KKU NEWSLETTER 2017 JUNE

KHON KAEN UNIVERSITY

Volume 1, Issue 5

1. KKU awards HRH scholarships to Cambodia students

On June 8, 2017, HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn came out at Dusitalai Pavilion Jitrlada Palace to hold an audience with His Excellency Dr. Hang Chuon Naron, Minister of Education, Youth and Sports of the Kingdom of Cambodia and General Wapirom Mansrangsri, Chairperson of the Royal Educational Assistance Project to the Kingdom of Cambodia. The Royal Assistance Project to the Kingdom of Cambodia in education was initiated under the royal wishes of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn to construct and fund the Kampong Chheuteal College at Chombeau Sub-District, Kampongthom Province, the Kingdom of Cambodia. The project started on February 15, 2000, when the HRH Princess bestowed assistance of the entire educational system to the Kingdom of Cambodia. Khon Kaen University, with one mission to develop personnel skills of the neighboring countries and to promote good understanding and lasting relationships between Thailand and these countries responded to HRH wishes by joining the project. This has been in the form of scholarships which have been provided to Cambodia through the Chairperson of the project’s management team, General Wapirom Mansrangsri. The scholarships given from Khon Kaen University to students of Cambodia started in the academic year 2012. At present, there are 47 students under the project, divided into 10 Undergraduate level, 22 Master degree level and 15 Doctorate degree level. 1

Asst. Prof. Dr. Atcharawan Tophak-ngam, Assistant to the President for International Collaboration on behalf of Khon Kaen University presented 13 scholarships for the academic year 2017 to HRH and led the new group of 19 Cambodian student awardees of the 2016 scholarships to pay respect to HRH, consisting of 4 Undergraduate students and 15 Master degree level. The event ended with representatives from Khon Kaen University including staff from many faculties, Graduate School and the International Relations Division were given a chance to take a picture with HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. 2. The Prime Minister gives the special talk on “Driving Thailand 4.0 in the Northeastern Region” at KKU

On June 21, 2017, General Prayut Chan-ocha, the Prime Minister of Thailand, together with Admiral Narong Pipatanasai, Deputy Prime Minister, General Anupong Paojinda, Minister of Interior, General Chatchai Sarikunlaya, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Mrs. Unchaka Seeboonrueng, Minister of Science and Technology, Mr. Teerakiat Charoensetthasilp, Minister of Education, Mr. Suwit Mesintree, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office visited Khon Kaen and gave a special talk on “Driving Thailand 4.0 in the Northeastern Region” at the Golden Jubilee Convention Hall, Khon Kaen University. More than 7,000 participants attended the event including administrators from both government and private sectors, lecturers, academics, researchers, entrepreneurs, businesspersons, university staff, students, general public, and farmers under the project to alleviate urban poverty. The Prime Minister and the group also visited and exhibition titled “KKU Research and Innovation towards Thailand 4.0” which displayed exhibits about agriculture, food, health, future material and energy, bio economy, ICT and Smart City. 2

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kittichai Triratanasirichai, KKU president, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rungsan Niamsanit, Director of Institute of Strategy and Coordination for North Eastern Development (ISCND), Mr. Weera Pakuthai, ISCND’s consultant, Dr. Hirun Sawaengkaew, Head of the project to alleviate urban poverty in Borabue and Gosumpisai Districts of Mahasarakam Province, Mr. Boworn Wisetdee, the community development volunteer at Non Daeng Sub-district, and Mrs. Suwimon Janpeng, a farmer role model at Tung Phong Subdistrict presented how to apply knowledge obtained from teaching and learning, research, and development to alleviate urban poverty via the process of involvement with the attitude of self-reliance to ‘understand, access, develop, and example’, based on the self-sufficiency philosophy. Then, the Prime Minister and the group visited the booth of agricultural products from the farmers in the project at Gold Jubilee Convention Hall, Khon-Kaen-University. General Prayut Chan-ocha, the Prime Minister said that driving Thailand 4.0 was a goal for the country and its people, and that we have to work together in order for Thailand to overcome middle-income trap and to become a country with high-income evenly distributed in all sectors. The economy should be driven by innovation. Thailand should be aimed at becoming more stable, wealthier, and more sustainable by inventing more innovative products. We would change from traditional agriculture to the more modern one, emphasizing on management and the use of modern technology. We would change from traditional SMEs to Smart Enterprises and efficient Startups. The low-skilled labors would change to high-skilled and talented ones. Thailand 4.0 focuses on the coordination between the government and the private sectors, communities, provinces, and educational institutes with the royal self-sufficiency philosophy to develop and strengthen the country from the inside out.

