Ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand to Kenya, H.E. Ms. Morakot Jenmathukorn has pitched for stronger exchanges between Kenyan universities and their counterparts in Thailand. The diplomat was speaking Monday September 16, 2024 at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology where she paid a courtesy call to the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Victoria Wambui Ngumi.
Ambassador Morakot who was accompanied by a delegation from Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA) and a number of universities, said that Kenya and Thailand stand to gain from mutual exchanges including on development philosophies. She noted that universities from both sides can play key role in people to people ties, technology diffusion, cultural harmony and common prosperity.
The diplomat said that JKUAT was a strong centre of excellence that would make a good partner for many universities from Thailand eager to collaborate with African counterparts in areas of mutual interest.
Some of the areas suggested by Ambassador Morakot and her delegation include: agriculture, medicine (including indigenous medicine), technology, food security, and climate action.
She disclosed that Thailand’s rapid socioeconomic transformation was anchored on Sufficiency Economy Philosophy which among others moderation, reasonableness, and self-immunity; backed by appropriate knowledge and ethics & virtues.
While receiving the official at JKUAT, Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Robert Kinyua said that JKUAT had emerged as a strong research oriented university with a key desire for internationalization.
Prof. Kinyua added that the university currently runs research and teaching programmes in diverse areas such as agriculture,
engineering, technology, built environment, applied sciences, health and social sciences – making it an ideal space for multidisciplinary collaborations with foreign counterparts.
JKUAT, he added, had already consolidated strong partnership frameworks with a number of universities in Asia, Africa, Europe and Americas; making it easy for JKUAT to engage with Thailand counterparts.
Mr. Fredrick Ndambuki, Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of Education, said that the government of Kenya places much emphasis on scientific and technological research as a key path to the realization of its development aspirations.
He challenged JKUAT to proactively engage with universities in Thailand with the objective of mutual learning while also calling on the government of Thailand to extend additional scholarship opportunities to Kenyan students.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research Production and Extension, Prof. Jackson Kwanza; Director Grants Office, Prof Naomi Maina and Ms. Margaret Oyugi from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, among others.
