Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Ubon Ratchathani Campus.

Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Ubon Ratchathani Campus at a glance

Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University is one of Thailand's two national Buddhist universities, and Ubon Ratchathani hosts a full regional campus (witthayakhet) of it -- a higher standing than the Buddhist colleges MCU runs in most provinces. The campus records its own beginning on 29 December 1986, when the university council established it at Wat Maha Wanaram in Mueang district; teaching opened in the 1987 academic year with 50 monks and novices in the Faculty of Education. It moved to its present site in Krasop subdistrict, east of the city.

The campus is easy to miss in a list of Ubon Ratchathani universities because its name does not read like one, but it awards ordinary Thai degrees. Bachelor's programmes currently run in political science, public administration, social studies teaching, English language teaching, philosophy and religion, and English; master's programmes run in Buddhist studies, Buddhist educational administration and political science, alongside doctoral admissions and certificate courses.

The building's origins are older than the campus: the foundation stone for the Ubon Ratchathani Buddhist College was laid on 23 November 1980, with the then prime minister presiding, and construction reached three of five planned storeys before funds ran out. The campus designation followed six years later.

Notable facts

• A full regional campus of a national Buddhist university, not a provincial Buddhist college -- established 29 December 1986, teaching from 1987.
• Awards ordinary Thai bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees; the bachelor's list runs well beyond religious studies into political science, public administration and English.
• Now in Krasop subdistrict, Mueang district, after starting at Wat Maha Wanaram in the city.
• Foundation stone for the original Buddhist College building was laid on 23 November 1980.