Communication

1. 1. The university has established policies for collaboration with the community sector during the fiscal years 2021-2023, as follows:

1.1 The university sets policies for collaboration with the community sector in terms of network building and collaboration with external agencies as per the announcement of Nakhon Si Thammasat Rajabhat University's University Council Policy, 2021-2024,
which includes:

1.1.1 Urgent Policy

(1) Policy for establishing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with external organizations, both national and international, by using all sectors of
the network to facilitate cooperation in driving the university's missions.

1.1.2 Policy for building network and collaboration with external organizations

(1) Support the continuous collection and development of a database system for the university’s cooperation network, ensuring it is current, up-to-date, efficient, and effective.

(2) Promote and support the collaboration with local development among staff, alumni networks, local community networks, and public and private sector networks to foster teamwork and a public mind.

1.2 The university has established and announced missions for creating cooperation networks with all sectors to promote local development and strengthen community leaders' integrity and capabilities in managing operations for the public benefit in the annual operational plan.

1.3 The university has declared objectives, aims, and focus points of operations to effectively achieve goals under section 7 of the Rajabhat University Act, 2004, for the fiscal year 2021-2023, in the areas of networking and collaboration with external organizations as follows:

1.3.1 Promote and support cooperation with external organizations, both national and international, utilizing all sectors of the network to facilitate cooperation in driving all university missions.

1.3.2 Support the continuous collection and development of a database system for the university's cooperation network, ensuring it is current, up-to-date, efficient, and effective.

1.4 The university is dedicated to implementing the Royal Philosophy of His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Phra Vajiraklaochaoyuhua for local development.

1.5 The university has established cooperation networks with external organizations, both national and international, as follows:

1.5.1 For the fiscal year 2022, there were one hundred and twenty-one national MOUs, two international MOUs, twelve national MOAs, one international MOA, and three national LOAs, totaling 139 agreements.

1.5.2 For the fiscal year 2023, there were one hundred and thirty-nine national MOUs, four international MOUs, five national MOAs, one international MOA, and three national LOAs, totaling 152 agreements.

1.5.3 For the fiscal year 2024, there were sixty-three national MOUs, three international MOUs, eight national MOAs, and three domestic LOAs, totaling 77 agreements.

1.6 The university operates according to the Rajabhat University Strategic Plan for Local Development (2017-2036), which is in line with the resolution of the meeting of Rajabhat University Presidents, which sets the target areas for local development covering two provinces: Nakhon Si Thammarat and Trang.

1.7 According to the 5-year transformation plan of Nakhon Si Thammarat Rajabhat University (2023 -2027) and the announcement of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation regarding the designation of universities affiliated with the group of higher education institutions for the fiscal year 2022, announced on November 29, 2021, the university has designated and selected to drive its mission as a group of 3 higher educational institutions focusing on the development of local and other communities.

1.8 There is a continuous driving of research and local development (University engagement) missions by making agreements with districts over a period of 3 years, with responsibility units for service areas: one faculty/two service areas (2 districts).

1.9 The university organizes teaching and learning activities to promote the joint development of theoretical knowledge and practical academic skills. The objective is to organize teaching and learning activities for the students and faculty members to promote the development of theoretical knowledge and practical academic skills together (Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education: CWIE) by creating a network through an MOU, including:

1.9.1 Bachelor of Business Administration program, majoring in Retail Business, with CP All Public Company Limited.

1.9.2 Bachelor of Engineering Technology program, majoring in Industrial Technology, specializing in nielloware and jewelry, with the Thai niello and silverware association under the royal patronage and the Nakorn Hatthakam handicraft learning center.

1.10 The university has signed MOUs with local administrative organizations to collaborate in community development, aiming to elevate the quality of life and local economy in 93 sub-districts in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Trang, and Krabi provinces. This collaboration involves leveraging the knowledge, technology, and innovations of the university and various organizations to drive both production and service sectors at the local level to achieve the economic recovery of civil society.

2. 2. The university shares educational and research outcomes with the community appropriately.

2.1 The university shares educational outcomes by using innovation for local development, comprising 22 projects.

2.2 The university shares research outcomes by disseminating knowledge from research works to the community. It raises a learning community, promotes local innovators for continuous adaptation of innovations, establishes community research centers for sustainability, registers intellectual properties jointly with the community for mutual benefits, creates a network of innovation databases with Appropriate Technology for utilizing innovation benefits from collaborative research works, and promotes entrepreneurship with the University Business Incubator (UBI).

2.3 The university shares outcomes from the knowledge and innovation to develop the community, comprising 19 projects.

2.4 The university has established a Center of Excellence for Local Development in the Southern Region. In the process, it incorporates local knowledge from local experts, community artists, national artists, exemplary youth, and knowledge within the area. It collaborates to develop short-term courses and undergraduate programs in cultural tourism. The policy is to serve as a center for knowledge, innovation, and academic services to local communities for lifelong learning in cultural tourism. This aims to promote, support, create value, and instill a sense of local pride in local arts, culture, traditions, and local wisdom through tourism. In 2021, the focus was on establishing centers, managing centers, and producing short-term courses related to being cultural ambassadors in tourism, totaling eight topics, including (1) local wisdom, (2) local traditions, (3) local cuisine, (4) archaeological sites and artifacts, (5) local sports, (6) cultural product manufacturing, (7) local art, and (8) performing arts.

