Chiang Mai Rajabhat University.

Chiang Mai Rajabhat University at a glance

Chiang Mai Rajabhat University has the earliest founding date of any institution on this page, and its own history dates the start of teaching precisely: 19 May 1924, at the Payap Circle Agricultural Teacher Training School on land bought at Ban Wiang Bua in Tambon Chang Phueak. There were 28 boarding students in that first intake -- 16 from Chiang Mai, 6 from Chiang Rai, 5 from Lamphun and 1 from Mae Hong Son -- taught in a temporary bamboo building that doubled as the dormitory. That is forty years before Chiang Mai University opened, and the university marked its centenary in 2024.

The institution was renamed five times on the way to its present form: Payap Circle certificate teacher-training school (1927), Chiang Mai teacher-training school (1942 and again 1947), Chiang Mai Teachers' College (1960), Chiang Mai Rajabhat Institute after the royal grant of the name “Rajabhat” to all 36 teachers' colleges on 14 February 1992, and finally Chiang Mai Rajabhat University when the Rajabhat University Act was signed on 10 June 2004 and gazetted on 14 June 2004. Today its own site lists six faculties -- Education, Agricultural Technology, Humanities and Social Sciences, Management Sciences, Science and Technology, and Nursing -- plus an International College, the adiCET college for energy and economic development, a Graduate School and a demonstration school. It runs on three sites: the original Wiang Bua centre on Chang Phueak Road inside the city, a much larger newer centre at Mae Rim to the north, and a full campus in a neighbouring province at Mae Hong Son.

Notable facts

• Teaching began on 19 May 1924 with 28 boarding students drawn from four northern provinces -- four decades before Chiang Mai University opened, and the university marked its centenary in 2024.
• Runs a campus in a different province: Chiang Mai Rajabhat's Mae Hong Son campus and college sit roughly 250 km away, so “CMRU” on a course listing does not always mean Chiang Mai.
• The Wiang Bua centre sits at 202 Chang Phueak Road, immediately north of the old city moat and a short walk from Chang Phueak bus station.