Goodbye Message from AIT President ​Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai

Sent on August 31, 2018

Dear Members of AIT Community

Today is my last day in office as President of Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). Thus, this will be my last message to you as President.

Yesterday, in the meeting of the Board of Trustees followed by the hand-over ceremony, I took the liberty to make a wide-ranging presentation covering the 'big picture' of history, present and future challenges of AIT. I am pleased to share a copy with you for your information.

As you know, I have served AIT as President for exactly 5 years and 2 months, initially as Interim President for 1 year, and later as President. A period of 5 years and 2 months is considered to be short when you are having a good time. However it could be terribly long during a tough stressful period. My presidency includes the mix of both. I was recruited basically to save a wrecked ship called AIT in 2013. I believe it was the most challenging period of AIT, with a life-or-death situation. Even under such situation, I have been blessed with the tremendous supports from the great majority of the AIT faculty and staff, who stayed with me to save the ship. Thus I would like to record my sincere appreciation to them all.

During the first 4 years, I have spent most of my efforts in resolving our financial issues, normalizing our relationship with the host country as well as reviving AIT's public image, positioning our academic standing on the world map, and renovating our campus environment and facilities. As William Gibson a famous novelist said: "When you want to know how things really work, study them when they're coming apart." By now, I believe I know very well how things work and do not work at AIT. With this knowledge, I decided to spend my last year trying to comprehend the future challenges of AIT, and how to ensure that AIT has a role to play in the future world of VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity). I have communicated to you earlier that AIT must advance its mission from regional to global roles. As we all recognize, AIT is not a conventional university. Thus, we must not actively join the red-hot competition game of university world rankings. In other words, we should not go all the way trying to compete with other national universities who have unlimited resources from their governments. We must play to our strength, i.e., the proud 'international dimension' of AIT. We must take pride on these 2 key products, producing our graduates to be global citizens, and focusing on research for the sustainable future of mankind.

While I have gratefully received supports from all Trustees, I want to make special reference to my deep gratitude to the Chairpersons of the Board, the Executive Committee and the Audit Committee. In my administration, I have been very fortunate to enjoy working with dedicated members of the Management Team, including VPs, Deans, Directors of Responsibility Center and Service Centers. They not only implement our joint management resolutions, but also constantly provide me their honest opinions and independent views. In particular, I want to record my appreciation to the Vice President for Academic Affairs, Prof Sivanappan Kumar, who has been on my side for the entire period full of tough challenges. I am blessed to have a very dedicated and most reliable 'Director of President Office' and 'President Executive Secretary' in Ms. Chotiros Mongkolchotirat (Nam), who has made my daily life as President much easier than I could imagine. Finally, as they said, behind every successful man stands a woman in the background. I must thank my wife, Ms. Nongnat (Nora) for her great patience and understanding, and hopefully I will have plenty of time for her after my retirement.

I will miss the satisfaction of seeing how we can make a difference for AIT. However, I will be much satisfied if you could continue the good work and support President Eden Woon in his vision to take AIT to a new height. Thank you all for making the last 5 years and 2 months of my career a real pleasure. Just yesterday, I am thankful to the Board for appointing me "Emeritus Professor", so I can be associated with AIT in my new capacity, even though I may not come to AIT regularly. You can continue to reach me at the same mobile phone and my email, worsak@ait.ac.th.

With appreciation to all,

 

Professor Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai

AIT President