President meets Nepal PM and President

AIT President, Prof. Said Irandoust with the President of Nepal, H.E. Dr. Ram Baran Yadav.
AIT President, Prof. Said Irandoust with the President of Nepal, H.E. Dr. Ram Baran Yadav.

AIT President Prof. Said Irandoust called on the President of Nepal H.E. Dr. Ram Baran Yadav and the Prime Minister of Nepal, H.E. Dr. Baburam Bhattarai during a visit to Kathmandu on 11 October 2012. The Nepal President described education as the backbone for development of a country, while adding that graduates from AIT were occupying significant positions all over the world. The President also offered his full support to AIT and wished the Institute success in its endeavors. The same day, Prime Minister Bhattarai reaffirmed his country’s strong support and commitment to AIT and its new AIT Charter. President Irandoust also thanked the Prime Minister for his approval in granting two scholarships per year for Nepalese nationals to study at AIT.

Vietnam Ambassador reviews rebuilding work, meets Vietnamese community

H.E. Mr. Ngo Duc Thang during an inspection of the
H.E. Mr. Ngo Duc Thang during an inspection of the AIT campus.

The Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to Thailand, H.E. Mr. Ngo Duc Thang, visited AIT on 8 October 2012 to review its ongoing flood rebuilding work and meet with Vietnamese nationals studying in the Institute.
Making his first visit to AIT since Vietnam joined the Institute’s governing Council as its eighth country member on 8 June 2012, Ambassador Thang was welcomed to the campus by AIT President Prof. Said Irandoust. The ambassador was accompanied by Vietnam Embassy officials Ms. Le Mai Huong, First Secretary, and Mr. Vu Quoc Chinh, Counsellor.

AIT President meets SAARC Secretary General

From left: H.E. Mr. Ahmed Saleem, Prof. Said Irandoust, Prof. Sriram B.
From left: H.E. Mr. Ahmed Saleem, Prof. Said Irandoust, Prof. Sriram B.Mathe, Chairperson, Mr. Ahmar Ismail, and Mr. Karma Rana.

AIT President Prof. Said Irandoust met Secretary-General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), H. E. Mr. Ahmed Saleem, at the SAARC
Secretariat in Kathmandu, Nepal on 11 October 2012. The President briefed SAARC Secretary-General about AIT’s activities in Nepal and the region. The President also expressed AIT’s desire for initiating collaboration with SAARC. The SAARC Secretary-General welcomed the suggestion, stating that AIT could initiate a collaborative mechanism with the South Asian University, which has been operational since 2010 in New Delhi under the aegis of SAARC.

AIT is an undisputed pioneer in the field of education: Bhutan Minister

From left: Mr. Karma Tshering, H.E. Mr. Kesang Wangdi, H.E. Mr. Dorji Wangdi, and Prof. Said Irandoust.
From left: Mr. Karma Tshering, H.E. Mr. Kesang Wangdi, H.E. Mr. Dorji Wangdi, and Prof. Said Irandoust.

Minister of Labor and Human Resources, Government of Bhutan, H.E. Mr. Dorji Wangdi described the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) as a “great seat of learning,” and an “undisputed pioneer in the field of education.” He made these remarks on the occasion of the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between AIT and the Royal Institute of Management (RIM) on 8 October 2012. The Minister stated that ever since he undertook a month-long program on project evaluation and monitoring at AIT in 1997, the Institute has never ceased to amaze him. “The Institute is very close to my heart, and I am a great lover of this Institute” he said. As Minister
of Human Resources, I have a huge interest in education, and we look forward towards cooperation with AIT, he added.

