Objectives
- To help enhance the effectiveness of programs in agricultural instruction, research, and extension.
- To formulate plans, programs, and policies that will enable the member institutions to achieve common or similar goals.
- To determine ways and means by which members may be able to build strong linkages among institutions serving agriculture.
- To exchange experiences among the members as to the means by which they can contribute more effectively to the advancement of human welfare in Asia.
The idea of establishing an institution for regional cooperation was an offshoot of the First Asian Agricultural College and University Seminar held in September 1970 at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiara, India. The Follow-up Committee on the establishment of an association of agricultural colleges and universities in Asia chaired by Dr. M.C. Chakrabandhu, then Rector of Kasetsart University in Thailand, drafted the Constitution and By-Laws of the Association. Members of the Committee included Dr. K.C. Naik, then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore, India; Dr. F.A. Bernardo, then Dean of the College of Agriculture at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB); Dr. Jannes Hutasort of Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia; and Dr. Hyun Koo Pyo of Seoul National University, South Korea. Serving as consultants were Dr. Edward Nicholson of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Dr. Don Kimmel of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, and Dr. R.W. Cummings of the North Carolina State University, USA.
On 1 May 1972, the Asian Association of Agricultural Colleges and Universities (AAACU) was officially formed during the Second Agricultural College and University Seminar held at the Pines Hotel in Baguio City, Philippines.
The signatories to the adoption of the Constitution of AAACU represented the 17 Asian institutions of higher learning in agriculture from nine countries, namely: Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Republic of China, Malaysia, Korea, South Vietnam, Turkey, and Iran.
Executive Council
Dean
Faculty of Agriculture
University Putra Malaysia
Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Dean
Faculty of Animal Science
University of Gadja Mada
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Assistant to the President for Research, Innovation and International Affairs
Kasetsart University-Kamphaeng Saen Campus
Kamphaeng Saen, Thailand
University President
University of Eastern Philippines
Northern Samar, Philippines
Deputy Dean
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
National Chung Hsing University
Taichung, Taiwan
Professor and Dean
Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences
Nagoya University
Furo-cho Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Japan
The Secretariat
From its establishment in 1972 until December 1975, AAACU’s Secretariat Office under Dr. Fernando A. Bernardo, then Dean of the UP College of Agriculture (now UPLB College of Agriculture and Food Science), was based at the College of Agriculture. With the transfer of Dr. Bernardo to the Visayas State College of Agriculture (now Visayas State University) as its University President, the AAACU Secretariat Office relocated to ViSCA’S Liaison Office in Pasay City in Manila from January 1976 until 1985. When Dr. Bernardo, who subsequently later became President of AAACU, moved to the SEAMEO Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) to become Center Director in 1986, the Secretariat was again relocated to SEARCA in College, Laguna. Dr. Sarn-ang Srinilta, who was then Deputy Director of SEARCA, was elected Executive Secretary in 1986. With the completion of Dr. Sam-arng’s term of office in 1992 as Deputy Director of SEARCA, he went back to Thailand and AAACU established a temporary Secretariat at Kasetsart University while maintaining the main secretariat at SEARCA. When Dr. Sarn-ang was appointed as Vice-Rector for Planning and Development in 1994 at Suranaree University of Technology (SUT), a Secretariat office was then set up at SUT. The office at KU was retained as a liaison office.
