SUT reaches out to reconnect with Canadian partners after the pandemic.

After three years of quite inactive international collaborations abroad due to the pandemic, SUT is now more than ready to reconnect and reignite the relationships with our global colleagues and partners. Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education (CWIE) has been one of the flagship education agendas at SUT both inside the country and internationally. The year 2023 will see more SUT actions on CWIE on the international front.

From June 22nd to 30th, 2023, an SUT delegation led by the Rector, Associate Professor Dr Anan Tongraar, joined a week-long trip organised by the Thai Association for Cooperative Education (TACE) with representatives from 6 other institutions to initiate, foster, and strengthen ties with three universities in Canada. Invited by Professor Dr Wichit Srisa-an, TACE President and Chairman of SUT Council, Dr Anan’s first stop in Canada is on the west coast at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia on Friday 23rd. At SFU, conversations leading towards future collaborations include a variety of topics including CWIE innovations, enterprise cooperative education, entrepreneurial education, as well as opportunities for international CWIE student exchanges between SFU and SUT. In addition, since SFU is a leading institution in Canada that implements Carnegie Foundation’s Classification for Community Engagement, SUT discussed SFU’s experience and explored the potential of adopting or adapting such classification for its missions as well. Those 5 hours spent together effectively paved the way for future collaborations that SUT and the Thai universities joining the trip will undertake with SFU.

On Monday 27th, SUT led the other universities to meet with colleagues at University of Victoria (UVic) on Vancouver Island. Following SUT-UVic MOU on CWIE student exchange signed in 2018, this 2023 visit emphasised the continuation and acceleration of exchanges after the pandemic among other topics of mutual interest such as enterprise CWIE and student entrepreneurship incubation. Dr Anan and Assistant Professor Dr Atit Koonsrisuk, Director of SUT’s Centre for Cooperative Education and Career Development were delighted that after SUT introduced the other Thai universities to UVic, friendship was forged and collaborations planned between these Thai and Canadian colleagues, which increases visibility of Thai universities on the international stage.

Coincided with this trip was the British Columbia International Education Week (BCIEW2023) held in Victoria. With the support from the Trade Commission at the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok, the Thai delegation was invited to host a session on ‘Showcasing Thai Universities for Future Collaborations’ in which they presented the profile of their universities in front of those interested at BCIEW. In front of a large audience, SUT assigned Associate Professor Dr Issra Pramoolsook, Assistant to the Rector, to present SUT profile which was well received by the audience. At the end of this season, the Thai delegation received such an honour from Mr Jean-Phillipe Tachdjian, Executive Director, International Education at Global Affairs Canada, to welcome the group to Canada and provide an update on opportunities for Canada-Thailand cooperation for education such as the Canada-ASEAN Scholarships and Educational Exchanges (SEED Scholarships and the UMAP programme.

The business in British Columbia, Canada ended with SUT being regarded as a strong partner for SFU and UVic and also as a supporter of the other Thai universities to connect with potential colleagues in Canada. What we can expect is that after the pandemic, SUT’s  international outlook will be reinforced, enhanced, and fantastic!

News on SUT’s mission on Canada’s east coast will follow.

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Provided by Associate Professor Dr Issra Pramoolsook