On June 9, a delegation from the Embassy of the Kingdom of Thailand headed by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Sasivat Wongsinsawat visited Novosibirsk State University. Foreign guests had a tour of the University before meeting NSU Rector Mikhail Fedoruk. During the meeting, characteristics of the educational systems in Russia and Thailand were discussed as an important prerequisite to planning joint educational and scientific projects.
For example, the Ambassador noted that in the current 20 year Thailand national strategy for the development of science, technology, and innovation the focus is shifting towards the development of artificial intelligence, new materials, quantum technologies, and space technologies. In response, Fedoruk, stressed that this coincides with the strategic priorities of Novosibirsk State University as a research university.
Ambassador Wongsinsawat talked about interest in partnership,
I am convinced that the people of Thailand will be interested in all your University departments. In particular, we are interested in developing cooperation in the field of nonlinear photonics and quantum technologies, as well as geological and geographical research in the Arctic. In our country there is a scientific institute that is engaged in similar research together with the Russian Geographical Society in St. Petersburg. I am sure that the more experts participating in joint, large-scale projects, the better.
In addition, they are interested in scientific and educational collaboration in the fields of physics, mathematical physics, elementary and particle physics, and projects related to synchrotron radiation. In Thailand, there is a Synchrotron Light Research Institute (SLRI) that is working in this sphere and collaborates with CERN.
Fedoruk noted,
In Novosibirsk, 15 km from the University, construction of the Siberian Circular Photon Source (SKIF) is underway, this includes the University station project for teaching students. Right now, we are training synchrotron-neutron specialists in several Master's Programs so that they can work at the frontier of science in the fields of physics, biology, archeology, geology and others.
The Ambassador was also interested in the Specialized Educational and Scientific Center NSU. This school attracts talented high school students who want to spend their last two school years immersed in studying science. According to the Ambassador, Thailand has an ecosystem similar to Akademgorodok, the Eastern Economic Corridor (EECI), with a pre-university program. The only difference is that graduates of this Thai boarding school enter undergraduate programs in other countries and return to their homeland to continue their studies at university Master's and Postgraduate programs.
Fedoruk summed up the meeting,
We are ready to cooperate at any educational level: undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate studies. If the secondary education in your pre-university prepares young people who are serious about their studies, it would be nice to think about a school exchange. To date, only one person from Thailand has studied at NSU, a graduate of the Information Technology Department. However, a lot of our graduates are engaged in science and teach at universities in your country. We invite you to form a new partnership.
It is worth noting that in February of this year, NSU signed a cooperation agreement with Heilongjiang University and in June with Nanchang University.