AIT Campus Bulletin

In this issue:

A. Announcements 

B. Events 

C. Classifieds (jobs)

A. Announcements 

1) Easing of Restrictions and Updates from the AIT COVID-19 Task Force

Email from the Director, Office of Academic Administration on 24 September 2021

Dear AIT Family,

The COVID-19 situation in Thailand is starting to slowly improve.  There has been a steady decline in the number of cases from its peak of more than 20,000 plus daily cases, through active case finding using rapid antigen test kits in the high-risk areas, along with the Government’s very aggressive vaccination strategy with around 40% of the population having received the first dose and 21% both doses.  The Government has announced plans to reopen additional provinces including Bangkok, with further relaxation of restrictions in the coming days.

Online classes and Work-from-Home (WFH) – Online classes and Work-from-Home (WFH) will continue until the 15th of October, 2021.  We will be monitoring the situation closely and make adjustments to this, taking into account upcoming announcements from the Thai Government.

Further Easing of Certain Restrictions at AIT – However, we would like to announce further relaxation of the following restrictions for the AIT campus with effect from Monday, 27 September 2021:

-        Gatherings of up to 25 persons are now allowed.  But you must inform the Task Force of gatherings of 16 or more participants.  However, organizing any activities that are prone to the spread of disease are still not allowed. 

-        Dine-in is allowed until 8pm with 75% capacity in all eateries on campus.

-        Casual day visitors (e.g. to buy take-out food, coffee, or deliver goods, etc.) no longer need a host to be granted access to AIT.  The TF continues to discourage inviting personal and professional guests/visitors from coming to AIT for any visit. 

-        Outside visitors and non-AIT residents can participate in sporting activities on the AIT campus only with AIT members. Indoor sports are still not allowed, and the swimming pool remains closed.

-        Our reduced service by contractors on campus will continue until 15th October.

Please be reminded that the night-time curfew in the dark-red zone provinces, which includes Pathum Thani where AIT is located, has been extended until 30 September 2021.  During the 7-hour period nightly, between 9pm to 4am, people are asked to remain on campus and only to go out if necessary.

Update on AIT OQ – We are very pleased to report that the AIT OQ has now crossed the 300 mark in terms of occupancy.  The first AIT OQ student-occupants arrived on 13 September and to date, 300 students, 15 staff, and 4 dependents have gone through the AIT OQ.  As a friendly gesture to our OQ partner, a total of 90 students from Thammasat University have gone through our OQ.

Reissuing of Certificate of Entry (COE) – The Thai Government has lifted the travel ban and started issuing the Certificate of Entry (COE) for foreign nationals from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal, which are among our target student countries.  Therefore, we expect to welcome students from these countries to AIT in the coming days, many of whom will be availing of our OQ.

Update on Quarantine Period and Phases 2 and 3 – For any new arrivals from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, they will spend 21 days at the AIT OQ.  In view of the longer OQ duration, they will not need to undergo Phase 2 i.e. 7-day Self-Isolation (SI).  Arrivals from these 4 countries who choose to undergo their mandatory quarantine period at an Alternative State Quarantine (ASQ) hotel, which is for 14 days, will still need to undergo their Phase 2 either at AIT or off-campus.  As announced earlier, with effect from 1 October 2021, Phase 3 will no longer be required.  Further details on the OQ and SI Guidelines are available at the Intranet page .

We urge all of you to be very careful and continue with the D-M-H-T-T-A precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, i.e. D–Distancing, M–Mask wearing, H–Hand washing, T–Temperature check, T–Testing for COVID-19, and A–Alert application.  The numbers of positive cases are going down, but the pandemic still very much exists in Thailand.

Please check with the Task Force if you have any queries and also visit the Intranet page where all COVID-19 related information and updates from the Task Force are available.

Thank you for your cooperation.

AIT COVID-19 Task Force

 

2) Personal data for 2021 Income Tax calculation

Dear Faculty and Staff, 

To ensure that the personal income tax of AIT employees complies with Tax Regulation, it is imperative that we have a correct record of your personal data in our system. Please log in to the web link, https://hris.ait.ac.th to update your personal data. Use your AIT email account credential to log in then click “View Employee Profile”.  

Please kindly review your personal data and update it as needed. 

1. Update or complete your contact information such as your personal phone number and residence address.

2. Review your passport number, including your dependent(s) if they are correct and updated. Particular attention is required on the status of your child and spouse as recorded in the system. Please update the system if they are studying or working either here in Thailand or abroad. Please request to amend as appropriate.    