UNCRD Director appreciates AIT’s hosting of IPLA

Ms. Chikako Takase
Ms. Chikako Takase

United Nations Centre for Regional Development (INCRD) Director, Ms. Chikako Takase, appreciated the role played by AIT in hosting the global secretariat of the International Partnership for Expanding Water Management Services of Local Authorities (IPLA). She expressed this sentiment during a visit to AIT on 12 October 2012.
Prof. Said Irandoust, President, AIT assured of full support of AIT in the project. Prof. Chettiyappan Visvanathan, of Environmental Engineering and Management (EEM)
field of study in AIT’s School of Environment, Resources and Development (SERD), who is leading the IPLA initiative from AIT, suggested involvement of other multilateral
agencies to support the project.

Lao Deputy Minister reviews AIT testing of Xayaburi Hydroelectric Power Project

Mr. Viaphonh Viragong (right) being interviewed at AIT.
Mr. Viaphonh Viragong (right) being interviewed at AIT.

AIT scientists unveiled to the media some findings from a series of tests conducted at its Hydraulic Scale Model Study of the Xayaburi Hydroelectric Project, which is
planned for construction in Lao PDR. They also briefed Laos’ Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines Mr. Viraphonh Viravong, who led a large delegation of Lao Government
officials and media on a study visit on 25 October 2012 to AIT’s hydraulics laboratory at the Water Engineering and Management (WEM), School of Engineering and
Technology (SET).

Mekong River Commission and AIT have over a hundred years of work in the region

Mr. Hans Guttman (right) leading the MRC.
Mr. Hans Guttman (right) leading the MRC delegation.

Stating that both the Mekong River Commission (MRC) and the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) put together have over a hundred years of work in the region, MRC Chief Executive Officer Mr. Hans Guttman remarked that AIT is a regional resource which MRC should draw upon to benefit from its geographical proximity.
In a visit to AIT, an eight-member strong MRC delegation sought to reestablish its strong linkage with the five-decade old Institute. The delegation included many alumni from AIT, including the MRC Chief who studied at AIT, and later headed the Wetlands Alliance Program (WAP) at the Institute.

AIT launches programs in partnership with NEF-CCN

AIT has launched new programs in Nepal including a two-stage Master’s Program in Business (MBA and MBA in Energy Business Management), along with a Bachelor’s Program in Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The programs were launched on 11 October 2012 under Memorandum of Agreements (MoAs) signed between AIT and the Nepal Education Foundation-Consortium of Colleages, Nepal (NEF-CCN). The delivery of the first half of the academic programs will take place at NEF-CCN colleges in Nepal, and the second half will be delivered at the AIT main campus in Thailand.

Nine scholarships for students from Bhutan

Mr. Tshewang Tandin
Mr. Tshewang Tandin
Nine scholarships will be provided to students from Bhutan for undergraduate studies at AIT. This follows a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed by Mr.
Tshewang Tandin, Director General, Department of Adult and Higher Education (DAHE), Ministry of Education (MoE), Bhutan, and Prof. Said Irandoust, President, Asian
Institute of Technology (AIT) on 29 October 2012.

IIM collaborates with AIT

Prof. B.S.Sahay and Prof. Said Irandoust.
Prof. B.S.Sahay and Prof. Said Irandoust.
Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Raipur, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with AIT seeking student and faculty exchange programs,
collaborative research projects, and organization of joint academic and scientific activities. The MoU was signed by Prof. B. S. Sahay, Director, IIM, Raipur and Prof.
Said Irandoust, President, AIT on 18 October 2012.

France’s CIRAD confirms continued partnership

From left: Prof. Said Irandoust, Dr. Sylvain Perret and Mr. Gérard Matheron.
From left: Prof. Said Irandoust, Dr. Sylvain Perret and Mr. Gérard Matheron.
“We are very proud to have partnership with AIT at this international level,” the President Managing Director of CIRAD, Mr. Gérard Matheron, told AIT President Prof. Said Irandoust while visiting AIT on 30 October 2012. He made these remarks during the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) for continued collaboration through CIRAD’s faculty secondment of Dr. Sylvain Perret to the Water Engineering and Management field of study, School of Engineering and Technology (SET).

