Aitaa Nepal

Dear members of the AIT community,

 

Academic buildings (except ground floor) will be declared open for the AIT community from 15 January 2012. Similarly residential buildings (except ground floor) will be declared open from 15 February 2012 for accommodation. Academic classes will resume at the AIT mother campus in Pathumthani from 15-31 March 2012.

 

Along with this, partial cafeteria services will be available by 15 February onwards, which will be enhanced by 1 March 2012. The AIT International School will also resume operations in the mother campus by 15 March 2012.

 

This decision was taken by the AIT Rehabilitation and Upgradation Committee, which was chaired by me on 29 December 2011. The decision was arrived at after considering the interests of the AIT community (particularly the students), examining the current state of repairs and cleaning, and in light of the proposed upgrading of the AIT campus.

 

While the committee decided that access and use of the AIT infrastructure will be allowed according to the due announced dates, please appreciate that for some time the AIT community will have to do with very basic minimal services. Electricity will be available at all places when the community returns on campus, while a provision is being made to provide wireless internet in the academic buildings. Medical clinic facilities will also resume before the AIT community relocates to the campus. Central air conditioning will be available by 1 March 2012. 

 

Services will be restored one by one on a priority basis, and hence the community should not expect restoration of all facilities on their return.

 

In the meanwhile the AIT Task Force members will continue to facilitate the restoration of other facilities. AIT will initiate discussions with partner institutes to help students gain access to additional library facilities, since the ground floor of the AIT library has suffered a considerable damage. Similarly AIT will initiate talks with external providers to obtain accommodation for all ground floor residents who wish to return. This accommodation will be in AIT's vicinity.

 

A time frame of 15-31 March 2012 is being provided for resumption of classes, so that all those who are currently based at temporary locations need not rush back to the mother campus in a single day. Classes will resume on the second floor of the SET, SERD and SOM buildings. We will also utilise classrooms on the second floor of the AIT Conference Center. During this time, the ground floor of these buildings may have to be sealed (except for accessing upper level).

 

Meanwhile a modern environment friendly lecture theatre complex will be created by remodelling the AIT Extension Building. This lecture theatre complex will house classrooms for all AIT students and will act as a central pivot of academic activities. We have had preliminary discussions on this issue, and by the time the AIT community returns to the campus, some work on this project would have already started. We hope to open this lecture theatre complex before the May graduation. As soon as the complex is ready, some of you will be lucky to avail this facility in the January semester as well.

 

Certain other steps are being taken in light of the deadlines, and necessary instructions are being issued to ensure that clearance and cleaning activities are completed before the respective deadlines. It is important to note that the implementation of the above decisions would require that certain conditions are fulfilled, such as a certificate from a professional company that the campus is clean and safe for people to return.

 

Masters and doctoral students doing their theses work who wish to return to the campus earlier than the dates indicated can do so but it will be at their own risk, especially if it is before a certification from a professional company that the campus is clean and safe for people to return has been secured.

 

We end this year on a positive and promising note of returning to our beloved campus, and look forward towards not only restoration but also an upgrade of AIT's campus facilities.

 

 

Sincerely,

Professor Said Irandoust

President

Asian Institute of Technology