ESRI and Chulalongkorn University partner to apply GIS Software in Classrooms , A new partnership under “ESRI Education Site License Program” is initiated
Ms. Thanaporn Thitisawat, General Manager of Esri (Thailand) Co., Ltd. began: “Every branch of ESRI worldwide shares one same goal: to back educational institutions with knowledge on GIS or data generally generated from a combination of high-resolution maps, spatial characteristics, and databases. Information gained through the science of GIS can tremendously benefit society at large. It, for example, can be used to manage national power grid, see business expansion potential, finalize city planning schemes, as well as to control the number of aedes mosquitoes – the carrier of Zika virus – living in public water sources. People who can maximize GIS capabilities are needed today but the number of Thai experts in this particular field is rather low. We therefore launched the ESRI Education Site License Program to answer rising demands in labor market with a campaign allowing us to locally cultivate GIS experts with selected universities. The partnership we have just made with Chulalongkorn University means we will provide our GIS software to the university in a special price and we are ready to train both students and faculty members with our certified GIS trainers.”
“This educational partnership with ESRI (Thailand) should unprecedentedly uplift both learning and researching capabilities of our students and teaching members of our academic community. With GIS software, sophisticated data can be made easy as it can convert spatial data into intelligible charts, graphs, or pictures so students or faculty members can apply the generated information to areas or topics they see fit. This partnership should also give our students a first-hand experience on GIS technology which should benefit them in a long run,” Prof. Bundhit Eua-arporn, Ph.D., the President of Chulalongkorn University, added after he penned the agreement.
In details, ESRI Education Site License Program is a long-term project conceived with an aim to encourage the utilization of GIS in applicable university classes or research papers. ESRI (Thailand) wishes to co-execute this project with 10 leading universities nationwide, including Chulalongkorn University. Under this recently signed partnership, ESRI’s top-class GIS software will be adapted into curricular or research projects of six faculties and three departments namely 1) Faculty of Science, 2) Faculty of Engineering, 3) Faculty of Arts, 4) Faculty of Architecture, 5) Faculty of Veterinary Science, 6) Faculty of Economics, 7) Graduate School, 8) Aquatic Resources Research Institute, and 9) Office of Information Technology.
“ESRI will continue to provide GIS knowledge to university students nationwide since it is one of our core missions. In this year, we hope to secure our educational partnerships with three universities. And we now have agreed to launch this campaign at Mahidol University and Chulalongkorn University,” ended Ms. Thanaporn.