THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY

'Thammasat University' (), formerly known as the 'University of Moral and Political Science' (), is the second oldest university and is one of the most prestigious universities in Thailand. More than 70 years since its establishment in 1934, the University has produced more than 240,000 undergraduate and graduate students who have greatly contributed to the development and progress of the society and the country. The University's alumni include prime ministers, top-level politicians and officers, Bank of Thailand governors, as well as most of the city's governors. Its schools of business, law, economics, and political science have been ranked among the top in Southeast Asia.

Origins and Developments

Thammasat University was established on June 27, 1934, under the University of Moral and Political Science Act of 1933. The Act was drafted by Pridi Banomyong, one of the leaders of the People's Party and Interior Minister at the time. With an ambitious vision to create a higher public institution to educate a fledgling democracy on law and political science, Pridi founded the University and served as its first rector. During its infancy, the University was run as an open academic institution, operating independently without funding from the government but, instead, relying partly on tuition fees. The University was also dependent on interest paid by the Bank of Asia, of which the University held 80% of the shares and of which Pridi was a co-founder. The University began by initially offering four major fields of study: law, commerce and accountancy, political science, and economics. These were later expanded to other disciplines such as social work, journalism, and liberal arts, with the last being the oldest of its kind in the country.
Under Pridi's leadership, the University became the clandestine headquarter of the Free Thai anti-Japanese movement during World War II. Ironically, the University campus also functioned as an interment camp for the Allies civilians, with Thai guards more or less protecting them from abuses by the Japanese. After Thailand's brief post WWII foray into democracy was interrupted by the 1949 coup of Field Marshal Plaek Phibulsongkram, the military-led government removed the term "Political Science" from the University's name and banned students from political activities. The university's shares were sold out and its operations became entirely dependent on funding from the government.^[1]
The history of political development in Thailand cannot be understood in isolation from the significant role that Thammasat University and its students have played. For example, on more than one occasion, mass demonstrations in the Tha Phrachan campus and its neighborhood triggered events that eventually led to landmark changes in democracy in Thailand, such as those leading to brutal massacre on October 6, 1976.
Thammasat University is a member of Links to Asia by Organizing Traineeship and Student Exchange (LAOTSE), an international network of leading universities in Europe and Asia. It also cooperates with some of the top universities around the globe as well. A regional cooperation is maintained with the Greater Mekong Sub-region Academic and Research Network.

Campuses

Currently, the university has six campuses across the country, but the main campus is still at Tha Phrachan, where all the Social Science fields remain.

★ 'Tha Phrachan Center' is located near the Chao Phraya River inside the historic Rattanakosin Island, Bangkok. The land was purchased entirely with money raised by private donations. Tha Phrachan is a compact area with a richly storied past. Tha Prachan campus was the center spot of the 1976 Thammasat student uprising in which about 300 students protesting against the return to Thailand of former military dictator Thanom Kittikachorn were massacred by the military, police and rightwing activists.^[2] Tha Phrachan campus also witnessed another mass rally against the unpopular Suchinda Kraprayoon in May 1992 after he had been elected premier by the house of parliament. Today, the Tha Phrachan campus is a potent symbol for Thai human rights, free speech and democratic society.

★ 'Rangsit Center', the largest campus, is located in Pathum Thani, north of Bangkok. It is situated next to the Asian Institute of Technology and Thailand Science Park, an area known as the "Technology Cluster of Northern Bangkok". Realizing the significant impact of science and technology on the country's economic growth, Thammasat University initiated degree programs in engineering, technologies, physical sciences, and medicine at its Rangsit Center in the 1980s and 1990s. Although originally established for science and technology-related faculties, the center is now rapidly expanding to cover a variety of disciplines. All bachelor's degree classes currently taught at Tha-Prachan Center are scheduled to be moved there by 2007. The campus is also home to the Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology, an international academic institute attached to the university emphasizing engineering and technology-related research and education. All freshmen are supposed to spend their first two years in the Rangsit Campus.

