About Ramkhamhaeng University
Before the establishment of Ramkhamhaeng
University in 1971, Thailand had long suffered what might be
called "a crisis in the quest for higher education". At that time
the number of high school graduates seeking seats to the
universities outnumbered the admission capacity of all
universities combined. The problem finally prompted the parliament
to pass a law authorizing the establishment of Ramkhamhaeng
University, named after King Ramkhamhaeng the Great (ca.
1239-1317), who invented the Thai alphabet, or ‘RU’ as it is
commonly known ... the country’s first open-admission university.
The university was granted permission to use a
300 rai (125 acre) plot of land in the eastern suburb of Bangkok
as its main campus; this land once housed the International Trade
Fair. With the growing number of students, Ramkhamhaeng has
expanded to Bang-Na campus, about 25 kilometers away from the main
campus. In the national program, freshmen classes are held at the
extension campus while classes for upper level students remain at
Huamark. Additionally, there are 22 more campuses all over
Thailand.
In 1999, Ramkhamhaeng University expanded its
educational opportunities by forming the Institute of
International Studies (IIS-RU) as a faculty for the university’s
international program to satisfy the ever growing demand for
international higher education.
Among other developments, the past two decades
have witnessed a number of changes in the operation and structure
of the University itself. For instance, the number of students has
skyrocketed with each passing academic year, reaching over 600,000
in 2004.
On an academic note, having started out with
only four faculties in all, primarily those pertaining to the
social sciences, namely, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of
Business Administration, the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty
of Education, later, in 1974, three more faculties were added,
consisting of the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Political
Science and the Faculty of Economics.
In addition, the University enjoys a wide range of excellent
academic support facilities, including the Central Library, the
Educational Technology Office, the Institute of Computer Science,
the University Press, the Research and Development Institute, the
Institute of International Studies, the Arts and Cultural
Institute, the Sports Office, the Institute of Health Science, the
Ramkhamhaeng Institute of Languages, and the Institute of Human
Resources Development. |
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