News source:
13 March 2023, at the Golden Jubilee Administration and Information Center Building, Kasetsart University Dr. Chongrak Wachrinrat, President of Kasetsart University, along with Assistant Professor Dr. Patamaporn Sripadungtham, Vice Dean for International Affairs of Faculty of Engineering, together with university administrators and personnel from the International Affairs Division joined to welcome and attend a meeting to discuss academic cooperation with the rector and administrators of the University of Porto, Portugal, led by Professor António Sousa Pereira, the Rector of the University of Porto, together with Vice-Rector for International Relations, Professor Joana Carvalho, U. Porto´s Head of Administration, Joo Carlos Ribeiro, and Full Professor Anake Kijjoa, U. Porto, U. Porto, U. Porto’s School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, U. Porto, U.
On this occasion, Dr. Chongrak Wachrinrat, President of Kasetsart University gave welcoming remarks on this visit and expressed his willingness to support the opportunities for educational cooperation between the two universities, mentioning a remarkable long-standing cooperation with the University of Porto since 1999. Then, Professor António de Sousa Pereira, Rector of the University of Porto expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome, and he hopes that this visit will develop potential building educational capacity, enhance research collaboration, and promote strong academic cooperation between each other. Subsequently, the Vice-Rector for International Relations, Professor Joana Carvalho presented to the meeting an overview of the University of Porto.
The purpose of this visit was to discuss the possibility of expanding the scope of academic and research cooperation between the University of Porto and Kasetsart University to cover a wide range of fields besides the field of study In education including courses and research in other fields such as Health Science or Biomedical Science, etc. because the University of Porto specializes in Health Science. The Faculty of Medicine at the University of Porto (FMUP) is one of Portugal’s most prestigious higher education institutions. It stands out for promoting academic quality, leading science production, and its relationship with health institutions such as EUGLOH or the European University Alliance for Global Health, consisting of Paris-Saclay University (France), Lund University (Sweden), University of Szeged. (Hungary), University of Porto (Portugal), and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Germany), global health partners. At the same time, Professor Dr. Anek Kitjao expressed his view that the University of Porto would be happy to support if Kasetsart University would be interested in finding out more information or activities in this program in order to promote further academic cooperation in this field. In addition, he gave his views on the KU Reinventing University project, the Outbound Exchange, as a good project but should be well-prepared in terms of language and develop the English language potential of the scholarship recipients.
In this regard, representatives from various faculties of Kasetsart University introduced themselves and exchanged information about cooperation that has been or is being undertaken with the University of Porto, such as academic cooperation in various fields in the form of a Short Course-Non Degree Program, particularly to promote Soft Power Development or the dissemination of various cultures, etc. An invitation to the President of Kasetsart University to visit the University of Porto for a study visit on various issues. A discussion on academic cooperation with the Faculty of Education on teaching and learning for children with invisible disabilities that the University of Porto specializes in which both universities can develop into academic cooperation and personnel exchanges in the near future. And discussion on issues of the Alumni University of Porto alumni, currently about 10 alumni at KU. The meeting was satisfied with the success of this cooperation discussion and will continue to work together to develop future projects. After that, the delegations of University of Porto, Portugal visited the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kasetsart University Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Bangkhen Campus.
The University of Porto is one of Portugal’s oldest and 2nd biggest public universities. The University of Porto was officially established on 22 March 1911, with more than 110 years of history. The university comprised 13 faculties for undergraduate and graduate studies with a total of 34,000 students, 20% of which are international students. It has over 15,000 undergraduate students and over 5,500 graduate and doctoral students.