Bangkok--3 Sep--Asian Institute of Technology
International collaboration is the fourth pillar of our vision and we take it very seriously,” Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) Vice Chancellor Dr. Ali Saud Al-Bemani told AIT officials on his maiden visit to the campus on 28 August 2014.
Accompanied by Professor Joydeep Dutta, Chair in Nanotechnology, Water Research Center, SQU, the vice chancellor said he would be happy to see AIT become the Omani university’s first partner university in East Asia and Southeast Asia, following earlier tie ups with North American and European universities. SQU is a growing university with a current enrollment of approximately 18,000 students, he said.
The two officials were welcomed to AIT by President Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, who led exploratory discussions also involving senior AIT officials on developing a partnership involving student and faculty exchanges.
“When SQU partners with AIT you partner with the whole region,” said President Worsak, explaining the institute's regional mandate.
Reminding all of the contributions to AIT made by Prof. Dutta, a former AIT faculty member at the School of Engineering and Technology and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Prof. Worsak suggested establishing scientific partnership focused on nanotechnology, as a first step.
Vice Chancellor Dr. Ali Saud Al-Bemani, agreed, stressing his belief in “bottom-up” and “outcome measured" partnerships which stress specific, measurable results and time-frames for academic collaboration and joint activities. He recommended that an official Letter of Intent or Letter of Understanding could serve as the basis for establishing partnership between SQU and AIT. "I see nanotechnology as the first seed that we can plant for partnership," he said.
Later, Dr. Ali Saud Al-Bemani toured the laboratories at the AIT Center of Excellence in Nanotechnology (COEN) along with its director Prof. Louis Hornyak and Prof. Dutta. The facility was established by Prof. Dutta during his earlier tenure at AIT.
Photo caption: AIT President Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai (left) is seen with Dr. Ali Saud Al-Bemani, SQU Vice Chancellor.