Education & Distance Learning Enthusiasts- Distance Learning Gets A Boost In Thailand's Chiang Mai

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Distance Learning Gets A Boost In Thailand's Chiang Mai

Newsbytes News Network - July 3, 1998

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND, 1998 JUL 2 (NB) -- By Karnjana Karnjanatawe, Bangkok Post. The first Distance Learning Through IT campus network from Chiang Mai University to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) has been established to increase the number of EGAT engineers at EGAT's Mae Moh, Lampang branch.

The project is the result of a special agreement between the two parties to set up an academic-industrial link for research-oriented part-time Master's degree and Bachelor's degree studies in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering.

Three hundred and ten current staff of the EGAT's Mae Moh site have been awarded scholarships since 1997, according to a lecturer of the Engineering Faculty of Chiang Mai University Nopasit Chakpitak, who is also a program coordinator of the Northern Network National Science and Technology Development Agency (NN-NSTDA).

"This is the first project of the country where the academic sector is sharing resources with another organization and helping to increase the organization's staff skills through under-graduate and post- graduate degrees," he said.

Around 200 technicians hope to graduate with engineering bachelor's degrees over the next two years and 110 students hope to receive master's degrees next year.

EGAT invested 200 million baht ($4.75 million) in building facilities, which include a building, IT systems and research funds for students.

The two sites are linked together via a 7-kilometre fiber optic line, as well as UHF and Microwave radio links. Two way communication via desktop video conferencing systems have been implemented in classrooms at the Mae Moh site and the Engineering Faculty. Internet access is also offered to the students, he said.

EGAT chose the Mae Moh site for the first pilot project for part-time students since the Mae Moh site was the biggest EGAT site upcountry and Chiang Mai University had the capacity to serve the demand for part-time education and research, he added.

By the year 2001, it will be determined whether the cooperative effort is a failure or success, Mr Nopasit said.

EGAT also projected that the training center and the cooperation will expand to cover training other officials in Indochina countries.

Beside the cooperation between the university and the state enterprise in an education system, another pilot project called "Lamphun IT City" will be implemented toward the end of this year.

The project will be a cooperation among government, education and private sectors. It is an IT development project for the city of Lamphun.

Activities include establishing a provincial intranet, producing educational software for training officials, creating self-reliant capabilities in managing and maintaining the IT networks and allowing the private sector, especially exporters, to access up-to-date government information.

For more information about the Lamphun IT City project, visit the NN-NSTDA's Web site at http://www.nn.nstda.or.th/itcity .

Exchange rate: $1 = 42.12 baht

Reported By Newsbytes News Network: http://www.newsbytes.com

(19980702/WIRES ASIA, ONLINE/)

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