RATIONALE

International collaboration is increasingly becoming a means of sharing and building a common agenda among higher education institutions, making higher education one of the most internationalised sectors in the world. Various international strategies have been employed and goals achieved at different levels. For example, transnational education partnerships open up opportunities for local students to get into higher education, improve the overall quality of higher education programmes, and foster international understanding at the national level. At student and institutional level, transnational education is perceived to offer an affordable alternative to studying abroad for the whole programme, enhancing international outlooks and English language skills as well as increasing the capacity to do research together. 

The British Council together with the Office of the Higher Education Commission has been supporting the development of higher education partnerships between Thai and UK higher education institutions, particularly transnational education in recent years. This forum shares a wealth of experience, accumulated first-hand by Thai institutions, looking at the obstacles, lessons learnt and the future of higher education partnerships. 

 “Mutual Benefit is a key success of International Higher Education collaboration. We need to have a long term commitment and trust among partners. International education is not a zero-sum game. It must be a win-win game.”

Assoc. Prof. Nitinant Wisaweisuan, Dean, Pridi Banomyong International College, Thammasat University

OBJECTIVES

  • To offer knowledge and experience sharing as well as networking opportunities between Thai and UK universities to further strengthen the delivery of transnational education  
  • To discuss the challenges faced in the development and delivery of transnational education and other higher education partnership programmes as well as the way forward
  • To create an enabling environment for UK and Thailand to thrive in higher education partnerships  

 “Today, it is important for Thai education to transform itself from learn-to-know or learn-to-remember to learn-to-be or to learn-to-get own character. A lack of experience on this transition could be tackled by partnering together."

Assoc. Prof. Bundit Thipakorn, Vice President for Education Development, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi

 

OUR SPEAKERS

Assoc. Prof. Bundit Thipakorn

Keynote session: Key challenges for Thailand and how international higher education partnerships could help tackle them

Position: Vice President for Education Development, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi

Received a Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Missouri - Columbia, USA. He is an associate professor in Signal and Image processing at the department of Computer Engineering, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT). His research passion in engineering education has been transformed into several initiatives, in educational development, driving continuous, collaborative and transformative effort in KMUTT and Thailand higher education. His current focus is on student learning improvement towards the 21st century skill and competency development. 

Mr. Kevin Van Cauter

Keynote session: TNE Common framework—data analysis to inform policy and regulation development and enrolment planning 

Position: Senior Advisor (Higher Education Partnerships), British Council

Kevin is Principal Consultant Higher Education at the British Council, where he leads the British Council’s work in the areas of Transnational Education (TNE) and partnerships around the world.

For over a decade Kevin has been regularly asked to author articles on UK TNE and student mobility and has presented at conferences on the subject all over the world.  His recent research includes the Impact of Transnational Education on Host countries (2014), Transnational Education Data collection systems: Awareness, Analysis and Action (2015) and TNE: A classification framework and data collection guidelines (2017) and The Challenges and Approaches to Internationalisation in the CLMV Countries (2018, forthcoming)

 

Prof. Steven W Edwards

Presentation: Strengthening and sustaining partnerships—a collaboration that sprung from a research partnership into a joint degree  

Position: Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, University of Liverpool 

Steve Edwards obtained his BSc and PhD at the University of Wales, Cardiff and spent periods of research in Brussels, Philadelphia, Cardiff and UMIST before moving to Liverpool. He was formerly the Head of the School of Biological Sciences, Head of School of Life Sciences and Head of the Institute of Learning and Teaching, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences. He has developed a number of international research and training partnerships (e.g. with Chulalongkorn University, Chiang Mai University and Khon Kaen University in Thailand: Bicol University, Central Luzon State University and University of the Philippines Los Banos, in the Philippines). These partnerships include joint and dual award masters and PhD programmes. 

Assoc. Prof. Nitinant Wisaweisuan

Prestation: Key success factors in international higher education collaboration—a case study of TNE programme on Thai studies

Position: Dean, Pridi Banomyong International College, Thammasat University

Dean at Pridi Banomyong International College, Thammasat University and former Assistant to the Rector for International Public Relations at Thammasat University. She has been involved in British Council TNE project since 2015 in Thailand working with SOAS on Thai Studies Programme. She has extensive experience with overseas institutions. Dr. Nitinant conducted a research on European Enlargement, Trade Integration, Non-Tariff Measures: A Case Study of US versus EU regions, Market Access for SMEs (ASEAN-Europe FTA), New Economic Order and Implications on Thailand, ASEAN Experiences to Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation, Spatial Disparities, Income Inequality and Economic Development. She received a Ph.D. in Land Economy from University of Cambridge.

Dr. Sarawut Jansuwan

Panel discussion: Tackling common issues in TNE development

Position: Director, Logistics Management Graduate School of Applied Statistics, National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA)

Dr. Sarawut Jansuwan has been the Logistics Management Programme Director since 2015 and is currently Associate Dean for Administrative Affairs at the Graduate School of Applied Statistics (GSAS), NIDA. He received his PhD degree in Transportation Engineering from Utah State University, USA, specialising in freight transportation system. Dr. Jansuwan has recently become a member of the National Legislature Sub-committee on long-term strategic logistics and transportation planning. He has also served as a consultant for several government agencies on logistics and transportation. His research expertise includes transportation and supply chain management, network analysis and logistics simulation.

Mr. Jonathan Pike

Panel discussion: Tackling common issues in TNE development

Position: Director of Internationalisation, Westminster Business School, University of Westminster

Presentations: Higher education partnerships - looking into the future of why the institutions chose to develop a TNE degree programme, and their future aspirations

 

Jon is a Principal Lecturer at Westminster Business School, University of Westminster.  He has been Course Director of the MA Marketing Communications programme, Director of Post Graduate Studies and, most recently, Director of Internationalization. Throughout these roles, he has been heavily involved in developing TNE opportunities in SE and South Asia and is familiar with the inherent challenges involved in such activities.

Assoc. Prof. Thira Jearsiripongkul

Panel discussion: Tackling common issues in TNE development

Position: Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Thammasat University

Dean at the Faculty of Engineering, Thammasat University with extensive teaching experience as a lecturer in the field of engineering. Dr. -Ing. Thira received a Ph.D. in Applied Mechanics (Dynamics) from Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany. His doctoral thesis topic is “Squeal in floating caliper disk brake: a mathematical model”. He also involved with the development of several research and publications as a reviewer, instructor, international program committee and technical consultant.

Ms. Diana Chee

Presentations: Higher education partnerships - looking into the future of branch campus, the case of the University of Nottingham Malaysia

Position: Chief Marketing Officer, University of Nottingham Malaysia

With 16 years of experience leading a diverse, dynamic team and managing multi-million budgets to deliver recruitment and collaborative strategies in University, Diana began her career in 2002 focused on partnership, business development and international marketing. She later joined the University of Nottingham Malaysia in 2006 as the Head of International Marketing, heading the team, which handled student recruitment from more than 80 countries. She was later promoted as the Head of Corporate Marketing, managing the public relations, communications, branding, traditional and digital marketing before being appointed as the Chief Marketing Officer in April 2018.

Dr. Kanin Salao

Presentations: Higher education partnerships - looking into the future of why the institutions chose to develop a TNE degree programme, and their future aspirations

 Position: Lecturer, Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University

Kanin has been a secretary of Medical Microbiology program since 2016 at Faculty of Medicine in Khon Kaen University. His research has focused on cellular immunology for better understanding the roles of innate immune cells in the pathogenesis of opisthorchiasis and development of cholangiocarcinoma, using flow cytometer. 

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