We also would like to take this opportunity to announce that a new feature the "Next of Kin" is added to the system. Please complete the required information in this section. The next of kin should not be the same persons currently recorded in HRIS as your direct dependent. The next of kin will be contacted by AIT in case of emergency when you are incapacitated or if there are no other family members residing with you that can be contacted. 

Any changes in your personal data from the previous to the current year should be supported with documents in hard copies. These include passport copy, marriage certificate, child's birth certificate, house registration as well as receipts of investment in retirement mutual fund (RMF), personal health insurance, and personal long-term life insurance.

Please submit it to Khun Lalana in the Office of Human Resources Services (OHRS), Room 223, Second Floor of the Administration Building within 20 October 2021. 

Thank you for your cooperation. 

Office of Human Resources Services 

3) Talk on The Importance of Managing Cultural Transformation in the AI Era

The School of Management is extending an invitation to a talk by a senior consultant from ARUP, which will take place next Monday, 27th September from 5-6pm on The Importance of Managing Cultural Transformation in the AI Era.

4) EC Coffee Chat

Greetings from AIT Entrepreneurship Center!

We would like to invite you to join our next EC Coffee Chat on 29 September 2021 (Wednesday) at 4:00 PM (Bangkok time) to discuss how you can launch a startup, what courses/ tools can help, and many others. Hosted by Prof. Dieter Trau and Dr. Lakeesha Ransom, the discussion will be highly interactive and questions from the audience are highly appreciated. We have a special guest, Mr. Napatara Thummachua, Co-Founder of Environman, a public awareness platform for environmental issues with more than 500,000 followers on Facebook, who is also an MBA student of the AIT School of Management.

Register here: https://bit.ly/3yUAYGV

5) The Circular Economy Webinar Episode 1: Industrial Emission Monitoring

Dear AIT faculty, staff and students,

We are pleased to invite you to the Circular Economy Webinar Episode 1: Industrial Emission Monitoring jointly organized by the Embassy of Finland in Bangkok, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and Ministry of Industry (MoI), Thailand.

Air pollution is said to be the world’s largest single environmental risk. 90% of the world's population breathes dirty air to some degree, and it causes more annual deaths than Covid 19 pandemic has done so far. Main causes for air pollution are industries, open burning and transportation. This webinar with the leading experts from Thailand and Finland aim to capture the robustness of these developments, sharing the experiences and lessons learnt, with focus on development of the countrywide industrial emission monitoring system in Thailand. What are the major development challenges in the future and how can we tackle them? 

 

6) The Inaugural Regional Session of UNEP Science Policy Business Forum on the Environment for Asia and the Pacific (AP-SPBF)

The United Nations Environment Programme

Invites you to join the conversation

At the First Asia-Pacific

UN Science-Policy-Business Forum on the Environment

Tuesday, 5 October 2021

Held virtually in conjunction with the 4th Session of the Asia-Pacific Forum of Environment Authority and Ministers, 5-7 October 2021

REGISTER NOW

7) AIT Roadshow Live - Study in Thailand

Click to Register: https://bit.ly/3zoMhr2

 

8) Distinguished Institute Speakers Series by Mr. Jin Liquin

We are pleased to invite you to the Distinguished Institute Speakers Series jointly organized by AIT Belt & Road Research Center and AIT Centre for Global Challenges.

In this series, we would like to welcome our first speaker Mr. Jin Liqun, President and Chair of the Board of Directors, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on 15 October 2021 at 2:00 PM (Bangkok Time GMT+7).

Topic: Promoting Economic Development through Multilateralism

Venue: Zoom (online)

Speaker’s Profile

Mr. Jin Liqun, President and Chair of the Board of Directors, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Mr. Jin Liqun is the inaugural President and Chair of the Board of Directors. Before being elected as the Bank’s first President, he served as Secretary-General of the Multilateral Interim Secretariat tasked with establishing the Bank. President Jin has rich experience across the private and public sectors and with MDBs. He served as Chair of China International Capital Corporation Limited – China’s first joint-venture investment bank, Chair of the Supervisory Board of China Investment Corporation and Chair of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds. He previously served as Vice President and then Ranking Vice President of the Asian Development Bank and as Alternate Executive Director for China at the World Bank and at the Global Environment Facility. President Jin spent nearly two decades at the Chinese Ministry of Finance, reaching the rank of Vice Minister.

 

B. Events

Training Courses/ Conferences/ Workshops

1) Certificate Course on Lean Six Sigma Black Belt

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