L’Institut Agro renews its partnership with Kasetsart University

Signed for a period of five years, the Memorandum of Understanding aims to strengthen scientific partnerships, promote the mobility of teachers-researchers, staff and students, and develop exchange and research programmes.

Three other specific agreements were also signed during this Franco-Thai meeting. They concern student exchanges, co-supervision of theses and double degrees at Master level. A first annex related to this last agreement was also co-signed by Carole Sinfort, Director of l’Institut Agro Montpellier and Srijidtra Charoenlarpnopparut, Dean of the Graduate School of the Kasetsart University.

During this meeting in Montpellier, Kasetsart University’s delegation, represented by its president and several deans of the various faculties, as well as directors of research centres and institutes, accompanied by CIRAD Regional Delegate for Southeast Asia François Roger, discussed the main areas to develop this partnership in the coming years and its operational principles with their counterparts from the administrative board of l'Institut Agro and the Montpellier campus administration, the department of international relations and languages and the teacher-researchers involved in the exchange programmes and collaborations with this Thai partner.

The representatives of Kasetsart University have already expressed their strong interest in pursuing and developing existing collaborations, in particular to extend the number of double degrees at master level, co-supervision and co-supervised PhDs. The majority of Kasetsart students have so far followed the MOQUAS agro-economics specialisation of the Master 3A (13 students since 2018) and some come for an academic mobility (5 students since 2018). To date 43 students from Montpellier SupAgro have followed a one-semester academic program at KU since 2018. L'institut Agro would like to extend this collaboration to other specialisations of the Master 3A and to other co-habilitated masters offered by its different schools. Kasetsart University has shown great interest in this new perspective.

The KU also wishes to develop its collaborations with l’Institut Agro in many other areas, including

• agro-industry, food innovation and product development
• aquaculture, and fishery management
• climate change,
• horticulture,
• viticulture and enology.
• The bio-economy

Several areas of reflection have already been mentioned in order to set up joint training courses, development of research programmes, explore new research and training partnerships, broaden the possibilities of mobility on English-language programmes, and follow up alumni who have benefitted from exchanges and joint training courses in order to analyse their career paths and enhance exchanges. A prospecting mission on vine and wine is planned for next Spring in Thailand, in particular to identify instructors to be trained and to promote the Vinifera Master's degree, from which a Thai student has already graduated.

Related topics: Double Degrees/ ICOA Masters/ 3A Masters

Link to other websites : Master of Science in Food Security and Climate Change: https://msfscc.org/index.php