.ait.ac.th/~honda/FS_Himalaya.htm

Interview by Energy Field of Study Students: On 14 November, I was interviewed by a group of students led by Ms. Chamaiporn Teerasetopon, who are taking the “Energy Audit and Thermal Energy Management” course, and as part of their studies were assigned to use the knowledge gained in the class to develop a sustainable energy management program for AIT. They were interested to find out more about the energy policy of AIT, how they are prioritized and implemented, as well as some of the Institute’s future plans.

Infrastructure Initiatives for Campus Improvement and Beautification: Faced with budgetary constraints, and at the same time filled with the desire to bring some improvements to the infrastructure and carry out campus beautification projects, the Infrastructure Office has proven its resourcefulness and ingenuity. The Office has carried out several developments and beautification projects which have benefited the AIT community. AIT’s concessionaires provided generous financial contributions to several of the projects. Amongst these is the improvement of the multi-purpose field or also called AIT Cricket field which has been made possible in collaboration with the Cricket Association of Thailand or CAT. Through the initiative of the Infrastructure Office, the Institute has forged a mutually beneficial partnership with CAT in the development, maintenance and use of the cricket field but still maintained the multi-purpose nature of this field. Aside from the improvement of the field, this alliance with CAT has brought a certain degree of exposure to AIT as it becomes venue to big international cricket tournaments. The above are just a few examples of the concrete projects and innovative manner in which the Infrastructure Office has been able to secure additional funds, complementing the budget available from Central Funds.

Sri Lanka media delegation visit AIT: On 21 January, the Institute received a delegation of Sri Lankan media representatives who were led to AIT by the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Thailand, H.E. Professor J.B. Disanayaka, who is also a member of the AIT Board of Trustees. The media executives represented

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both print and television outlets in Sri Lanka. Included in the delegation were senior editors and producers from the Sri Lankan national media group MTV (Maraja TV), which operates three television channels and four radio stations in Sri Lanka. MTV used the visit to shoot footage for a 7-8 minute video documentary segment about AIT to be included in its one-hour program Deshatanaya “Travelling from Country to Country”. I along with some of our Sri Lankan students and faculty were interviewed in the process. It plans to air this segment some time in the coming three weeks on its number one rated national private TV channel. A senior editor for the popular Sunday Island newspaper also joined the media excursion.

5. Conclusion

AIT had a very successful year in 2007, and I am grateful for all the hard and excellent work by the students, faculty and staff have, which has helped put AIT in this favourable position. There were successful outcomes both on the financial front as well as in terms of the array of new and innovative programs and initiatives that AIT was able to launch.

As promised and account of the improved financial situation of the Institute, the voluntary salary reduction scheme, was lifted effective 1 January 2008, and I would like to once again express my sincere thanks, gratitude and appreciation, to all members of the AIT community for their personal sacrifice, and show of solidarity by having come forward to assist the Institute, during its time of need.

AIT must continue to remain alert and find new markets where it can continue to actively contribute and play an important role. AIT has provided almost 50 years of distinguished service to the development of Asia. However, with the strengthening of the economies of the countries in our region and also capacity of national universities and institutions, AIT must pay greater attention to the shift and focus in the development and geographical priority of donors and partners. The “A” in “AIT” should not be seen to stand for “another” given the gradual saturation of the region for many of our services.

AIT’s internationality and its close interactions with institutions throughout the region and the world have uniquely positioned the institute to reach out to different stakeholders at all levels in Asia and beyond. In this context, AIT can play an important role and help facilitate in bringing the region and Africa closer together. AIT has over the almost half century of its existence gathered a tremendous amount of knowledge from its experiences working in the Asian region and can provide a platform through which the region can share the experiences and best practices from Asia on higher learning in science and technology. Another good example in this context is our Afghanistan initiative.

On the internal plane it is important to keep in mind that whenever we put in place structures for the governing and operations we do not do so at the risk of compromising or losing our competitiveness. One unique and major strength of AIT is that the Institute is not under the control of any particular government. This gives AIT the ability and agility to act and respond faster to the needs of its stakeholders. If our own internal structures are heavy and weigh us down then we will lose our competitive advantage over other national universities and institutions. There is tremendous competition in the arena of higher learning which will only increase into the future with universities both in the region and abroad placing increased emphasis and efforts on the “internationalization” aspect.

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Therefore, if we fail to accept such realities and better anticipate the coming challenges, then we risk losing not only our competitiveness but could also compromise the long term future of the Institute. It is true that internationality does not simply mean the offering of courses or programs in English. In this regard, AIT’s internationality is much more unique and goes far beyond that. However, it also requires a much broader and deeper thinking to fully understand the unique internationality of AIT, which is often difficult to market or sell, and which we can not expect especially the younger generation of students to fully appreciate.

In light of the above, it is imperative that we do not create heavy or rigid internal structures that could restrict our flexibility to quickly to respond to changes such as through the design of demand oriented programs and courses. AIT can not compete with national universities since we do not share the same conditions in terms of funding and support that is provided by the state. However, as a network university, AIT has been able to effectively work with and complement the efforts of several national universities in the region. AIT has been able to do so because of its agility and flexibility that is inherent within the system.

To this end, we must continue to further build upon AIT’s almost 50 years of distinguished contribution to the development of the region by making effective use of its uniqueness and strengths. It is important that we try and institutionalize such a mindset in all of our activities as well thought processes by continually trying to adapt according to the changing landscape of higher learning in the region.

It is remarkable to consider what we have been able to accomplish together in a relatively short period of time. This is proof of the vitality of AIT and the solidarity and commitment of members of the AIT community to come to the rescue of the Institute in times of need.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude and sincere appreciation to all our partners for their continued support and confidence in the mission of AIT. Our special thanks also to all our alumni for their support and commitment.

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