welcomed this recognition of KAUST’s capabilities and impact, it also means it has to accelerate its engagement with the private sector and government and commercialise more of its research. He felt “that’s a tall order” for an institution not even 15 years old. The situation speaks to some of the commonalities of town-gown relations across institutions from different cultures and regions. “We need each other, but the problem is that we don’t understand each other, we have different expectations,” remarked Professor Chan, who joined KAUST having previously been President at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
“The town expects us to educate students, but also to contribute to the economy by creating jobs through our students and research. The town wants you to do research and solve today’s crisis by tomorrow. We can’t always do that, to be realistic. Some regions or countries also have strategic plans and they expect the university to align with them, but not all faculty are aligned. And they want us to produce better results with less cost. “On the other hand, the gown has expectations of the town. We need research funding from government and the private sector. We want autonomy and academic freedom and policy support. Those things are not always aligned.
Higher education institutions must bridge bodies, from the past and present to new generations, and also prepare them to be changemakers, especially in thinking about sustainable development goals. Higher education has to contribute to sustainability in the future.
Professor Banchong Mahaisavariya President, Mahidol University
action depends not only on us in academia, but all the other partners involved.” She added it was also important to see innovation not only in terms of science and technology, but also social innovations that impact people’s lives. Government involvement can also direct university development in service to the community. At Mahidol University, said Professor Mahaisavariya, the university’s mission is deeply grounded in town-gown relations. Its mission – to create human capital, to create knowledge capital, to create innovations, and to take its strengths beyond the campus – is complemented by collaborations with the private sector and other partners. Importantly, it has also expanded its footprint to other regions of Thailand, including those that are under-served, with strong government encouragement. The original campus was founded in 1888, when it began as a medical school, and has expanded to six campuses located within and outside Bangkok, in both urban and rural settings. The university graduates nearly 500 medical doctors a year – about one-third of the total in Thailand –
and serves nine hospitals and accommodates about seven million outpatient visits per year. “The newest campus came from politicians who provided the land to raise the opportunity of the people there and the local reputation. Mahidol University was asked to manage this new campus and we must invest a lot and it is not easy, but we have made effective use of resources to create benefits for both the younger institutions and our more mature campuses,” he said. “Higher education institutions must bridge bodies, from the past and present to new generations, and also prepare them to be changemakers, especially in thinking about sustainable development goals. Higher education has to contribute to sustainability in the future,” Professor Mahaisavariya added. A university with high expectations from the community is KAUST, which was founded only in 2009. Recently, Saudi Arabia released its Saudi Vision 2030 to reduce its reliance on oil, diversify its economy and develop smart public services, with the expectation that the university will contribute to those developments. While Professor Chan
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