Today, on the 27th of August, the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand in Russia, Mr. Itti Ditbanchong, visited Kazan Federal University.

The President of KFU, Mr. Myakzyum Salakhov, Professor of the Department of General Physics of the Institute of Physics, Mr. Alexander Fishman, and the Director of External Relations Office, Mr. Andrey Krylov, met with the Ambassador in the rector’s meeting room.

After a presentation of Kazan University structure and main growth points made by Mr. Myakzyum Salakhov the parties exchanged their views on prospects of cooperation between universities of the Kingdom of Thailand and KFU.

“We have repeatedly visited various cities of Thailand,” said Mr. Alexander Fishman. “We have given lectures and master-classes in universities and colleges. We are developing a multimedia book of problems in Physic in the Russian, English and Thai languages in the framework of agreements concluded between us”. The Professor also noted that the Vice-President of the International Council of the Scientific and Educational Association of Thailand, Doctor Janjai Jingprayun, have annually visited Tatarstan since 2009 on invitation of Kazan-city gymnasium No. 19, administration of Nizhnekamskiy district, Naberezhnye Chelny and the capital of the Republic of Mari El, Yoshkar-Ola. Dr. Jingprayun has been delivering public lectures for pupils of the 8th – 11th grades and teachers of physics. Main objective of his lectures is to increase schoolchildren’s interest in and activity at lessons of physics.

Mr. Itti Ditbanchong, in his turn, said that he was sure to meet with top authorities of leading universities each time he visited Russian cities. During a year and a half, i.e. the period of holding a post of the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand in Russia, Mr. Itti Ditbanchong has already visited ten Russian higher education institutions. “Education is an important aspect of development,” noted the Ambassador. According to Mr. Itti Ditbanchong, student exchange must underlie cooperation between countries in the sphere of education. “I would like to inspire Thai students to study in Russian universities and pursue science. I spoke to the Ambassador of Russia in Thailand, and we understood that we need a more close cooperation in the sphere of education,” said Mr. Itti Ditbanchong. Speaking about promising lines of cooperation, the Ambassador emphasized chemistry and power engineering.

There was a rather attractive proposal made during the meeting: it was offered to open a “Thai room” in the University, where one will be able to get interesting information about Thailand and even study Thai boxing art. Such an initiative has already been supported by three Russian universities: Saint-Petersburg State University, Moscow State University named after M. V. Lomonosov and Ural Federal University. “I am sure that cooperation between universities of Thailand and Kazan University will develop,” said Mr. Itti Ditbanchong at the end of the meeting.

The visit finished with an excursion in the Museum of History of Kazan University.

Reference information. Kazan Federal University has been cooperating with a number of higher education institutions of Thailand for more than 10 years already, including: Silpakorn University, Walailak University, Thammasat University, Mahidol University etc. Relations have already been documented with Psuvithaianusorn College of Prince of Songkla University (a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in April, 2010) and Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University (a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in October, 2012).

There was Jean Pictet international humanitarian law pleading competition held in the city of Kanchanaburi, Thailand, in March, 2013. According to results of the extra-mural round, only two teams from Russia were invited to participate in this competition, with one of them being from KFU.