From Thai-German Technical School to KMUTNB: Perspectives on the cooperation with the German industrial sector

Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Suchart Siengchin, President of King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok

UPDATE interviewed Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Suchart Siengchin, President of King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB) on the cooperation in vocational education and training between Thailand’s education sector and Germany’s industrial sector. Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Suchart had been studying at five universities in several states of Germany, starting from his basic education to PhD level. He is the first Thai person who completed a habilitation in Mechanical Engineering and received a title Privatdozent (associate professor) from Chemnitz University, Germany. Recently, he received the national outstanding researcher award in material engineering by conducting research and development studies in composite materials with a focus in eco-friendly materials or the alternative materials for industrial application. Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Suchart is culturally-bounded and has discovered various aspects in education, culture, and identity of the Germans through his living in Germany for more than 17 years. This experience influences his style of learning and working management. He, in turn, brought it to administrate the KMUTNB, which was also developed from Thai-German Technical School under the cooperation between Thai government and German government in 1959, providing education in the form of a German system that focuses on practice and real-life experience.

From the Thai-German Technical School in the past to the university education at present, could you please tell us about the background of KMUTNB, also on the strength and identity of KMUTNB?

It started in 1959 when people were familiar with the name “Thai-German Technical School”, which founded under the cooperation between the Thai government and the German government. It had German style of teaching because the founders were Prof. Dr. Boonyasak Jaijongkit and Dipl. Ing Karl Stützle, the German principal. Both of them attempted to produce technician students with practical knowledge who could respond to the industrial sector. After 1959, the Thai-German Technical School had continued to grow and became a college, then an institute, and today, King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok, which has been consecutively developed. Starting from our personnel, technician instructors are trained by German experts in the practical field from either German professional school (Berufschule) or vocational school (Fachschule). We have continually maintained a close partnership, despite the fact that the pattern of cooperation shifted from college level to university level. KMUTNB has grown from 50 personnel to over 2,000 along with the expansion into 3 campuses in Bangkok, Prachinburi, and Rayong. We have been consistently passing on knowledge from Germany through the personnel who graduated from German universities, such as myself and other faculty and institute staff. The collaboration we have with German universities also increases and becomes more diverse. It can be said that we have inter-university cooperation in almost every state in Germany because our staff have graduated from many places. Other than that, we cooperate with German companies as well. This is the overall journey from the beginning until the present of KMUTNB, which is now celebrating 63 years of founding.

As the word “Leader in University - Industry Cooperation” is one of KMUTNB’s goals, could you explain how you will lead KMUTNB to achieve the goal? Also, what level of cooperation does KMUTNB have with German industry? What do you expect from the cooperation?

The initial objective of the Thai-German Technical School was to prepare graduates for practical employment, and we continue to strive towards that goal until today with our KMUTNB’s identity. Our identity is that KMUTNB is a leading university in science and technology with a strong relationship with stakeholders, particularly the private sector, which will deliver our students and the knowledge obtained from our research to the industrial sector in the future. We still have a notable strength that we are proud of: the graduates who are able to think and conduct practical work, known as “handson engineer”, from the pre-engineering certificate through the doctoral level. This is what we emphasize and correspond with German education that highlights practical learning through teaching and industrial research. We can observe that science and technology education accounts for almost 90% of KMUTNB's curriculum. As a result, the stakeholder we must not overlook is the industrial sector, which is crucial in the utilization of knowledge and graduates. This is a strong model of the industrial sector in which we are following the German education model. From my experience, KMUTNB’s policy attempts to reduce the gap between industrial sector and university education, both in personnel and research at all levels, from pre-engineering school to doctorate degree. Our staff tries to get tasks from the industry in order to conduct research and involve the students, so that they may use their academic expertise to their project development.

Despite the fact that we have a different educational system, we still have the identity of Thai-German Technical School, which prepares students for future engineering studies.

Since KMUTNB began and grew from Thai-German Technical School, does the school system still operate these days? How do you maintain the system?

Today we have Thai - German Pre-Engineering School that originated from the pioneer Thai-German Technical School. Despite the fact that we have a different educational system, we still have the identity of Thai- German Technical School, which prepares students for future engineering studies. We provide them with a German-style curriculum that emphasizes practical skills like filing, flat plaining, turning, and welding, as well as physics and mathematics, which are essential for engineering students. This includes the personnel development that we have in cooperation with GTCC, encouraging every old and new technician instructor’s to train in the AdA International (Ausbildung der Ausbilder International) in order to master the German style practice guidelines. In the future, we have a plan to support our personnel in the Pre-Engineering School to advance their careers. It would be beneficial if they attained the Meister level and we had Meister competence in electronics and mechanics engage in our training.

On behalf of the cooperation between KMUTNB and GTCC/GTDEE, which industrial sector has human resource development at present?

As I mentioned before, we emphasize the cooperation with the industrial sector, having GTCC as a center of the German industrial companies in Thailand. Transferring technology these days, whether it is railway systems, robotics, or mechatronics, all are the continuity policy in which we must try to build competent personnel to pass on the college knowledge to the industrial sector as well as to be capable to fix or modify the transferred technology and to deal with future changes. The cooperation between KMUTNB staff and GTCC through the GTDEE program, including the KMUTNB training team will continue to be consistent in the future.

In today’s world, we are facing rapid changes in many dimensions as some dimension gets disrupted. How will KMUTNB adjust itself with this circumstance, in your opinion?

In the policy aspect, we already have the way to cope with changes by preparing our personnel for research. Everyone needs to have fundamental research skills. This implies that tasks from the industrial sector will be in the center of our disruption planning. Therefore, to work with the industry on a regular basis is a great support for dealing with changes. It is where we take the difficult tasks, develop them, collaborate with the sector to solve them, and then bring the outcomes back to our teaching. These are the preparations that KMUTNB has been making for a long time under the collaboration with industry and German-style education.

Contact details: Phimvalanch Moosikaphan Director of International Cooperation Centre (ICC) King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB) +66 2 555 2000 Ext. 1026, 1023, 1024 phimvalanch.m@op.kmutnb.ac.th www.kmutnb.ac.th

Interviewed by Dr. Kamonsak Suradom, GTDEE Senior Manager, GTCC