Suan Dusit Vice President Highlights “AI Must Create Opportunity, Not Inequality” at China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week 2026 in China
On July 29-30, Assistant Professor Dr. Pornchanit Kaew-nate went to Guizhou Province for China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week 2026. She’s Vice President for Academic and International Affairs at Suan Dusit University, and this event is probably the biggest annual gathering for education cooperation between China and ASEAN — university leaders, academics, and government representatives from across the region show up to swap ideas on where education is headed.
While there, she got an invitation from the Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE) to speak at a forum called “Partnership for Shared Growth: Global South Development Forum.” She used the slot to talk about Suan Dusit’s “Power of Next Learning Ecosystem” — the university’s approach that blends AI, flexible learning formats, and international partnerships. She also floated some concrete ideas for cooperation between universities in China, Thailand, and the rest of ASEAN: joint courses, exchanges for both students and staff, shared research, and using AI to sharpen how people learn in a digital-first world.
The trip wasn’t all conference rooms, either. She and her delegation stopped by Guizhou Shenghua Vocational College to see what they’re doing with special education — an AI-based massage training system, digital coursework built for students who are visually impaired, and an AI+XR setup for immersive learning. They spent time talking with faculty and students with disabilities there, picking up ideas that could feed into how Suan Dusit builds its own future learning systems.
“AI only really matters when it helps education reach everyone,” she said. “It’s not just about making learning more efficient — it has to close gaps, not widen them, and give every person a fair shot at developing their own potential.” For her, these international exchanges aren’t only about building partnerships between institutions; they’re a way to bring back ideas that can actually be applied here, especially around using AI to build an education system that’s high-quality, inclusive, and doesn’t leave anyone out.
The visit even made it onto Guizhou Shenghua Vocational College’s WeChat account, which posted photos of the exchange between the Suan Dusit delegation and the college’s students and staff — a small but visible sign of Suan Dusit’s role in this China-focused education network, and of where the university says it wants to go with AI and learner development going forward.
