The university's innovative approach to mathematics education, which elevated low aptitude in Isan's primary schools to satisfactory levels within four years, is being adopted as a national model for basic education in Thailand. KKU's analytic method, which will also be replicated within GMS, has drawn interest from institutions in Japan and the United States.

Home to Thailand's first science park, KKU is likewise pioneering agriculture and food technologies. It is developing new varieties of functional and organic food as part of continuing collaborations with industry partners such as Thailand's CP, Mitr Phol and Betagro groups. It was KKU's groundbreaking work that helped transform Isan's inhospitable terrain into productive fields for crop farming. Northeast Thailand nowadays is a major source of the nation's main crops such as rice, sugar cane, cassava and rubber.

"We try to increase the value-add for our farmers," Kittichai says. "We develop functional food varieties from healthy components found in vegetables and other produce."

With its science park due to host academia-industry collaboration for upcoming private industrial estates in Khon Kaen, KKU will intensify international partnerships, particularly within Asean by 2015. To foster such interaction across its 25 faculties, the university offers special scholarships and exchange programmes to top-quality researchers, professors and international students.

"Working with us is a good opportunity to make an impact on real-world health issues through multidisciplinary research," Kittichai says.