Thailand is in critical shortage of qualified mathematicians to fulfill the need for capable personnel in research and development units in both the government and private sectors. Highly qualified mathematicians may be found scattered among well recognized universities throughout the country. As the Director of the Centre of Excellence in Mathematics, a national centre under the Postgraduate Education and Research Development Office (PERDO), Commission on Higher Education of the Ministry of Education, my duty is to coordinate and facilitate cooperation among university staffs in all related fields of mathematics, including statistics and mathematics education, with the aim of increasing the productivity in research as well human resource development.

The Centre’s founding members include 19 universities. Cooperation among these welknown universities in both their personnel and existing facilities is expected to lead to a fast acceleration in research and trainings of mathematicians in a leap frog fashion. The Director’s responsibilities also include the promotion of international cooperations with welknown institutions all over the world in order to achieve a fast paced increase in cutting edge research in all fields of mathematics and mathematics education. Training and development of new generations of mathematicians and mathematics teachers will greatly benefit from such international linkages.

I also believe that proactive steps need to be taken to attract supports from the business and private sectors in the forms of financial contributions, joint research projects, workshops and trainings, including the creation of opportunities for technology transfers.

Since mathematics forms the very foundation of science and technology development, cooperation among all related units and agencies is the only way that can lead the country towards a bright future as a potentially competitive nation in the international economic arena.