Leading a three-member delegation to AIT on 20 September, Professor
Anders Hult, Director of International Affairs, South East Asia, KTH, said that a bachelor’s level
tie-up with AIT would be a good way to expose students to the best
elements of Swedish and Asian education.
Prof. Hult was accompanied by Ms. Maria Rothzen, International Project
Coordinator, KTH, and Mr. Peter Bjork, Executive Director, Thai-Swedish
Chamber of Commerce. He introduced KTH as a leading global university
with more than 3500 international students from over 100
countries.
The visitors said the international composition of
AIT’s student body was very attractive. “AIT draws students from
all over the region, and from some countries we do not have,” Prof.
Hult said, emphasizing the importance of South-East Asia for both KTH
and Swedish enterprise.
The KTH officials were welcomed to AIT by Prof. Joydeep Dutta, Vice
President for Academic Affairs, and other senior administration
officials. Together, the parties explored ideas for joining forces
through a dual degee program of either four or five years.
The program would enable students earn an AIT bachelor’s
degree, followed by a period of study in Sweden to earn a KTH
bachelor’s degree.
“It’s a win-win scenario,” Prof. Dutta said. AIT would benefit from an
academic partnership with Sweden’s premier technical university and KTH
would benefit by establishing a strong presence in the Asian region, he
said.
Prof. Hult informed that KTH’s international strategy involves
partnering with top-level universities to guarantee quality assurance.
He added that KHT has previously received AIT students through the
Erasmus Mundus program. “Our experience with AIT international Master’s
students from South-East Asia has been quite positive,” he said. He
added that if a program is initiated, KTH faculty members would be
willing to teach at AIT.
A first step would be to renew an existing Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU), officials agreed. AIT will also follow-up with information on
its undergraduate level course offerings, for study by KTH. The
delegation concluded their visit by meeting with current undergraduate
students at the Milton E. Bender Jr. Auditorium.
Also attending the meeting were Dr. Weerakorn Ongsakul, Dean, School of
Environment, Resources and Development (SERD); Dr. Nitin Tripathi,
Associate Dean for Promotion, School of Engineering and Technology
(SET); Mr. Benjamin Gargabite, Coordinator, Admission and Scholarship
Unit; and Mr. Tenzin Rabgyal, Senior Program Officer, External
Relations and Communications Office (ERCO).
