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The University of Tennessee - Kasetsart University Linkage Program

The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture linkage program with Kasetsart University (KU), located in Bangkok, Thailand, is designed to facilitate the Institute's globalization process through student exchange/study abroad and faculty professional development. KU is Thailand's premier university in agricultural and natural resource disciplines. Since the linkage was established in 1992, 95 UT students and 56 different UT faculty members and administrators and have participated in focused study tours on topics of natural resource management and agricultural development in Thailand. For most of the faculty members, the study tour constituted their first professional international experience and marked the real beginning point in the creation of a critical mass of internationally experienced faculty in the Institute of Agriculture. In turn, 77 KU students and 85 different KU faculty members and administrators have also visited the University of Tennessee on similarly-designed programs, while 11 KU faculty members have been at UT for extended periods as either visiting scholars or as doctoral students.

While the original goal of the linkage was to provide an initial international experience for faculty members, with the renewal of the linkage agreement in January, 2000, the relationship expanded to include student study abroad, faculty collaborative research and joint workshops to meet the needs of industry and agri-business. Currently collaborative research is being conducted in precision agriculture [initiated in 2000] and textiles [initiated in 2001] and in food safety [initiated in 2002] A joint workshop on food safety for government and industry was conducted in June, 2001 in Bangkok.  Collaborative work on no-till corn production began in 2004.