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Professor Said Irandoust, a Swedish national, serving as President of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), an international institute of higher learning, based in Thailand with affiliated Centers in Vietnam and Indonesia. Professor Irandoust was born in 1960 in Tabriz, province of Azerbaijan, north-west of Iran. Professor Said Irandoust gained a M.Sc. and Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering at Chalmers. As President of AIT, Professor Irandoust has been instrumental in the financial rejuvenation of AIT and in the re-establishment of AIT as an international intergovernmental institute. He has also initiated the exploration of new funding model for AIT under the concept of “AIT Satellite Campuses” which entails replicating AIT’s model of holistic international learning with an Asian perspective, wherein full-fledged AIT universities would be established in several Asian countries that would allow the Institute to have a much bigger impact in Asia and beyond. He has pioneered the concept of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in higher education, and established professional programs for the public and private sectors with relevance to the market. He has also launched a number of Centers of Excellence by establishing partnerships with key international organizations. In parallel to the above, he is undertaking a thorough review of AIT’s internal organization, management and administrative model as well as the corresponding processes, supporting the Institute’s transformation of becoming more entrepreneurial. Prior to joining AIT he was the Vice Chancellor of the University of Borås, Sweden from 2001– 2005. During his presidency, the University of Borås developed a new, innovative concept to become the first Swedish University of Professions. Before that he worked with one of Sweden’s leading universities Chalmers from 1990 to 2000, with his last position being that of Vice President. As the Vice President at Chalmers, he initiated and supervised a number of development projects within the field of higher learning, with a focus on lifelong learning for professionals, and internationalization. He has served at various positions including that of Chair of the Swedish Government’s Committee for Promoting Mathematics; member of the Swedish Government’s Committee for the Widening Recruitment; member of the Board of the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT) and the Board of the National Museums of World Culture, Sweden. Professor Irandoust has received
the Medal of Progress from the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
He is also the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from the Plekhanov
Russian Academy of Economics in Moscow. He was elected to the
Thai-Swedish Chamber of Commerce Board of Governors on March 2011
and on May 2011, he was conferred the prestigious award Honorary
Degree of Doctor of Humanities, Honoris Causa by the University
of the Cordilleras, Baguio City.
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