Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Chiang Mai Campus.

Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Chiang Mai Campus at a glance

MCU's Chiang Mai campus began as the Lanna Buddhist College, set up by the Chiang Mai Sangha working with Chiang Mai University academics to bring university-level study to monks and novices in the province. The provincial Sangha signed the founding proclamation on 1 March 1984, and teaching started on 18 June 1984 in Wat Suan Dok's old Pali-studies building -- one subject, Religion, within the Buddhist Studies bachelor's programme, with general subjects taught by CMU lecturers who came in to help.

The MCU council resolved on 3 October 1985 to take the college in as part of the university under the formal name “Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya, Chiang Mai Campus” -- its third regional campus and its first in northern Thailand. A royal command of 1 October 1997 renamed the parent institution Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, and the campus with it. It still sits inside Wat Suan Dok on Suthep Road, a few minutes west of the old city on the road toward CMU and Doi Suthep, which is why visitors often meet it as a working temple before they realise it is also a university campus.

Notable facts

• Teaching began on 18 June 1984; the campus was formally accepted into MCU on 3 October 1985 as the university's third regional campus and its first in the North.
• It occupies part of a working temple -- Wat Suan Dok on Suthep Road -- rather than a separate site.
• The parent institution was renamed a university by royal command on 1 October 1997; older references to “Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya” without “University” predate that.