Schools & universities in Nakhon Pathom.

โรงเรียนสาธิตนานาชาติมหาวิทยาลัยมหิดล

Founded in 2013 under the direction of Mahidol University, MUIDS is the only international-curriculum school in Nakhon Pathom province and is genuinely unusual for a province this size. It is also, in practice, an upper-secondary school and nothing else. It sits on the Salaya campus alongside Mahidol University International College, which means a family here is inside a large, functioning, English-speaking academic community rather than at an isolated school -- an advantage that is real for a sixteen-year-old and irrelevant for a six-year-old.

Where it starts: Grade 10, and nowhere below it. MUIDS is a co-educational secondary school for Grades 10 to 12 only -- there is no Grade 9, no middle school, no primary and no early years. This is the most important sentence on the page for anyone with a younger child.

Sector:

Demonstration school of a public university (Mahidol University)

Curriculum:

The school's own description: a curriculum built on three separate standards at once -- the Content Standards for California Public Schools, the Thailand Ministry of Education Content Standards for Basic Education, and the Thai Language and Culture Content Standards for International Schools issued by the Office of the Private Education Commission. Graduates receive a Thai high-school certificate and an American diploma.

Language of instruction:

English, with the Thai language and culture component required of international schools in Thailand.

Year groups:

Grades 10-12

Founded:

2013

Getting in:

Entrance testing and interview rather than open enrolment. Third-party school profiles describe four components — a MAP academic test, a TOEFL English test, a writing test and a personal interview — and describe a TOEFL ITP score requirement attached to graduation as well as entry. Confirm the current round, the components and the score thresholds with the school directly; see flags.

Boarding:

We found no boarding provision published by the school. Treat MUIDS as a day school and confirm directly if boarding matters to you.

Scale:

The school publishes its academic structure rather than a roll: a minimum of 81 credits taken through the Thailand Ministry of Education curriculum across the three years, a minimum load of 27 credits a year, and six 60-minute periods a day, five days a week, with clubs running in a 'Period 8'. We do not publish a student number because the school does not.

Who it suits:

A family relocating with a child already in or about to enter upper secondary, who wants an English-medium, American-standards route to university and wants to live outside Bangkok. It suits the Mahidol orbit particularly well. It cannot serve a younger child at all.

The school run:

On the Mahidol Salaya campus in Phutthamonthon, on Phutthamonthon Sai 4 -- the eastern edge of the province and the quickest part of it to reach from western Bangkok. There is no rail transit to Salaya today; the committed Red Line extension from Siriraj via Taling Chan is not due to open until 2029. See our Getting Around guide for what is signed and when.

Address:

999 Phutthamonthon Sai 4 Road, Salaya, Phutthamonthon, Nakhon Pathom 73170

MUIDS official site →

โรงเรียนมหิดลวิทยานุสรณ์

Mahidol Wittayanusorn -- 'Prince Mahidol Memorial Science School' -- was Thailand's first specialised science and mathematics school, and it is in this province, on the Mahidol Salaya campus. It is the single strongest reason Nakhon Pathom is treated nationally as an education province rather than simply a Bangkok commuter belt, and our previous version of this guide did not mention it at all.

Where it starts: Grade 10. MWIT teaches Grades 10 to 12 (Mathayom 4-6) and nothing below. Like MUIDS, it is an upper-secondary school only.

Sector:

Public and autonomous government school. In the school's own words it is 'governed by a school board and managed by a school principal who reports directly to the Minister of Education' — an unusual line of accountability that reflects its national role.

Curriculum:

The national Ministry of Education curriculum plus, in the school's own description, 'a high degree of specialization in mathematics and science', a requirement that every pupil complete a science project, and a wide elective range. It is a specialised science school, not an international one.

Language of instruction:

Thai.

Year groups:

Grades 10-12 (Mathayom 4-6)

Founded:

1990

Getting in:

National competitive selection, in Thai. The school takes 240 new pupils a year from across Thailand and every pupil receives a full government scholarship. This is not a school a relocating foreign family applies to in the ordinary sense, and we would be misleading you to list it as an option; it is on this page because it is a real and significant part of what makes Nakhon Pathom an education province, and because it explains why so much of the province's academic gravity sits at Salaya.

Boarding:

Yes, and stated by the school itself: MWIT describes itself as 'a public and autonomous boarding school'. This is a genuine residential school, not a homestay arrangement.

Scale:

The school's own figures: 240 new pupils admitted each year, 720 pupils in total across the three grades, and classes capped at 24 to hold the teacher-to-pupil ratio.

Who it suits:

Exceptionally able Thai-educated science and mathematics pupils selected nationally. It is materially relevant to a foreign family only as context -- and as a reason the Salaya area has the academic character it does.

The school run:

On the Salaya campus in Phutthamonthon, alongside MUIDS. As a boarding school the daily school run is not the issue it is elsewhere.

