During 3-6 September 2014, Minister Nitaya Jessadachatr led a delegation from the Royal Thai Embassy in Moscow to visit Tomsk, a city in Siberia. Tomsk is considered one of the most famous university and research centre cities in Russia, especially in the fields of sciences, innovative technology, chemicals, and oil. The main objective of the visit is to promote Thailand-Russia relations and cooperation in education, including curriculum, academic exchanges in fields of interest, and introduction of Tomsk to wider groups of Thai students. 

 

            During the visit, the delegation had an opportunity to meet with representatives from a range of agencies as follows;

                    (1) A high-ranked representative of Tomsk City Administration, who kindly briefed about Tomsk in general, information on universities, research centres, science academy, and medical institutes in the city, including ways to develop cooperation between Thailand and Tomsk City;

                    (2) Vice Rector of Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU), where Thai students are currently pursuing their degrees. TPU is a famous university in sciences and engineering and hosts a number of foreign students, because it has exchange programmes and double degrees offered in a wide range of fields available in both Russian and English; 

                    (3) Vice Rector of Tomsk State University (TU), of which is a high-ranked university in Russia where there has already been 3 Nobel-prized scientists. TU also offers classes in two languages and gives priority to foreign students; 

                    (4) Director of Tomsk Science Centre, under Russian Academy of Sciences, of which covers 6 research institutes in 18 Siberian regions. More than half of 1,800 scientists, engineers, and designers in the Center are younger than age 35; and 

                    (5) High-ranked representatives and researchers from Tomsk’s Special Economic Zone (SEZ), of which is ranked 2nd of innovation centres in Russia (35th in the world) and supervises 7 state universities, 3 research universities, 3 innovation universities, and 24 research institutes.