UCLA to open office in Bangkok in an effort to expand its presence in the region
Kantathi Suphamongkhon, former minster of foreign affairs for Thailand and visiting professor of law and diplomacy, is working to install a Bangkok-based branch of UCLA to expand university ties in the region.
By Kimberly Grano
Nov. 22, 2011 2:35 a.m.
A new Bangkok-based branch of UCLA is set to open in Thailand in January 2012 in an effort to expand university ties in the region.
The office was originally supposed to open in October, but months of flooding have pushed back the launch date. It will be a hub for all UCLA activities and engagements in Thailand, said Randal Johnson, interim vice provost for international studies.
The office will also provide social and academic programs in the country, he added.
“We see this as setting up an infrastructure, in which anybody on campus who wants to work with Thailand or is doing some kind of collaborative research in Thailand or with Thai scholars can use the space,” Johnson said.
The creation of the office was largely coordinated by a personal connection between Thailand and UCLA ““ Kantathi Suphamongkhon, the former minister of foreign affairs for Thailand and currently a visiting professor at UCLA.
“After I was foreign minister, UCLA reached out all the way across the world to ask me to teach here,” said Suphamongkhon, who also attended UCLA as an undergraduate.
Because of the lack of a centralized system, previous cooperation between Thailand and UCLA was difficult to coordinate, Suphamongkhon said.
The office provides that centralization, he said.
On the academic side, the office is intended to strengthen ties between UCLA and local universities in part by supporting a binational UCLA-Thailand committee.
The committee is made up of representatives from across UCLA’s campus and from three universities in Bangkok, as well as a UCLA alumni representative.
Johnson said plans for the office were formulated last March, when he, Suphamongkhon and several other members of the UCLA International Institute were in Thailand at the same time.
“The idea is to really shape that academic and research relationships between UCLA and our academic partners (in Thailand),” Johnson said.
UCLA is seeking to work with Thailand to research flood control, an issue of vital importance to the Southeast Asian country in light of the its recent floods, the strongest it has experienced in the last 50 years. Researchers from UCLA and Thai universities would cooperate to develop flood-prevention and response solutions, Suphamongkhon added.
The office would also aim to send more UCLA students to Thailand for study abroad programs, internships and job opportunities, Suphamongkhon said.
Dr. Fred Hagigi, a member of the Thai office’s executive committee and a professor of health care management at the David Geffen School of Medicine, said several of UCLA’s professional schools will coordinate their Thai programs through this central office.
Collaboration in the medical field between UCLA and these hospitals is an area of interest for the new office, he said.
Hagigi, who is currently conducting research in global health, noted how top-ranked hospitals in Thailand are able to perform major surgeries for a fraction of the cost of surgeries in the United States.
An education exposition set up by the Office of the Civil Service Commission of the Thai government will inform high-achieving Thai students about opportunities at universities around the world, including UCLA, Johnson said.
UCLA admissions officers will attend the exposition and plan to hold an event of their own, managed through the Thai-based office, he said.
“We have 15 students who hold Thai-government scholarships at UCLA right now,” Johnson added. “We’d like to increase that number and attract more of them.”
The exposition is now planned for January 2012, about the same time of the office’s expected opening. Even after UCLA’s event, the office will work to provide information about the university to potential students and their families, Johnson said.
Another focus of the office will be to facilitate faculty exchange, Suphamongkhon said.
Thai professors will have the opportunity to come teach at UCLA, while professors from UCLA could go to universities in Thailand.
The office could also potentially strengthen UCLA’s alumni base in Thailand, serving as a meeting place for alumni activities.
“It is important for UCLA to play a major role in enabling alumni to network around the world and to network in the Asian Pacific region,” Suphamongkhon said.
The university could also benefit from the expanding economy in Southeast Asia, Hagigi said.
