President of Thammasat University and delegation visit Science Tokyo
On December 4, 2024, Prof. Supasawad Chardchawarn, acting rector of Thammasat University in Thailand, Prof. Pruettha Nanakorn, director of Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology (SIIT), and six other professors visited Institute of Science Tokyo and met with President and Chief Executive Officer Naoto Ohtake, as well as other executives of Science Tokyo.
Science Tokyo and Thammasat University have been cooperating and exchanging ideas for more than 30 years. This partnership began in the early 1990s, when Science Tokyo (formerly Tokyo Institute of Technology) faculty members served as experts in JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency)'s “Project to Enhance the Capacity of the Faculty of Engineering at Thammasat University in the Kingdom of Thailand.” This cooperation with JICA has been mainly in the field of chemical engineering, but exchanges have also taken place in the fields of civil engineering and international development engineering. In 1996, a university-wide international exchange agreement was concluded between both institutions.
The Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology (SIIT) at Thammasat University was established in 1992 under an agreement between Nippon Keidanren (Japan Business Federation), Thammasat University, and the Federation of Thai Industries. Its goal was to establish a bachelor's degree program in engineering, separate from the aforementioned engineering school. Since its inception in 2007, SIIT has been a key participant in the TAIST - Science Tokyo program, an international collaboration between Science Tokyo, the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) of Thailand, and leading universities. SIIT has contributed significantly to the development of engineering talent through this program.
While many such exchanges have taken place at the former Tokyo Institute of Technology, collaborations between the former Tokyo Medical and Dental University and the Kingdom of Thailand in the field of dentistry were also introduced, and discussions were held on strengthening international exchanges between Science Tokyo and Thammasat University in the future. The visit was an opportunity for both sides to reaffirm their past exchanges and to confirm their intention to promote further student exchanges through various scholarships and other study abroad initiatives.
The group then visited Professor Jeffrey Scott Cross’s laboratory in the Department of Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering, School of Environment and Society, and met with current students from Thammasat, SIIT, and the TAIST - Science Tokyo program at the Ishikawadai area of the Ookayama campus.
The Kingdom of Thailand and Science Tokyo have maintained active exchanges not only in education, but also in research and industry-academia collaboration, with further development of these exchanges expected in the future.
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- This article was updated on May 19, 2025.
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