Bangkok--17 Apr--Asian Institute of Technology
Twenty-four students of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) received commemorative certificates from Germany’s Ambassador to Thailand H.E. Mr. Rolf Schulze at an official DAAD scholarship hand-over ceremony on 1 April 2014 at the German Embassy in Bangkok.
The AIT students from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV), who all received generous German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarships, are currently enrolled at the AIT School of Engineering and Technology and AIT School of Environment, Resources and Development.
Ambassador Schulze and Ms. Annette Sévery, Counsellor, Press and Cultural Affairs, welcomed a large AIT delegation of students and officials to the embassy led by Vice President for Academic Affairs Professor Sivanappan Kumar.
“It is my great pleasure to hand over this year’s total of 32 DAAD scholarships to recipients from Southeast Asian countries,” Ambassador Schulze said, also welcoming eight recipients from Thailand’s Mahidol Unversity, and Kasetsart University.
Known in the German language as Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, DAAD is the country’s largest support organization in the field of international academic co-operation. It awards competitive, merit-based grants for use toward study and research in Germany and at partner institutions of higher education in other countries.
Under AIT-Germany partnership from 1972-2002, a total of 1261 students graduated through German support. Since 2007, DAAD has awarded 49 scholarships to recipients from CLMV countries to study at AIT.
Prof. Kumar expressed his extreme gratitude on behalf of AIT to the Government of German and DAAD for its continuous and generous support to the students and the Institute.
Also on hand for the ceremony, Johannes Görbert, Director of DAAD Information Center, Bangkok, said a special aspect of the program for Germany is its “beyond bilateral” approach for connecting to third party nations. For AIT, scholarship awardees included one Lao national, twelve Vietnamese, seven Myanmar citizens and four from Cambodia.
The ambassador said Germany’s premise for financially supporting so many bright young scholars is to address important regional issues, such as tropical medicine, agriculture, and sustainable development, and that AIT is a good fit for DAAD because of its “broad range of engineering and science fields.”
Calling on the AIT recipients to be active in their research fields, Ambassador Schulze said the young researchers and academics included in the program have an important role to play in the astonishing development of the region. “ASEAN is developing rapidly,” he said, emphasizing Germany’s keen interest in fostering scientific cooperation with the region.
Congratulating the students, Mr. Görbert added that DAAD aims to connect all alumni of the program not only on science, engineering and development issues, but also German culture. “A successful career awaits you all,” Ambassador Schulze told the beaming young faces from AIT, as he asked all to stay in touch with Germany and German universities in the future.
Prof. Kumar remarked that AIT was especially pleased to work with DAAD as its philosophy is in line with AIT’s mission to educate professionals who contribute to the development of their home countries. “AIT and DAAD expect a lot from you,” he told the students. “Make us both proud.”
Mr. Tenzin Rabgyal, Admissions and Scholarships Coordinator, AIT, and Mr. Shawn Kelly, Senior Media Specialist, Media and Communications Unit, also attended the function.
Photo caption: H.E. Mr. Rolf Schulze, German Ambassador, is seen in a group photo with AIT students and the students from other universities who are DAAD scholarship recipients.