World Water Congress fellowship

Dr. Alfredo Anceno
Dr. Alfredo Anceno
An AIT researcher from AIT, Dr. Alfredo Anceno was awarded the World Water Congress fellowship by the International Water Association (IWA) to participate
in the Congress held in Busan, South Korea.
As a recipient of IWA fellowship, Dr. Alfredo Anceno acted as a co-chair/rapporteur during three technical sessions along with senior experts. The sessions included “Wastewater as a multifaceted resource for producing energy, chemical, water, and nutrients,” with Dr. Hervé Suty of Veolia Environnement; “Establishing innovative, decentralized water supply systems,” with Prof. Jeong Hyun Kim of the University of Ulsan; and “New molecular tools in action in water engineering,” with Prof. Joan Rose of the University of Michigan. He has also been asked to co-author a feature article in the forthcoming issue of IWA’s Water21 magazine.

UN ESCAP publishes policy paper authored by AIT researcher

Mr. Ridwan Quaium
Mr. Ridwan Quaium
A policy paper on ‘Sustainable Urban Transport Systems – An Overview,” authored by Mr. Ridwan Quaium, a Research Associate in the Transportation
Engineering (TE) field of study at AIT’s School of Engineering and Technology was published by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Bangkok.
The report can be read at this link: http://www.unescap.org/esd/suds/publications/Sustainable-Urban-Transportatation-System/Sustainable-Transportation-9.pdf

AIT alumnus elected to public office in Australia

Dr. Shahadat Chowdhury
Dr. Shahadat Chowdhury

Dr. Shahadat Chowdhury, an AIT alumnus won the local g o v e r n m e n t election in New South Wales (NSW), Australia on 8 September 2012. He has been elected
as a council governing Parramatta City Council, and will serve for four years.

Dr. Babel appointed Professor

Prof. Mukand Singh Babel
Dr. Mukand Singh Babel
Dr. Mukand Singh Babel has been promoted to the position of Professor. He was earlier serving as Associate Professor in AIT’s School of Engineering and Technology. Dr. Babel is also the Coordinator of the Water Engineering and Management (WEM) field of study. Dr. Babel joined AIT in 2002, but has been associated with the Institute in
several capacities since 1997.He obtained his Doctorate (Water Resources Engineering) and Master’s (Soil and Water Engineering) from AIT.

AIT issues to be taken up in a meeting on Nov 5

Issues related to the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) will be taken up in a meeting on 5 November 2012. Chaired by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Royal Thai Government, the meeting has been called following a request by the AIT Council. This was stated by H.E. Mr. Anil Wadhwa, Ambassador of India to Thailand, during the Institute Forum organized at AIT on 30 October 2012.
In a brief address to the AIT community, Ambassador Wadhwa remarked that the AIT Council is seized of the AIT issues, and it had been holding regular talks with the Government of Thailand. Calling 2012 a “transition year,” he said, “The Council members were unanimous in their view that it is imperative that the host country Thailand should on board the Council and take on issues regarding matters of the Institute.”

News You Can Use

From Chalkboards to Gaming: The future of education

University of British Columbia blog has a wonderful story about the Chalkboard.“It was Josiah F. Bumstead who first declared in his 1841 essay, The Blackboard
in the Primary Schools, that the chalkboard is a groundbreaking technological invention.” It says The chalkboard stood at the core of this new teaching culture. This report will argue that the chalkboard gave rise to the standardization of public education, and its integration into English classrooms in the nineteenth century led to the widespread
advancement of rote memorization as the dominant teaching pedagogy in the United Kingdom.
Read more at http://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540sept12/2012/10/28/the-history-and-futureof-the-chalkboard/
On the other hand, the Scientifc American blog wrote about the role of games in educaiton. “Educating Players: Are Games the Future of Education?” says that though smart phones, tablets and video games are viewed as distractions, a “panel of technologists and educators posited that it’s time to embrace students’ use of such technologies and rethink learning in both developed and developing countries.”
Read more at : http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/10/26/educating-players-are-games-the-future-of-education/

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