The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) was founded in 1959 by eight country members of the South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), originally as the SEATO Graduate School of Engineering. In 1967, AIT became independent of SEATO, and was established as an autonomous, truly international not-for-profit institution of higher learning. AIT is hosted by Thailand, but does not operate under the ambit of Thailand, and is empowered to grant its own degrees, under the AIT Enabling Act, issued by Thailand in 1967. AIT has a unique international character, with 70% of its 2,000 plus student population hailing from outside the host country, from all corners of Asia and the rest of the world. In 2015, AIT was adjudged the world’s top-ranked international university by the EU-funded U-Multirank 2015 institutional ranking. Today’s AIT graduates are a who’s who of success stories in both the public and private sectors in more than half the world’s countries, including the current Premier of Taiwan. AIT has a very strong global network of institutional partners from all over the world, and as a neutral non-political independent international institution with a regional mandate, provides a platform for Asia, in addressing cross-border regional issues.
