Reinforcing Non-University Sector at the Tertiary Level in Engineering and Technology to Support Thailand Sustainable Smart Industry (ReCap 4.0) – a project developed by AIT’s Industrial Systems Engineering (ISE) Department under the leadership of Dr. Pisut Koomsap – has been selected by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission for €989,888 in co-funding.
The project is one of 164 winning proposals from 1005 applications around the world. It was the only project selected that is led by a university from Thailand.
According to Dr. Pisut, ReCap 4.0 is a three-year joint capacity-building project between five universities representing different regions of Thailand and three European Union partner universities.
Industry 4.0 has caught the attention of industry, universities and research institutes as well as governments all over the world, including European Union countries and Thailand. The Government of Thailand has indicated a need to change from a production-based economy (Thailand 3.0) to value-based economy (Thailand 4.0) in order for Thai industries to be competitive, Dr. Pisut says. Overall, there will be a need for human resource development for a new type of qualified engineering graduates to support Thailand 4.0 as well as Industry 4.0.
“ReCap 4.0 is intended to enhance the capacity and ability of the non-university sector at the tertiary level in Thailand for the effective delivery of engineering and technology knowledge and skills related to Industry 4.0,” Dr. Pisut said. “It is designed to support Thailand’s sustainable smart industry and to strengthen a partnership among participating European and Thai universities as well as benefit non-university sectors.”
The new project will support dissemination of the outcomes of the recently concluded MSIE 4.0 – Curriculum Development of Master’s Degree Program in Industrial Engineering for Thailand Sustainable Smart Industry – an initiative also spearheaded by Dr. Pisut. Valued at €980,000, MSIE 4.0 was supported by Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education from October 2017 to October 2020.
“While the MSIE 4.0 project focused on the development of resources covering educational programs, materials, and facilities, ReCap 4.0 will focus on human resource development,” Dr. Pisut explained.
“ReCap 4.0 will deliver an Industry 4.0 competence development training program covering three main areas: Industry 4.0 knowledge, teaching skills enhancement, and curriculum development,” he added.
In addition, the project will develop twelve Thai trainers who will engage in “train the trainers” activities, and produce sixty trained teaching staff for the non-university sector at the tertiary education level in Thailand. A new ‘Innovative Teaching and Learning Center for Thailand Sustainable Smart Industry’ will open as part of the project, Dr. Pisut confirmed.
