About SKU
Established in 2009, SKU it is the centre of education and culture in the southern region of Laos, and plays an important role in the development of human resources and scientific research. SKU is located in the East-west economic corridor and was established to provide higher education and technical assistance to students and government staff in Savannakhet, Khammouane, and Bolikhamxay provinces. The Faculty of Agric. and Environment (FOA) is one of eight faculties at SKU, with a total of 81 staff (45% female) and 1,050 students (41% female) divided in four Departments; one of them the Dept. of Forest Science
Key activities in academic training and research
Dept. Forest Science only provides undergraduate studies (BSc.). There are two academic divisions in the Department: watershed management and ecotourism, with a total of 150 students. After graduation, several students go to NUoL or abroad for postgraduate studies, as SKU do not yet offer postgraduate opportunities, despite being a region rich in natural resources. Forest resource have not been successfully managed due to limited number of skilled/qualified people for effective forest resource planning, management, and utilization
Local and international partners
At the local level, SKU has MOUs with the Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Department (PAFO), the Department of Natural Resource and Environment (DONRE), and the Agriculture and Forestry College (Nakea). SKU also cooperates with district and provincial government organizations. At the international level, SKU has international MOUs with Kasetsart University (Thailand), Hanover University (Germany), the University of Helsinki (Finland), the Forestry Faculty of the University of Eastern Finland, and Colorado University (USA)
In the last 5 years, SKU have been involved with capacity building activities with UH, including cooperation/participation in CIMO’s HEI-ICI & NSS program and joint research such as the GET-LDC project funded by the Academy of Finland.
Fro more info, visit the university webpage.
FRAME Involvment
SKU will work closely with CZU and KU to develop and implement the “Sustainable Forest Management” academic focal area as well as supporting the implementation of WP3 Quality control and WP5 management. SKU will coordinate and host 2 capacity building activity in Savannakhet. SKU will be responsible for selecting their staff to join the relevant capacity building activities and academic staff exchange to UH and CZU. SKU will have one representative sit on the Executive Management Committee (EMC) and the Academic Advisory Board (AAB). SKU is responsible for its own MSc course accreditation process which is managed by the AAB in liaison with the Ministry of Education and Sport.