KMUTT supports industries through work-integrated education

From day one, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) has been changing the landscape of Thailand's higher education with its culture of innovation. As the country's leading science and technology university, KMUTT adopts Massachusetts Institute of Technology's work-integrated learning concept into the local industrial setting. Engineering students spend one semester of their four-semester master's degree course working with engineers from companies such as PTT and SCG to gain practical experience.

"We coined 'practice school' in Thailand," says KMUTT president Dr Sakarindr Bhumiratana. "We combine science and engineering and our learning process with the industry's requirements to produce the best graduates."

The country's first autonomous university, KMUTT introduced graduate schools for specific areas such as energy and materials, bioresource and technology, energy and environment, computational research and robotics. In the same pioneering spirit, the university is expanding its offerings. It is working with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel on Thailand's first dual-degree graduate school in energy and environment. KMUTT is also following Olin College of Engineering in Boston in developing a curriculum for Thailand's first liberal arts campus.

As one of the country's nine national research universities, KMUTT leverages industrial and government partnerships to help the Thai society and economy. In collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Science and Technology and biotech centres, KMUTT has established the National Biopharmaceutical Facility to ensure the country's supply of drugs and other biopharmaceutical products.

KMUTT is expanding its foreign student population to 10 per cent through its membership in the Southeast Asian Technical University Consortium and long-standing partnerships with Japanese and Taiwanese schools.

"We would like to bring students from other Asian countries to work with their Thai counterparts to produce knowledge and talent for the region," Sakarindr says. "We want to promote practical excellence in things that matter."