SHILLONG:
The North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) on Thursday received a Thai delegation led by Her Excellency, Pattarat Hongtong, Ambassador of Thailand to India.
NEHU has developed several internal collaborations, exchanges and memorandums of understandings (MoU).
The Thai delegation’s visit is part of an ongoing understanding with Thailand and the University of Chulalongkorn.
The team engaged with academicians of NEHU in a wide-ranging discussion on subjects ranging from students and youth exchange to new Thai-India relations.
Prof. Prabha Shankar Shukla, the Vice-Chancellor of NEHU led the team of deans, office of international affairs and other dignitaries in a mutually beneficial and actionable exchange of ideas. Topics and areas broached included agriculture, plant-based sciences, traditional knowledge system and traditional medicine of the North East, cultural and civilisational
linkages between North East and Thailand.
Hongtong responded positively to these proposals of joint research, academic programmes, pilgrimages and mutually beneficial learning exercises by mooting the idea that the existing Indo-Thai collaborations can be given a greater depth.
She pointed out that the ASEAN secretariat under India’s Ministry of External Affairs can facilitate a deeper and expansive collaboration to stay focused on areas of mutual benefits and interests. She exhorted NEHU to facilitate larger participation of Thai students in various academic programmes and promised to reciprocate by allowing for larger participation of NEHU students in terms of exchange, fellowships and other such openings in Thailand.
She further emphasised on NEHU’s academic strength and expressed her willingness to facilitate collaborations between universities of Northern Thailand and NEHU.
In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor pointed out the need for further exchange of ideas in areas like bioinformatics, data sciences, medicine, nanosciences, innovative science and technology projects, culture, language and the arts.
Hongtong responded positively by underlining the fact that the Thai government has a department of traditional medicine and aromatic plants and many universities work in these areas. Pointing at the possibility of fresh collaborations in these areas, she cited the active role of her office in bridging Thailand and the North East as she fondly recognised Tai-Ahom and other such communities that share cultural roots in that country.
The newly established International Office of NEHU has been tasked with striking up the existing collaboration between NEHU and Chulalongkorn University, which could further be extended to universities of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. The NEHU proposed to send a demarche of all the salient points made by her and the Vice-Chancellor.