Address:

364 Moo 5, Salaya, Phutthamonthon District, Nakhon Pathom

MWIT official site →

โรงเรียนสารสาสน์วิเทศนครปฐม

The province's most substantial bilingual private school and, for families with younger children, a far more relevant option than either of the two Grade 10 schools -- which is precisely why its complete absence from our previous guide was a problem. It is one of 43 OPEC-registered private schools in the province, and one of only a handful licensed all the way from primary to secondary.

Where it starts: Primary, per the provincial register. This is the practical significance of the school: it is the closest thing the province has to a substantial English-exposure route for a child too young for MUIDS.

Sector:

Private school registered with the Office of the Private Education Commission (OPEC) — entry 35 in the provincial register.

Curriculum:

Thai-English bilingual, as part of the national Sarasas Witaed group. The provincial register licenses it for ประถมศึกษา จนถึง มัธยมศึกษา — primary through secondary.

Language of instruction:

Bilingual Thai and English. This is a bilingual programme, not an international curriculum, and the distinction matters for university pathways.

Year groups:

Primary through secondary (per the provincial register's licensed levels)

Getting in:

Ordinary private-school admission. Confirm current intake directly.

Who it suits:

A family based in or near Mueang Nakhon Pathom who wants meaningful English exposure and a Thai national qualification, rather than an international curriculum -- and who has accepted that the province offers no international option below Grade 10.

The school run:

Don Yai Hom is southwest of the city centre, on the opposite side of the province from Salaya. If you are living at Salaya for Mahidol, this is not a realistic daily school run; it is a Mueang Nakhon Pathom school.

Address:

169 Moo 4, Tambon Don Yai Hom, Mueang Nakhon Pathom, Nakhon Pathom 73000 · 034-388575-7 / 064-929-3682

โรงเรียนกาญจนาภิเษกวิทยาลัย นครปฐม (พระตำหนักสวนกุหลาบมัธยม)

A well-regarded government secondary school in Salaya with an English Programme -- the realistic middle path in a province whose only international-curriculum school starts at Grade 10 and whose private sector contains no international school at all.

Where it starts: Secondary. This is a mathayom school; it does not run primary or early years.

Sector:

Government secondary school. One of the nine Kanchanapisek Wittayalai 'Chalermprakiat' schools.

Curriculum:

Thai national curriculum, with the school designated to promote excellence in science and mathematics, and with a dedicated English Programme stream staffed through the BFITS teacher-placement organisation.

Language of instruction:

Thai, with an English Programme stream taught in English.

Getting in:

Thai government secondary admission, with separate entry to the English Programme stream. Confirm both directly.

Who it suits:

A Thai-speaking or bilingual family already living at Salaya who wants a strong government school with a genuine English stream on their doorstep, at a fraction of private cost. It is not an international school and does not present itself as one.

The school run:

In Salaya sub-district itself, which makes it the only substantial secondary school actually within walking or short-ride distance of the Mahidol Salaya residential belt other than the two campus schools.

Address:

299 Moo 5, Salaya-Bang Phasi Road (NP.3004), Tambon Salaya, Amphoe Phutthamonthon, Nakhon Pathom 73170

Salaya main campus, Phutthamonthon Sai 4 · Phutthamonthon

Mahidol University is one of Thailand's leading research universities, and the institution that gives this province its character. Its main campus is not in Bangkok but here, at Salaya in Phutthamonthon district, and it functions as a university town in its own right: it drives the Salaya rental market, carries the Golden Jubilee Medical Centre teaching hospital, and hosts both of the province's Grade 10-12 schools on or beside its grounds.

In English: Mahidol University International College (MUIC) teaches entirely in English and is the main reason a settled English-speaking academic community exists in this province at all. Mahidol also runs the international demonstration school (MUIDS) on the same campus.

Sanam Chandra Palace grounds, Phra Pathom Chedi · Mueang Nakhon Pathom · Silpakorn University founded 1943; the Sanam Chandra Palace campus opened in Nakhon Pathom in 1968

Silpakorn is Thailand's foremost arts, design and architecture university, and its Sanam Chandra Palace campus occupies the grounds of King Vajiravudh's country palace in the middle of Nakhon Pathom city, a short walk from the Phra Pathom Chedi. Degrees are conferred by Silpakorn University, not by the campus, which is why the campus rarely appears in lists of institutions counted by name.

Kamphaeng Saen, western Nakhon Pathom · Kamphaeng Saen · Kasetsart University founded 1943; the Kamphaeng Saen campus established 1979

Kamphaeng Saen is the large western campus of Kasetsart University, Thailand's leading agricultural university, and it anchors the rural western half of the province. Its degrees are Kasetsart degrees, conferred by a university headquartered at Bang Khen in Bangkok.

