INTERNATIONALIZATION OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

Worsak Kanok‐Nukulchai, Ph.D.President,  Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand

"Science Education and Human Resources Development“

20‐21 October 2015

Landscape of Research onScience and Technology

• Research for Mankind 

• Research for Economic Gain

Public and International Funding

Private and Industrial Funding

How Universities Interact Among Them in S&T Research?

COMPETITION

COLLABORATION

Contest in World Rankings Calls for More Emphasis on Research Impacts.

Competition

Competition• Recent Higher Education Reform with 

Government’s Budget Reduction Creates a Contestable Market

Collaborations• More Participation More Impact 

Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary

Collaborations• Sharing of Resources 

Domestic or Cross‐Countries

$

CollaborationsSharing Expertise (Bilateral Assistance) 

Collaborations• Sharing Solutions 

What Remains a Challenge?‐ Research on Global and Cross‐Border Issues (Research for Mankind)

All cross‐border problems in the real‐world have no physical and disciplinary walls

Nature of Cross‐Border Issues.

Cross‐Border Issues.Issues like climate change, disasters, floods, pollution, share of international rivers, have no boundaries

Barbed wire can stop illegal migrants,but it cannot stop floods, typhoon, air‐pollution

Cross‐Border Issues.

Post‐Disaster Needs for Shelter and Sanitation are common globally, but with local touch.

AIT Habitech Technology AIT’s Solar‐Powered Toilet

Cross‐Border Issues.

AIT – A Regional Platform for Borderless Research

1. International perspective2. Regional orientation3. Multidisciplinary approach 4. Cross national solutions5. Relevant research6. Knowledge dispersal in a market 

economy 7. Politically neutral.

AIT : Regional Platform of Research for Mankind

Roles of AITProvide a neutral platform for international scholars to participate and contribute on interdisciplinary R&D of cross‐border issues of the world and the region.

AIT IS VERY FLEXIBLE‐‐EASY TO WORK WITH.

• Non‐profit• Independent• Bureaucrat‐Free• Niche, Flexible and Efficient

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• Cross‐border, Trans‐boundary Issues• Regional Localization Issues• Regional Socialization Issues

AIT HAS SERVED AS NEUTRAL PLATFORM FOR 

AIT WAS FOUNDED IN 1959, AS THE FIRST AUTONOMOUS INTERNATIONAL POST-GRADUATE INSTITUTE OF ASIA, HOSTED IN THAILAND.

AIT PLAYS A KEY ROLE IN REGION.• More than 20,000 alumni from 100 countries around the 

world.  Most of them are from the AEC region.

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Thailand27.45%

Vietnam16.94%

Nepal5.58%

India5.45%

Bangladesh5.14%Sri Lanka

4.85%

Philippines4.49%

Taiwan4.17%

Pakistan4.09%

China4.05%

Indonesia3.79%

Myanmar3.32%

Cambodia1.96%

Laos1.59%

Malaysia1.52%

Europe1.57% Middle and Central Asia

1.06%

Africa 0.48% America

0.24% Others2.26%

AIT joins France to host regional Science and Climate Change Conference in 2015, as prelude to

global COP 21

Regional project to reinvent decentralized systems and technologies for treatment and safe disposal of human excreta and wastewater.

Total research grant: us$ 5 million

Project period:2011-2016

ThailandCambodiaVietnam

Sustainable Decentralized Wastewater Management in Developing Countries

Agricultural Learning Exchange for Asian Regional Networking (AgLEARN)

Total Research Grant: 899,000 USD

Project Period: 2013‐2016

Location of the Action: Nepal, Bangladesh, Cambodia with support from collaborators in Thailand, India and USA, 

Sustaining and Enhancing the Momentum for Innovation and Learning around System of Rice Intensification (SLR) n the Lowe Mekong River Basin (LMB)

Total Research Grant: Euros 3.4 million (US$ 4.37 million)

Project Period: 2013‐2018

Location of the Action: Thailand, Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Viet Nam.

SRI‐LMB working in partnership with

AIT and World Wide Fund (WWF) Thailand awarded US$ 980,000 project from HSBC Water Sustainability

Program

“Building Capacity and Strengthening Community Participation for Water Resources Management and Wetland Ecosystem Restoration in the Context of Climate Change in Lower Songkhram River Basin”