★ 'Tavorn-Usa Pornprapa Center' Located in Pattaya, Chonburi province.

★ 'Thammasat Lanna College' Located in Lampang province, north of Thailand.

★ A campus in Narathiwat province

★ A campus in Udon Thani province

Colleges and Faculties

The university has 18 faculties/education units, namely: the Faculty of Law, Commerce and Accountancy, Political Science, Economics, Social Administration, Liberal Arts, Journalism and Mass Communication, Sociology and Anthropology, Science and Technology, Engineering, Medicine, Dentistry, Allied Health Science, Nursing, Architecture and Planning, Fine and Applied Arts, Public Health, the Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology, and the College of Innovative Education

Faculty of Architecture and Planning

The university had proposed the establishment of a Faculty of Architecture under the Eighth National Higher Education Plan (1997 - 2001) of the Ministry of University Affairs (now Office of the Commission on Higher Education under the Ministry of Education). However, a Cabinet meeting on February 3, 1998 decided to restrict the establishment of all new departments. The university then created an Architecture Program to be autonomous under the Thammasat University Council by its resolution of May 6, 1999.
The program was approved to be the Faculty of Architecture by a resolution of the Thammasat University Council on October 29, 2001. Prof. Dr. Vimolsiddhi Horayangkura, who had been the program's director since 1999, was appointed to be the first dean of the Faculty of Architecture. The faculty offered two more new undergraduate programs, Interior Architecture and Urban Environmental Planning and Management Program, in the 2002 academic year.

Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy

Established in November 23, 1938, the Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy is the oldest business school in Thailand. It offers a broad range of programs including business administration, logistics, human resource management, accounting, finance, marketing, real estate management and management information system, from diploma to doctoral degree. The faculty also offers international programs in which English is the medium language of instruction.
The faculty is recognized internationally. In 2005, a team of students from the Master's of Sciences Degree Program in Marketing (MIM) of Thammasat Business School won, for the second time, the world’s renowned Global Moot Corp, a venue for business plan competition, held at the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin.^[3]

Faculty of Economics

The Faculty of Economics at Thammasat University was established in 1949. The Faculty offers a broad range of academic programs and other training opportunities. Under the leadership of Dr. Puey Ungpakorn, a former Bank of Thailand governor who took charge concurrently as the dean of the faculty, there were many significant developments within the Economics faculty. Dr. Puey secured funding from Rockefeller Foundation and brought faculty members from a number of American universities.
The first big step toward internationalization was the introduction, in 1969, a Master of Economics program degree taught in English. Since then, a Bachelor's program and a Ph.D. program taught in English have been added to the curriculum.
The Faculty boasts a strong teaching staff that today totals 82, including 44 faculty members with doctoral degree and 7 on study leave to pursue doctoral degrees. It is considered to be one of the strongest programs in Thailand. Its graduates have normally attended the prestigious departments of Economics such as Harvard, Chicago, UC Berkeley,Cornell, Oxford, Cambridge, LSE.

Faculty of Engineering

The Faculty of Engineeering was founded on August 19, 1989 as the 10th faculty of the university. Originally formed as a response to governmental initiative to promote the study of science and its related field. It originally started teaching electrical and industrial engineering in 1990, then expanded its offerings to civil engineering (1992), chemical engineering (1994), and mechanical engineering (1996).
The faculty also has an international department which taught in English and very often mistaken as SIIT (see below) by outsiders. This special programme is divided into two distinct parts, ''Twinning Engineering Programme (TEP)'', established in 1997, and the ''Thammasat English Engineering Programme (TEPE)'', established in 2000. The TEP programme is a sandwich program, two years in Thammasat and two years in a foreign university (currently either the University of Nottingham or University of New South Wales).
The faculty is also known for its teaching excellence and strong research links although their works are not often known. The faculty has strong ties with both NECTEC and MTEC located in Thailand Science Park. The faculty also has strong researching ties with Japan particularly and more recently with the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. Its current dean is Assoc. Prof. Dr. Uruya Weesakul.

Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication

Department of Journalism was established in 1954 and was Thailand's first higher education in journalism. It was granted a faculty status in 1979 and has been known since as the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication. Today the faculty offers undergraduate programs in newspaper and print media, radio and television broadcasting, cinematography, advertising, public relations, and communication management. It also offers several programs at master's level as well as a doctoral degree in mass communication.
There also the international course for the Faculty in Bachelor of Arts Program in Journalism and Mass Media studies (BJM Program).

Faculty of Law

The Faculty of Law was one of the founding faculties of the university. It has its roots in the law school of the Ministry of Justice, instituted under the reign of King Rama V by Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns. Former Deans of the Faculty have included Phraya Nitisat Phaisan, Sanya Dharmasakti, and Preedee Kasemsup. The Faculty has programs up to the doctorate level, as well as several certificate programs in business law and public law.^[4]^[5]

Faculty of Political Science

The faculty of Political Science at Thammasat University was established in 1949.

Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology

Main articles: Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology

Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology, located in the university's Rangsit Center, Pathum Thani, is a semi-autonomous institute of technology established in 1992. It offers a range of science, technology and engineering education, as well as related management programs. All of them are international programs, with English language as a medium of instructions. Although it is an academic unit of the university, and graduates of the institute receive Thammasat University degrees, the institute is self-administered and financed. The institute enjoys strong links with Thailand National Science and Technology Development Agency, Thailand Science Park, Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, and many international universities, notably its neighbor Asian Institute of Technology, and a group of Japanese and European universities. Being a research-led academic institution in nature, from the most recent performance evaluation (Academic Year 2003) by the university, the institute has the highest number of research publications (both in raw quantity and per graduate student heads), compare to other academic units in the university.^[6]

People

Prominent faculty members

Former and current prominent faculty members include:

★ Pridi Banomyong, Senior Statesman, former Prime Minister of Thailand, leader of the Free Thai underground movement during World War II, and founder of the university

★ Puey Ungpakorn, former Governor of the Bank of Thailand, former Rector, and former Dean of the Faculty of Economics

★ Noranit Setabutr, current Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Assembly, former Senator, and former Rector

★ Jermsak Pinthong, current member of the Constitutional Drafting Committee, former Senator, and former Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics

★ Theerayut Boonmee, former student activist, social critic and lecturer at the Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology

★ Ammar Siamwalla, current member of the National Legistative Assembly, former president of Thailand Development Research Institute, and former professor at the Faculty of Economics

★ Rangsan Thanapornpan, columnist and professor at the Faculty of Economics

★ Likhit Dhiravegin, current leader of the Phalang Thai Party, current member of the Royal Institute, social critic, and former Associate Professor at the Faculty of Political Science

★ Abhisit Vejjajiva, current leader of the Democrat Party and former lecturer at the Faculty of Economics

Notable alumni

★ HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha, staff at the Thai permanent mission to the United Nations

★ Chuan Leekpai, former Prime Minister of Thailand

★ Somkid Jatusripitak, former Minister of Commerce and Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand

★ Wissanu Krea-Ngam, former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand

★ Pridiyathorn Devakula, former Governor of the Bank of Thailand

★ Banyat Bantadan, former Deputy Prime Minister and former leader of the Democrat Party

Notes

1. Biographical website of Pridi Bhanomyong
2. 'We Do Not Forget the 6 October' - The 1996 Commemoration of the October 1976 Massacre in Bangkok, Thongchai Winichakul
3. http://www.mootcorp.org/
4. Faculty of Law website, List of previous deans
5. Faculty of Law website, List of faculty
6. {{th icon} 12-months duty report (Academic Year 2003) by Quality Assurance Division, Academic Affairs Department, Thammasat University. (overview & criteria, chart)

External links

★ Thammasat University

★

★ The Master's of Sciences Degree Program (MIM), Thammasat Business School

★ Faculty of Architecture and Planning

★ Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy

★ Faculty of Economics

★ Bachelor of Economics International Program, Faculty of Economics

★ Faculty of Engineering

★ Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology

★ Bachelor of Arts Program in Journalism

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