2.5 The Pa San Soi Learning Center covers almost 76 acres, serving as a learning center for local plant species and a demonstration area for economic crops (oil palm trees). It is a base for learning about local resource ecosystems and provides space for community and youth activities, such as organizing scout campus and the learning center; according to His Majesty 's Science for local development accounts for 5.5 acres. Moreover, such center also serves as a location for the establishment of educational and tourism community enterprises and as a practice area about His Majesty's Science, consisting of nine learning bases, including (1) water management science for good water, wastewater, and consumption, (2) proper land management science, (3) soil management science, (4) forest management science (plants, forestry), (5) housing management science, (6) new agricultural theories,
(7) botanical gardens and local medicinal plants, (8) forests with three benefits and four benefits, and (9) practice areas, demonstration sites, and learning projects, totaling 0.39 acre.

2.6 The university collaborated with the Program Management Unit on Area-Based Development (PMU A) and organized the project entitled “Revitalizing and Preserving Ancient Traditions in Muaeng Khon 's Multicultural Communities' to raise awareness and create local economies through the Mahachai Mountain Cultural Market. The project involved the collaboration from the community in various activities, including: (1) Collecting tangible and intangible cultural assets data, (2) Gathering information on cultural knowledge, products' production, and cultural service, (3) Developing cultural products and services using available innovations and technologies, (4) Cultural data map.

3. 3. Measures to support collaboration with civil society, as outlined in the policy, are as follows:

3.1 The implementation plans and measures include:

• The 20-Year Strategic Plan of Rajabhat Universities for Local Development (2023-2027).
• The 5-Year Operational Plan (2023-2027).
• Annual Operational Plans.
• Plans to strengthen relationships with communities.
• Systems and mechanisms for driving local development.
• Systems and mechanisms for driving research in the area.
• Seeking/developing cooperation with provincial administrators,
  top management, and private sector networks.

3.2 Development of shared spaces with communities: The university has issued announcements specifying target areas and communities for academic service provision to society for the fiscal year 2021. These target areas include two provinces, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Trang, comprising 26 districts, 78 sub-districts, 121 communities/villages, and 52 schools.

3.3 The university has conducted research projects for local development from 2021 to 2023. Additionally, the university continuously receives research funding for local development from various sources, including the Fundamental Fund (FF) from Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI), the Strategic Fund (SF) from the Program Management Unit on Area-Based Development (PMU A) and the Knowledge Management (KM) Research and Utilization Fund from the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT).

3.4 Matching Fund: The university has established criteria for conducting research in collaboration with other organizations. The aim is to improve the research and development capabilities at the local level. In the fiscal year 2023, the university participated in matching funds as follows:

3.4.1 The university participated in matching funding through support from the PMU A, under the Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council. The project entitled " Revitalizing and Preserving Ancient Traditions in Muaeng Khon 's Multicultural Communities to Raise Awareness and Create Local Economies through the Mahachai Mountain Cultural Market" received funding of 2,000,000 baht from PMU A and additional support of 300,000 baht from the university, totaling 2,300,000 baht.

3.4.2 The university has joint ventures for local development by receiving support from the "Re-inventing University" project under the Office of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation. This project aims to create excellence by
the university's strengths, aligning with the country's development direction by creating points of difference according to the university's strengths and expertise in local development.
The "Management of Cultural and Heritage Assets Fund" project in Nakhon Si Thammarat province received funding of 4,500,000 baht and additional support of 900,000 baht from
the university, totaling 5,400,000 baht.

3.5 The university collaborated with communities by organizing activities to develop research topics and invited community members such as local entrepreneurs, villages, sub-districts, district leaders, Provincial Commercial Affairs Office, Provincial Community Development Office, Provincial Industrial Office, and Provincial Tourism and Sports Office. This activity aimed to develop research topics with community representatives and researchers, analyze local issues through stakeholder analysis and jointly analyze spatial data between communities and researchers to design research processes and engage in research participation. Knowledge Management (KM) frameworks are developed to outline the research topics' Moreover, experts in relevant fields were invited to participate in research topic formulation and research framework development and provide recommendations to the researchers.

3.6 University 's local development project implementation within the fiscal years 2021-2023:

Fiscal Year 2021: 9 main projects with 42 sub-activities

Fiscal Year 2022: 9 main projects with 34 sub-activities

Fiscal Year 2023: 10 main projects with 60 sub-activities

There is an Intelligent Center for Local Development in the Southern Region of Nakhon Si Thammarat Rajabhat University. Contact via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093643090401