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Walailak University (WU) took part in the European Association for International Education (EAIE) 2026 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Glasgow, United Kingdom, from 8 to 11 September 2026. The delegation, led by President Professor Dr. Sombat Thamrongthanyawong and Assistant Professor Dr. Patnarin Supakorn, Director of WU's Center for International Affairs (CIA), met with representatives from 24 institutions and organizations over the four-day event — including 17 prospective partner universities, three of WU's existing international partners, three global university networks, and one company specializing in short international programs.

To support these discussions, the CIA prepared a brochure highlighting WU's strengths in academic affairs, research, and community engagement, its credit-bearing semester programs, and four short international programs: Sustainable Destination Design; Green Horizons: Sustainable Tourism Innovation in Tropical Thailand; Thai Healing Wisdom for Global Health; and Ocean Leadership Academy. 

 

Promising new partnerships emerged across three academic clusters. In health sciences, Karolinska Institutet (Sweden), the University of Ghana, and Üsküdar University (Türkiye) offer potential for research collaboration and student exchange in medicine, public health, and allied health fields. In science and technology, discussions with Chinese and Belgian institutions — including Huazhong Agricultural University, North China Electric Power University, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, and Haute École Condorcet — pointed to opportunities in engineering, agriculture, and applied sciences. In social sciences, universities such as Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania), Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Fundação Dom Cabral (Brazil), York St John University (UK), and the University of Brasília signaled interest in collaboration on management, education, and postgraduate research.

The delegation also met with three major African university networks — the Association of African Universities, the Southern African Regional Universities Association, and the African Network for Internationalization of Education — seen as key gateways for research collaboration in tropical health, agriculture, biodiversity, and climate resilience.

WU also used the conference to deepen ties with existing partners in Germany and Lithuania — Wiesbaden University of Applied Sciences, Nürtingen-Geislingen University of Applied Sciences, and Lithuanian University of Health Sciences — with plans to jointly pursue a new Erasmus+ program supporting bilateral student exchange with credit transfer.

WU's schools are now encouraged to follow up directly with the shared contacts: proposing joint research meetings, inviting visiting or adjunct professors, discussing exchange programs, and formalizing collaboration through a Memorandum of Understanding once concrete activities take shape. The university expects these efforts to expand research collaboration, increase mobility, and strengthen its international standing.

 

Photos courtesy of WU Center for International Affairs