Staying well-connected for promoting well-being
SUT connect with Japanese colleagues for academic, research, and innovation collaboration on well-being.

SUT’s team led by the Rector, Associate Professor Dr Anan Tongraar, paid a visit to Japan’s Teikyo University of Science (TUS) to sign an MOU for formal partnership between the two universities. SUT team, including Professor Dr Neung Teaumroong, Vice Rector for Research and Technology Development, Assistant Professor Dr Phongchai Jittamai, Vice Rector for Finance, Assets, and University Enterprises, Dr Permsiri Lermanuworarat, Director of SUT Hospital (SUTH), as well as three other representatives, were welcomed to TUS at Tokyo Senju Campus for the signing ceremony on December 9th, 2024, by TUS  President Shohachi Okinaga, Vice President, Dr Takako Okinaga, Dr Fumiyo Saijo, and Dr Osamu Watanabe, Chair and lecturer from the Department of Physical Therapy.

This SUT-TUS MOU focuses on the joint development of a training programme for elderly care givers (2 systems) to meet the rising demand from the aging society in Japan and Thailand. The other potential areas for collaboration are exchange of students and staff and development of joint research and innovation related to elderly care and rehabilitation.

On December 10th, SUT team also visited TUS Tokyo West Campus to learn more about academic and research opportunities in the areas of life and environmental sciences and human sciences. Most impressive is the concept of its Open Air Lab, the life museum on campus where students, staff, and local community can experience and experiment ways of human-nature coexistence in harmony.

Later, SUT team traveled south to Osaka to visit and seek collaboration with Osaka Health Science University (OHSU) on December 11th. As its expertise is in occupational and physical therapy and rehabilitation, OHSU can be a potential partner for SUT for training programme development and capacity enhancement for allied health personnel through education and research. OHSU also organised a site visit for SUT team to ISEIKAI General International Hospital, one of the most advanced medical facilities in Osaka and the Kansai area. The medical and health services supported by advanced technology at ISEIKAI inspired SUT team to introduce and apply new technology for more effective services at SUTH in the near future.

The outcomes of these two Japan visits will come in the form of the joint SUT-TUS training programme for elderly care givers, which is expected to offer later in 2025, a field trip to Thailand and Nakhon Ratchasima for TUS staff and students hosted by SUT in March, 2025, and possibly an MOU with OHSU which will pave the way for formal collaborations also in 2025. All of these activities serve as a promise that SUT is determined to be a source of knowledge, manpower, and  services for promoting well-being of local community and society.