Khon Kaen University.

What is awarded, and by whom

Bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees across 25 faculties and colleges, in its own name.

Khon Kaen University at a glance

Khon Kaen University was established in 1964 under Thailand's First National Economic Development Plan, which called for expanding higher education into the regions. It opened with three faculties -- Agriculture, Engineering, and Science and Arts -- and admitted 107 students in its first academic year; the first cohort of 59 undergraduates graduated in the 1967 academic year. The Khon Kaen University Act was published in the Royal Gazette on 25 January 1966, the date the university marks as its official founding, and King Bhumibol Adulyadej formally inaugurated the university on 20 December 1967.

The main campus is at 123 Moo 16, Mittraphap Road, Nai Mueang, a few kilometres north-west of the old town. KKU has grown from agriculture, engineering and science into a comprehensive research university -- a Faculty of Law was added in 2006, the College of Local Administration in 2007, an International College in 2008 and a Faculty of Economics in 2015 -- and it has a second campus at Nong Khai. It became an autonomous university under state supervision on 18 July 2015, and was one of nine institutions designated National Research Universities in 2009. Its Faculty of Medicine teaching hospital, Srinagarind Hospital, is the region's principal tertiary referral hospital.

Notable facts

• Opened in 1964 with 107 students in three faculties; the founding Act was gazetted on 25 January 1966 and the King inaugurated the university on 20 December 1967.
• Became an autonomous university under state supervision on 18 July 2015; named a National Research University in 2009.
• BAANLYY previously described the main campus as "roughly 9,000 acres (around 5,500 rai)". Those two figures do not describe the same area -- 5,500 rai is about 2,175 acres -- and Khon Kaen University publishes no campus area on its own history page, so the claim is withdrawn rather than corrected to a number we cannot source.