Happy holidays

Merry Christmas na ka, everyone!

Today is the first day I can sit back and relax all day at home.....naturally with some little projects to work on!

Looking back, the passing year is quite a happy one:

- seeing OHEC's Bureau of International Cooperation Strategy (BICS) take up IZN seriously to be its policy with more plans and projects to come along in the following years.

- helping with a promising Myanmar-Thailand network of university presidents as this should lead to more meaningful cooperation being firmly committed both at the national and university levels.

- being encouraged by universities which have increased their interests in learning about and putting EdPEx in place while some have started considering cross cultural sensitivity as a crucial issue to study.

- having a modest share in several projects on leadership development for younger ones in Thailand and ASEAN.

- pursuing my passion in integrating IZN with EdPEx for BICS and universities to see a big picture with mutual understanding and focuses.

- feeling free with time to enjoy my personal life, traveling, reading, and getting together with family and friends.

I continue to write and share in 2018 and hope it will be useful and interesting for some of you na ka....and thanks to all for the acknowledgment, comments, and discussions ka.....they are source of encouragement for me to keep writing and reading ka.

May I wish you all a beautiful year in 2018, getting to do more strategic programs and projects with meaningful results for all of us to see the impacts on our higher education and the whole education community na ka.

Happy Holidays and see you next year ka!

Dr. Surin's keywords

Like many in our country and far beyond, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan's passing was shocking and saddening. Notes on Facebook have clearly shown how much love and respect people have had for him and I hope such warmest and heartfelt gestures can at least comfort Dr. Surin's family in this time of grief ka.

I myself would like to share what I learned from meeting with him quite a few times back even to my very early years at the Ministry of Education when he just graduated from Harvard.

These are some of the keywords that are still in my mind ka:

1. Back to the time when he was Minister of Foreign Affairs, he urged all ministries to care much more for 'people-to-people' contacts. I loved it because in the APEC and many platforms managed by the governments, issues raised, discussed, and agreed are mostly initiated by national authorities with very little from the voice of the mass.

2. The Ministry of University Affairs organized an APEC youth forum, the first of its kind for kids at different stages of education and employment to mingle and learn about the free trade soon to be seen in their time. Dr. Surin kindly gave a keynote.

A senior officer of the MFA was asking who was the highest rank receiving the Minister, I told him it was only me (a small C8 person!). Dr. Surin, on the other end, focused on his sharing to the youth with enthusiasm and joy, encouraging them to share and learn about one another. He talked about his start as an AFS who didn't know what 'restroom' meant and got very good laughs from the crowd.

Two good lessons I got were:

- the power of stories and 

- it could be an example for us, especially Thais, not to be shy or embarrassed making mistakes.

3. When I helped organize a small session for young Muslims about the importance of English proficiency and scholarship opportunities for them, he told me he wished our Thai Muslims would become more aware of the world and what has been readily available. So when they were exposed more, they would realize how diversity could bring harmony.

How I wish we could have many more sessions like that one!

I still feel very sad though I should think he is blissfully blessed, back to join with Allah.

RIP Dr. Surin.