Asian Institute of Technology

History and mission

Founded in 1959 as SEATO Graduate School of Engineering with a mission to develop highly qualified and committed professionals to foster sustainable development of the region and its integration into the global economy, it receives funding from organizations and governments around the world (initially from SEATO members).

In 1972, it was described as "an excellent example of not only the initiative and organization of a technical university, but also of the success of a foreign aid program". In 2006, AIT claimed that it "has become a leading regional post-graduate institute and is actively working with public and private sector partners throughout the region and with some of the top universities in the world". It sees itself as being "recognized for its multinational, multi-cultural ethos." AIT celebrated its golden jubilee in 2009.

On 21 October 2011, AIT's campus was inundated by two-meter-high floodwaters. Since then, it has resumed operations at its campus.

Governance

Due to its international standing and global support, AIT has been administered by a high-ranking board of governors since its beginning. Traditionally a high-ranking Thai citizen has been the chairman of its board of trustees. At present the chairman of the AIT Board of Trustees is former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, H.E. Dr. Subin Pinkayan.

Ambassadors of 13 countries — Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, France, India, Indonesia, Korea, Lao PDR, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sweden, and Vietnam — are members of the AIT Board of Trustees. Ambassadors of two countries, Japan and Norway, along with Ambassador of EU have observer status in the AIT Board.

Ranking

AIT programs have been ranked globally and regionally. Three of its programs were listed in the global top 100 by Eduniversal Best Masters Ranking, while five of its programs were among the top in Southeast Asia. These eight programs have been ranked as best in Thailand.

With only 30 percent local students from Thailand and 70 percent of its students coming from abroad, AIT has consistently ranked as the top institute in internationality. AIT tied for the title of the world’s top international university in the U-Multirank 2015 Institutional Ranking. It was the only university in Asia among the top 41 universities in the world to receive full scores under "international orientation" earning straight "A" grades for student mobility, international academic staff, international joint publications, and international doctorate degrees.

Asian Institute of Technology received a "four star" rating from QS with strong performance in several areas. AIT achieved an outstanding performance by reaching a "five star" rating in teaching, internationalization, and facilities. The employability and research categories earned four star ratings.

Location

AIT operates as a self-contained international community at its campus in Pathumthani Province, some 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Bangkok, Thailand. Besides laboratories and academic buildings, the main campus includes housing, sports, and medical facilities, a conference center, and a library with over 230,000 volumes and 830 print and online periodicals.

AIT was hosted by the Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, before it moved to its present campus in November 1973.

AIT has a remote campus called AIT Center in Vietnam (AITCV). It was established in 1993 under the memorandum of understanding between the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training and the AIT. At that time AITCV was the first international institution in Vietnam and the first AIT campus outside Thailand.

Student body

AIT's student body comes from 58 countries with Thailand contributing about one-third. It has always been international, with international donors offering scholarships to AIT students for capacity building

Scholarships

AIT has received scholarships from donors and countries. Current scholarships include the HM King's Scholarships and HM Queen's Scholarships, Loom Nam Khong Pijai, GMSARN Scholarships, New AIT Fellowship Scheme, RTG Fellowship, Japanese Government Scholarships for August 2014 Intake, DAAD / German Academic Exchange Service Scholarships for nationals of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam, BJC Regional Scholarships at AIT (for MBA, for Vietnamese and Myanmar students), ADB-JSP Selection Guidelines, Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program, DIKTI scholarships for Indonesian Lecturers, KAAD - AIT Scholarship Program, Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program (IFP) through the Asian Scholarship Foundation in Thailand, e8 Scholarship Programme, Consortium of Development Studies in Southeast Asia (CDSSEA) Scholarship for Gender and Development Studies, Pruksa Scholarships at AIT for Thai National in January 2015 Intake, and the Thai Pipe Scholarship at AIT for Cambodian Nationals.

Approval of new charter

In August 2010, a new "Charter of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)" was adopted and signed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand. Signatories to the new charter included Seychelles, Cambodia, Japan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Sweden, Timor-Leste, Bangladesh, Philippines, India, and UNIFEM. The new charter came into force on 30 January 2012 as Sweden, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal deposited their instruments of ratification with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand.

Difficulties and return to old charter

In 2012, Thailand declined to ratify the new charter, with the effect that the operations of AIT under the new intergovernmental charter resulted in the issuance of potentially invalid degrees. In December 2012, AIT opted to return to its previous national charter and ceased operating as an intergovernmental university. The degrees issued by AIT under the new charter were reissued under the old charter to avoid the risk of being unrecognized under Thai law. However, it seems that the "Charter of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)" remains legally in force without Thailand's participation and is in dormant status.