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“To drive Thailand 4.0 policy, we have to simultaneously encourage all 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 to work towards Thailand 4.0 because Thai people in the 4.0 era are the 21st century people who have knowledge, skills, voluntary mind, and social responsibility,” said the prime minister. Also, the Prime Minister praised KKU for having been a pride for the past 5 decades, and being a regional high level educational institute emphasizing on the research for the society as the base, leading to various innovations that help solving social problems. The university research will play a crucial role in supporting the government policies. 3. IRD organizes the Cross-Cultural Understanding and Global Leadership Workshop

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On June 2 – 4, 2017, the International Relations Division (IRD), Khon Kaen University (KKU) organized the “Cross-Cultural Understanding and Global Leadership Workshop” for KKU Thai and international undergraduates and postgraduates at KKU and Khon Kaen University, Nong Khai Campus (KKU-NKC). The objectives of this workshop were to enlighten the participants on cross-cultural sensitivity, leadership traits, network building and Northeastern tradition. There were 35 students from 8 countries including Bhutan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Timor-Laste, Vietnam and United States of America (USA) participated the workshop. The programme was conducted in a professional manner by the specialists of the fields, namely lecturers from Language Institute on the ice breaking activity, Miss Porntip Kanjananiyot, the former Fulbright Scholarship Manager on the “Cross-cultural issues and leadership traits”, Asst. Prof. Dr. Supalak Akkaranggoon from the Faculty of Business Administration, KKU-NKC on the “Ambassador Skills and Public Speaking Skills” and Ajarn Thirapong Bubphada from the Faculty of Liberal Arts, KKU-NKC on the “Bai Sri Su Kwan Ceremony” or the Northeastern tradition to welcome the newcomers. Additionally, the participants had shared their own cultures by performing the national shows and games at the “International Leaders and Cultural Night”. On the last day, the participants enthusiastically shared the lessons learnt from the activities and brainstormed how they could implement the knowledge they had gained in the future. The workshop ended with the certificate presentations by Ajarn Chaatiporl Muangkote Mungkhunsan, the Assistant to the President for Nong Khai Campus and Ajarn Thirapong Bubphada, Faculty of Liberal Arts, KKU-NKC. Indeed, it was a grand success. The students had gained abundant knowledge and lessons which will enable them to be the better leaders in the future.

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4. KKU welcomes delegations from the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, in Bangkok, Thailand

On June 6, 2017, Asst. Prof. Dr. Acharawan Tophak-Ngam, Assistant to the President for International Cooperation and together with the International Relations Division staff warmly welcomed Prof. Dr. Mustari, M.Pd., Education and Culture Attache’, the economic and police Attache’ and other delegates from the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, in Bangkok, Thailand. The aim of the visit is to strengthen academic collaboration and especially to prepare for the International Conference on the topic entitled “The 5th Asian Academic Society International Conference – AASIC 2017”. This conference is organized by Indonesian Student club, and will be held on 26-27 July, 2017 at College of Local Administration, Khon Kaen University. It would bring many benefits to support great policy aspects in the Universities, Government, Non-Government Organizations of the Asian countries, as well as KKU students to be part of the establishment in solving challenging problems in Asia.

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5. KKU welcomes administrators from University of Miyazaki, Japan

On June 7, 2017, Prof. Dr. Naoaki Misawa, Prof. Nariaki Nonaka and Assoc. Prof. Tamaki Okabayashi, administrators from the Center of Animal Disease Control, University of Miyazaki, Japan visited Khon Kaen University. They were welcomed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chuchat Kamolled, Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Khon Kaen Univesity (FVM-KKU) together with the administrative team and personnel at Pichet Luangthongkam Building, FVM-KKU. The purpose of their visit was for a study trip and discussing about research between the two universities. They also followed up the progress of MOU between the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, KKU and the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki which has been recently signed in 2016. Then, Asst. Prof. Dr. Kachakorn Direksin, Associate Dean for Research and International Affairs and Asst. Prof. Dr. Ranee Singh, Assistant Dean for Research and International Affairs led them to the laboratories in each department of the faculty and the central laboratory of the Animal Hospital.

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6. KKU discusses collaboration with a delegate from the Coventry University, UK

On June 14, 2017, Asst. Prof. Dr. Acharawan Tophak-Ngam, Assistant to the President for International Cooperation and together with the International Relations Division staff welcomed Mr. Jag Pabla, Senior Research Delivery Support Partner from Coventry University, the United Kingdom on his first visit. The aim of the visit was to strengthen international collaborations and especially to explore research collaboration for PhD and Fellow researchers. Coventry University is highly reputed for advanced research in science and technology and have more than 10 research excellence centres for conducting the researches. The first opportunity could be working on the aspects of poultry research. 7. KKU summarizes “Mini Symposium” with Prof. Dr. Amrit Bart from University of Georgia, USA

On June 19, 2017, Asst. Prof. Dr. Acharawan Tophak-Ngam, Assistant to the President for International Cooperation and together with the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, delegates from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Mekong Institute warmly welcomed Prof. Dr. Amrit Bart, Assistant Dean & Director, Office of Global Programs, University of Georgia, USA. The aim of the visit was to further discuss and finalize various aspect of presentation sessions, potential speakers and other related activities for the Miniconference on Food Safety for Globalization, which will be held at Mekong Institute, Khon Kaen University in coming September, 2017. 8