Salaya central area, Phutthamonthon Sai 5 · Phutthamonthon · Constituted 2005 under the Rajamangala Universities of Technology Act B.E. 2548, from colleges of the former Rajamangala Institute of Technology

RMUTR's central area and administration are in this province, at Salaya -- not in Bangkok, despite the Rattanakosin name. It is one of the nine Rajamangala universities of technology created in 2005 from the old Rajamangala Institute of Technology, and it teaches the applied, industry-facing end of Thai higher education: engineering, architecture, industrial education and fine arts.

85 Malaiman Road, Nakhon Pathom city · Mueang Nakhon Pathom · Founded 1936 as a teacher-training school; became a Rajabhat Institute under the Rajabhat Institute Act of 1992 and Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University under the Rajabhat Universities Act of 2004

Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University is the province's own university -- in the city, on Malaiman Road, rather than out at Salaya. Like all 38 Rajabhat universities it grew out of a teacher-training college and keeps a mandate to serve its home province's teaching and regional-development needs, which is why its student body is drawn far more locally than Mahidol's or Silpakorn's.

144 Moo 7, Phetkasem Road, Donyaihom · Mueang Nakhon Pathom · Founded 1983

Christian University of Thailand is a private non-profit university whose main campus is on Phetkasem Road at Donyaihom, on the western edge of Nakhon Pathom city. It was founded in 1983 and is strongest in nursing and the health sciences, alongside business, humanities and education. It also operates a Bangkok site, but the university itself is a Nakhon Pathom institution.

In English: Courses are primarily in Thai, but the university runs programmes in English -- including an international Master of Arts in English as a Second Language introduced in 2003 -- which makes it one of the few English-medium routes in this province outside the Mahidol orbit.

248 Moo 1, Salaya-Nakhon Chai Si Road, Salaya · Phutthamonthon · Founded 1 October 1893 at Wat Bowonniwet in Bangkok; became an autonomous state university under the Mahamakut Buddhist University Act B.E. 2540, effective 1 October 1997

Mahamakut Buddhist University is one of Thailand's two national Buddhist universities and the Dhammayut order's own, and its national headquarters is in Nakhon Pathom -- at Salaya, on the Salaya-Nakhon Chai Si road in Phutthamonthon district. It is filed nationally rather than provincially in almost every list, which is exactly why a province that hosts a whole university's head office was being described as having three.

119/19 Moo 3, Salaya · Phutthamonthon · Traces to the School of Fine Arts founded in Bangkok in 1943; constituted as a degree-granting institute in 1998

Bunditpatanasilpa Institute is Thailand's national institute for the performing and fine arts, and it sits under the Ministry of Culture rather than the Ministry of Higher Education -- which is why it is absent from most Thai university lists despite conferring degrees up to doctoral level. Its headquarters is at 119/19 Moo 3, Salaya, Phutthamonthon, Nakhon Pathom 73170, a few minutes from Mahidol.

90 Moo 7, Sam Phran · Sam Phran · Operating under the Royal Police Cadet Academy Act B.E. 2551 (2008)

The Royal Police Cadet Academy is the national training academy for Thailand's commissioned police officers, and it is in this province -- at 90 Moo 7, Sam Phran subdistrict, Sam Phran district, on the Nakhon Chai Si side of Nakhon Pathom. It operates under its own Act of 2008 and under the Royal Thai Police rather than the higher-education ministry, and it confers its own degrees through four faculties: Police Science, Forensic Science, Social Sciences and Law.

111/3 Moo 2, Khlong Yong · Phutthamonthon

Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University is headquartered in Dusit, Bangkok, but it runs a full residential campus in Nakhon Pathom -- at 111/3 Moo 2, Khlong Yong, Phutthamonthon district, immediately west of Salaya. Degrees are conferred by SSRU, so the campus never appears in a provincial count built from institution names, but the students, staff and demand for housing are here rather than in Bangkok.

999 Moo 2, Salaya-Bang Phasi Road, Khlong Yong · Phutthamonthon · First bachelor's intake in the 2010 academic year

Kantana Institute is a private, specialist degree-granting institute for entertainment-media production, founded to carry on the intention of Pradit Kanchanaruk, who founded the Kantana Group. Its first bachelor's programme -- the Bachelor of Fine and Applied Arts, with strands in film production and animation production -- opened in the 2010 academic year, and a television production strand for transmedia communication was added in the 2012 revised curriculum. A Master of Management follows at graduate level.

90 Thesa Road, Phra Pathom Chedi · Mueang Nakhon Pathom · Constituted by ministerial regulation of 13 June 2012 under the Vocational Education Act B.E. 2551 (26 February 2008)

The Institute of Vocational Education: Central Region 4 is a degree-conferring institution with its head office at 90 Thesa Road, Tambon Phra Pathom Chedi, in Nakhon Pathom city -- a few hundred metres from the great chedi. It was constituted by ministerial regulation on 13 June 2012 under the Vocational Education Act B.E. 2551, which gave institutes of vocational education the power to award vocational certificates, high vocational certificates and bachelor's degrees.