After the welcome by Prof. Dr. Julia Kormann, Vice President for Studies, Teaching and Sustainability and Prof. Dr. Elmar Steurer, Vice President for Research, Transfer and Internationalization at HNU, the President of SWU Assoc. Prof. Dr. Somchai Santiwatanakul also affirmed the high importance of the partnership. Verena Seitz, Head of the International Office gave an overview of the diverse cooperation projects so far and SWU student Supachai Wongsakvanich, who is currently enrolled for a second exchange semester at HNU, told the delegation about his experiences and reasons to spend a second semester at HNU. Afterwards, the new agreements were signed by Prof. Dr. Elmar Steurer, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Somchai Santiwatanakul and Assoc. Prof. Prit Supasetsiri, Vice President for International Relations and Communications. Furthermore, Prof. Dr. Oliver Grieble presented a training on "SCRUM Team Roles: Leading in an Agile World", which was very well received.
Lively German-Thai exchange
HNU and SWU maintain a close and lively university partnership. So far, 31 Thai students have come to HNU for a semester abroad, and seven HNU students have been guests at SWU in Thailand for a semester. Another 60 HNU students have attended summer school at SWU, and numerous faculty and administrators from both universities have participated in exchanges. In the upcoming winter semester, HNU will welcome six students from SWU and three HNU students will study in Bangkok for a semester.
Close university partnership since 2012
The first visits and lectures between HNU and SWU professors took place ten years ago. In 2014, the first academic cooperation agreement was signed, followed by an exchange agreement in 2015, an Erasmus agreement in 2016 and a second Erasmus agreement in 2019.