8. KKU welcomes Prof. Dr. Friedrich Paulsen, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuernberg, Germany

On June 20, 2017, Prof. Dr. Friedrich Paulsen, Vice President for Teaching and Learning from FriedrichAlexander University Erlangen-Nuernberg, Germany, visited KKU on the occasion of joining the Overseas Visiting Professor Program at the Faculty of Medicine during June 18-24, 2017. He was warmly welcomed by Asst. Prof. Dr. Acharawan Topark-Ngarm, Assistant to the President for International Collaboration, along with faculty staff and IRD staff. During his visit, they exchanged information and discussed possibilities for establishing and strengthening academic & research collaboration and medicine student exchange. The collaboration between KKU and Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuernberg is very strong and active. In the afternoon of the same day, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the School of Medicine of Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuernberg and the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, KKU was also signed. 9. KKU goes to China to promote education at the Thai-Yunnan University Presidents’ Forum and Exhibition

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On June 27, 2017, Khon Kaen University led by Prof. Dr. Supachai Pathumnakul, Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer and representative administrators from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, International College, and the Faculty of Business Administration from Khon Kaen University ‘s Nong Khai Campus attended the Thai-Yunnan University Presidents’ Forum and Exhibition 2017 held by Royal Thai Consulate-General, Kunming, China and Yunnan Provincial Department of Education at Yunnan University. There are16 Thai educational institutes and 48 Yunnan educational institutes in the forum.

In the morning, Mr. Zhou Long, Director of Yunnan Provincial Department of Education presented his vision about how to connect education between Thai and China by using the policy of “One Belt, One Road” and “Thailand 4.0” between Thai and China to specify direction for cooperative academic collaboration through learning, teaching, and exchange activities. Mr. Pornpop Uampidhaya, Consul-General of the Royal Thai Consulate at Kunming, China emphasizing on the importance of development of academic collaboration between Thai educational institutions and educational institutions in Yunnan province as it is the foundation for sustainable development and good relationship creation between the people of the two countries.

In the afternoon, there was a meeting for discussing about university management for supporting global changes and other topics. This is a new dimension of collaboration between Thai-Chinese educational institutions and sustainable relations between the two countries.

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10. KKU discusses collaboration with a delegate from the Bangor University, UK

On June 30, 2017, Asst. Prof. Dr. Acharawan Tophak-Ngam, Assistant to the President for International Cooperation, together with Asst. Prof. Dr. Ruchirat Patanathabutr, Assistant Dean to International Affairs, College of Graduate Studies in Management, and Ms. Netdao Chamroendararasmee, Director of International Relations Division welcomed Mr. Stephen J Jones, Senior Lecurer in Business and Management and Director of Business Relations from Bangor University, the United Kingdom on his first visit to KKU. The aim of his visit is to identify possible channels towards collaborations between the Bangor Business School (BBS) and College of Graduate Studies in Management, Khon Kaen Business School (KKBS) and International College at KKU. He proposed couple of pathways for KKU’s students to study at Bangor University in the field of Business Management by suggesting dual degree full time and intensive courses in UK or their lecturers come to KKU for teaching intensive courses and even possible virtual classes by use of technology. Bangor University has a 130 years long tradition of academic excellence and strong focus on student experience, and it is ranked top 40 in UK for research. Bangor University is also a partner university with Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS) and is looking for further partnerships in this region by visiting KKU. 11. KKU discusses collaboration with a delegate from the Monash University, AUSTRALIA

On June 30, 2017, Asst. Prof. Dr. Acharawan Tophak-Ngam, Assistant to the President for International Cooperation, together with Ms. Netdao Chamroendararasmee, Director of International Relations Division, Mr. Pongpitthaya Sapaso, a lecturer from the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts and a staff welcomed Dr. John Garzoli, Ethnomusicologist-Musician from Monash University, Australia on his first visit to KKU under International Visiting Scholar funded by KKU in 2017. The purpose of his visit is to explore possible collaborations between the Monash University and Khon Kaen University in the field of Ethnomusicology which is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it and Dr. John’s research focus as an exchange scholar here is on Thai Music. The Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music at Monash University is Australia's leading international School of Music. 11

Produced by International Relations Division, Khon Kaen University © Copyright 2017 Editors: Ms. Netdao Chamroendararasmee, Acting Director for International Relations Division Mr. Isara Suriyagul Na Ayudhaya, International Relations Officer Ms. Wadinlada Thuratham, International Relations Officer Advisors: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nawarat Wara-aswapati Charoen, Vice President for International Affairs Asst. Prof. Dr. Teekayu Plangkoon Jorns, Assistant to the President for International Relations Asst. Prof. Dr. Acharawan Topark-Ngam, Assistant to the President for International Collaboration International Relations Division Khon Kaen University 4th Floor, Bimala Kalakicha Building, 123 Mittraparb Road, Muang District, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand Tel: (+66) -43-202059 Fax: (+66)-43-202498 E-mail: [email protected] Website: https://ird.kku.ac.th/

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