On 22 June 2026, Asst. Prof. Dr. Songlak Sakulwichitsintu, Vice-President for Research, Innovation, Information Technology, and International Affairs at Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University (STOU), officially accepted a certificate recognizing the university’s digital repository as a national model for quality digital archive management, complying with the National Digital Repository Publication Standards (MTCh/Publication Standard 2001-2567).
This recognition was awarded to the Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University Intellectual Repository (STOUIR), developed by the Office of Documentation and Information. STOUIR successfully passed rigorous assessments to be certified as a “Model Digital Information Repository,” reflecting the dedication and high capability in developing digital archives to meet stringent national standards.
The award ceremony took place at the Thailand Research Expo 2026, held under the theme “Research Synergy: Driving Power for a Creative and Sustainable Thai Economy and Society” at the Centara Grand and Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld, Bangkok.
The STOU Intellectual Repository (https://ir.stou.ac.th) serves as the university’s centralized platform for compiling dissertations, theses, independent studies, and journal articles. Operated via the open-source software DSpace and utilizing the Dublin Core Metadata standard,
the repository was developed entirely by the technical team at the Office of Documentation and Information.
The initiative and detailed standard compliance documentation were spearheaded under the leadership of Assoc. Prof. Krittika Jiwalak, the former Director of the Office of Documentation and Information. Supported by STOU, the repository participated as a model agency in the institutional assessment and certification system project initiated by the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT). Having successfully cleared all evaluations in 2024 (B.E. 2567), the official certification has been validified spanning four years, effective from 16 February 2026, to 15 February 2030.