Glasgow and KMITL renew longstanding collaboration
The first students from Thailand arrived at the University in 1910 to study Engineering and Naval Architecture, since then we have welcomed many Thai students to study at the University of Glasgow. Here, we explore our thriving relationship with King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology in Ladkrabang (KMITL), Thailand.
In 2010, Glasgow’s College of Science and Engineering signed an agreement with King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology (KMITL), Ladkrabang to further strengthen our ties with Thailand.
Our partnership has enabled students from KMITL's International College to transfer to the University of Glasgow to complete their degrees. The International College's high-quality engineering programmes are taught in English, which makes the transition to studying in Glasgow an excellent option for their students.
The collaboration has allowed KMITL students to finish their degrees at Glasgow's James Watt School of Engineering or the School of Computing Science, in BEng Biomedical Engineering or BSc Software Engineering.
Renewing our agreement
We were excited to welcome visitors from KMITL to Glasgow in January 2023 to renew our Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU was the starting point for continuing to develop our partnership.
During 2023, we have developed the scope of the collaboration, with a plan to renew our Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) for the articulation arrangements in Software Engineering and Biomedical Engineering.
In the renewed MoA there will also be a dedicated scholarship for KMITL students in the above areas to undertake masters programmes in Glasgow. This will allow students who were unable to transfer to Glasgow at undergraduate level, an opportunity to study at the University.
Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli is KMITL’s Person of the Year 2023
In August 2023, Dr Cindy Goh attended the KMITL graduation ceremony and accepted on behalf of the Principal, Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, the award of KMITL’s Person of the Year 2023.
Dr Goh said: "The KMITL Engineering School Awards 2023 is a key event in the institution’s calendar. It was an absolute privilege for me to be accepting, on behalf of the Principal, the Person of the Year 2023 award for all his support of the partnership between our two institutions over the years.
“It was very inspiring to see the innovation in student projects that were on display and very heartening to hear about the great interest that our joint BSc programmes in Software Engineering and Biomedical Engineering have received."
Visiting KMITL
In October 2023, a delegation of three staff from the College of Science and Engineering and the University’s Regional Manager for South-East Asia visited KMITL to deliver expert lectures on both robotics and natural language processing.
During the visit staff met with researchers, visited labs and met with students. Discussions were held about how to develop the existing programmes and opportunities for other areas of collaboration to be developed. Throughout the two-day visit, there were many interesting areas of potential collaboration considered, including shared research opportunities and ways that KMITL might expand its postgraduate cohort.
Improvements to Glasgow's webpages for international partners and the programme pages featuring the articulation opportunities were very much welcomed by KMITL as a sign of our ongoing commitment to this important relationship.
Looking to the future
The development of relationships with our key partners, like KMITL, is one of the priorities of Glasgow's College of Science and Engineering. The College Dean of Internationalisation, Professor Cristina Persano, has this to say about this important partnership: "The College of Science and Engineering sees the ongoing partnership with KMITL as hugely valuable to its international profile in Thailand and is looking forward to working together to deepen the relationship with the renewed agreement and the opportunities it develops."