Bangkok--26 May--Asian Institute of Technology
The 123rd graduation of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) was a historic occasion for the Institute, as it has now graduated students from 100 countries and territories spread across all continents. Till early May 2015, AIT graduates had come from 97 countries and territories. On 22 May 2015, AIT saw its first-ever graduates from three countries — Colombia, Namibia and Sierra Leone, taking the total number to 100.
The three students who took the AIT score to 100 — Juan Camilo Polania Siculaba (Colombia), Natasha Otilie Kaunapawa Nuujoma (Namibia), and Joel Hindowa Kamanda (Sierra Leone) graduated with a Master’s in Science in Urban Water Engineering and Management.
These students were among the 508 students from 27 countries that graduated at the 123rd graduation of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) on 22 May 2015. The graduating students came from Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa and South America. Sri Lanka with 123 graduates top the list of graduates, followed by Myanmar (79), Thailand (73), Vietnam (61), Nepal with 57 graduates. Three countries from Europe (Austria, France and the United Kingdom), six from Africa (Cameroon, Namibia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Tanzania), and 16 countries from Asia, and one each from Australia and South America were represented at the graduation, testifying AIT’s enduring internationality.
AIT’s internationality is university recognized, and recently it tied for the title of the world’s top internationality university in the U-Multirank 2015 Institutional Ranking released last week. It had claimed joint top rank in the ‘international orientation’ dimension of the newest global university ranking among 1,200 universities from 83 countries. It stood out as the only university in Asia among the top 41 universities in the world to receive full scores under ‘international orientation’. AIT earned straight “A” grades for its student mobility, international academic staff, international joint publications and international doctorate degrees.
AIT President Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai highlighted the Institute’s internationality in his Graduation Message describing AIT as a “Small Global Village for Future Leaders”. By learning about each other’s culture on a day-to-day basis, AIT students naturally learn to appreciate diversity, he added.