Bangkok: The first batch of 20 designers from a school of fashion and interior design, sponsored by a Thai Monk, abbot of the Wat Dhammamongkol temple in Bangkok, graduated this week which is considered an important milestone to promote Bangkok as Asian fashion hub.

Chanapat Institute of Design, located in the Wat Dhammamongkolin Bangkok Thailand, is offering training courses provided by Italian professors from the L'Accademia Italiana in Florence, Italy

Mr. Khemtad Sukhontasingh, board of director of Chanapat Institute in Bangkok, said that the institute is a brainchild of Phrathepjetiyajarn, the Thai Monk and abbot of Wat Dhammamongkol to produce Thai skillful designers and promote Thailand as a fashion hub.

The endeavour of the temple abbot is coincidentally timed in line with the government's policy to promote Bangkok as the biggest fashion hub in Asia.

We have been inviting experts from L'Accademia Italiana, one of the well known European fashion institutes to teach our students, Khemtad said.

The curriculum here was verified by the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts and the Chulalongkorn University and Rajamangala Institute of Technology to make it practical to Thai students, he further added.

Chanapat Institute also signed an agreement with Chulalongkorn University to cooperate in developing Thai people, who want to pursue their career in the area of fashion designing to achieve the highest level of their proficiency, he said.

The two-year program costs only one hundred thousand Thai Baht, while students have to pay eight hundred thousand to take the same designing course in Italy.

In the future, the new Bangkok Institute of fashion will be upgraded to be the fashion design center in the Thailand and the courses will be expanded to cover other varieties of fashion products and merchandises, Khemtad said.