Structure

AIT consists of three schools at its mother campus:

Besides the above schools, AIT has a wing called AIT Solutions, and AIT Extension which provides professional education, short-course training, and consultancy services. As mentioned above, under 'Location', AIT has a campus in Vietnam that offers academic programs and short-term training.

Host to international organizations

The campus of Asian Institute of Technology is host to several international and non-governmental organizations including the Asia-Pacific headquarters of Télécoms Sans Frontières (www.tsfi.org), the UNEP Environment Assessment for Regional Resource Center in Asia and the Pacific (UNEP RRC.AP) (www.rrcap.unep.org), and the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia (RIMES) (www.rimes.int).

It also hosts the global secretariat of the International Partnership for Expanding Waste Management Services of Local Authorities (IPLA), while the regional secretariat is hosted by UN HABITAT. Four UN agencies, three international donors and five national governments are part of IPLA.

AIT has tied up with Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to create a Yunus Center at AIT with an objective "to contribute to poverty alleviation by enabling rural people to handle and be in control of improving their own livelihoods". The center was launched on 8 September 2009.

Academic programs

Asian Institute of Technology offers master's and doctoral degrees and diploma and certificate courses.

AIT offers a Unified International Bachelor-Master Degree Program.

Erasmus Mundus programs

AIT is associated with several Erasmus Mundus academic cooperation programmes offered by the European Union. They include EM EMMA EM MAHEVA, EM EuroAsia, Bridging the Gap, European Master Advanced Robotics Program (EMARO) Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate ETeCoS3, Environmental Technologies for Contaminated Solids, Soils and Sediments, and Erasmus Mundus Master's programme in Industrial Ecology.

School of Engineering and Technology (SET)

The School of Engineering and Technology offers master's degrees [MEng, MSc], professional master's degree programs, doctoral degrees [DEng, DTechSc, PhD], and certificates of advanced studies. It is divided into three departments:

Department of Civil and Infrastructure Engineering

Construction, Engineering and Infrastructure Management (CEIM), Geotechnical and Earth Resources Engineering (GTE). Geosystem Exploration and Petroleum GeoEngineering (GEPG), Structural Engineering (STE), Transportation Engineering (TRE), Water Engineering and Management (WEM).

Department of Industrial Systems Engineering

Mechatronics (MEC), Microelectronics (MIC), Nanotechnology, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME)

Department of Information and Communications Technologies

Computer Science (CS), Information Management (IM), Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (RS-GIS), Software Engineering (SE), Telecommunications (TC).

Interdisciplinary programs

Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation and Management (DPMM), Offshore Technology and Management (OTM)

School of Management

The School of Management (SOM) was established in 1987. It has graduated more than 3,000 MBA students. Its alumni network is found in over 40 countries, and faculty members come from 30 countries. The school has developed an extensive network of strategic partnerships around the world with leading European and Asian business schools.

SOM offers the following courses: Master of Business Administration (MBA), Executive MBA (EMBA), International Executive MBA (IEMBA) - Vietnam (offered at Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Vung Tau), PhD, Doctor of Business Administration (DBA).

Ramon Magsaysay Award

In 1989, AIT received a Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding "for shaping a new generation of engineers and managers committed to Asia, in an atmosphere of academic excellence and regional camaraderie."

In 2009, an alumnus of AIT, Yu Xiaogang was also awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award. The citation credited AIT and it said,

"Yu fell in love with nature early on, having been raised in Yunnan, a province of amazing beauty and home to three of the largest rivers in the world: Nu, Yangtze, and Mekong. His interest in the environment was cultivated during a stint in the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, and was further deepened when he attended the Asian Institute of Technology, where he earned a master's degree in watershed management."

Friendship Order of Vietnam

The Government of Vietnam awarded the Friendship Order to AIT in 2006. It is the highest award given in the area of international relations and is presented to foreign institutions and persons that have contributed to human resource training for Vietnam, and to the development of friendly relations between Vietnam and other countries.

Demographic and project facts and figures

Sports

The AIT field was host to World Women's T20 Tournament held in 2015 where eight countries played 10 matches. It is one of the three cricket fields in Thailand where Thailand's Premier League matches are played. The AIT Cricket Team has won the Bangkok Cricket League 'A' Division two times during the past three years.

It has a nine-hole golf course and a swimming pool. The campus offers facilities for badminton, takraw, table tennis, tennis, basketball, and volleyball.

Memberships

1. Greater Mekong Sub-region Academic and Research Network (GMSARN)
2. LAOTSE — an international network of leading universities in Europe and Asia.
3. Erasmus Mundus Erasmus Mundus programmes
4. Association of Southeast Institutions of Higher Learning (ASAIHL)

.th domain

AIT administered .th, the country code top-level domain for Thailand until 2007 when the administration was transferred to the Thai Network Information Center Foundation.