As part of the universities’ desire to expand its global network and enrich academic programs, the American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB), in principle, has accepted the invitation of KBU to establish partnership that will mutually benefit both institutions. This interest was expressed by Ms. Sasithorn Suwandee, Assistant to the President for International Affairs, KBU in a letter sent to the university and reiterated by a personal emissary in the person of Mr. Mohammad Ariful Islam, faculty member of the said university. The proposal was discussed by Mr. Islam in a meeting with the Vice Chancellor, Dr. Carmen Z. Lamagna, the Pro Vice Chancellor, Dr. Charles C. Villanueva, MBA Program Director, Dr. Nisar Ahmed, BBA Program Director, Mr. AK Nazmul and Ms. Farhana Sabeth, Executive to the VC on international matters. Among those areas of collaboration underscored in the meeting are:

• -allowing BBA students to pursue their BBA in a 2 + 2 scheme; 3 + 1 scheme; one semester internship affiliation
• -allowing MBA students to undergo a 1+1 scheme including internship
• -the criteria on the above schemes will be jointly formulated by our university to ensure that students met both requirements
• -undertake development programs such as student exchange, faculty exchange, collaborative research, summer camp
• -sharing of expertise such as resource person, speaker, consultancy and in other capacities in both academic and nonacademic activities of the universities.
• -a brief and simple Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) shall be forged to formalize the partnership to be signed by both the Heads or authorized representatives of our universities.
• -others considerations to be determined by both parties

The details of each provision shall be worked out in a separate working paper should these be acceptable to both parties for implementation. The above mentioned areas and other perspectives of partnership were further elaborated by Mr. Islam since we had an interesting discussion with him on the subject. The VC conveyed its invitation to Ms. Sasithorn Suwandee through Mr. Islam to come to our university for a visit. Likewise, the Vice Chancellor has expressed her desire to visit KBU whenever she is Bangkok for official and personal business. In view of the strong learning environment, diverse programs, international students, accessibility and reasonable cost, it is expected that this partnership will truly benefit our students and the university as a whole.