Chulalongkorn University - History

History

The demands of officials specialized in various fields by the government in the late 19th century Siam was an result of King Chulalongkorn’s bureaucratic reforms, which aimed to transform the feudal Thai society into a modernized state. In 1899, the king founded the Civil Service Training School near the northern gate of the Royal Palace. Those who graduated from the school would became royal pages. Being royal pages, he must learn how to administrate organization by working closely with the king, which is a traditional way of entrance to Siamese bureaucracy. After being royal pages, he would then served in the Mahattai Ministry or other government ministries.

On April 1, 1902 the king thought the name of the school should be renamed to increase dignity of students and graduates. Hence the name Royal Pages School (Thai: โรงเรียนมหาดเล็ก) was later used. Later, on January 1, 1911, King Vajiravudh renamed the school again to Civil Service College of King Chulalongkorn (Thai: โรงเรียนข้าราชการพลเรือนของพระบาทสมเด็จพระจุลจอมเกล้าเจ้าอยู่หัว) as a memorial to his father and moved the school to Windsor Palace (Thai: วังวินด์เซอร์ หรือวังใหม่) in the Pathumwan district.

The academic demands, however, increased all over the country as a whole as Siam was modernized. King Vajiravudh then took the remaining funds of Chulalongkorn’s Royal Equestrian Statue construction, which was collected from people. Then combined with his own funds to subsidize the construction of a university campus. The king organized various schools around the city proper into the Chulalongkorn's College. The college offered 8 majors taught by 5 schools including;

• School of International Relations in the Royal Palace
• School of Teacher Training at Baan Somdet Chao Phraya
• Royal Medical College at Siriraj Hospital
• School of Legal Studies
• School of Mechanical Sciences at the Windsor Palace

King Rama VI then realized that the education should be provided to all people not only for the bureaucrats. On March 26, 1917, the college was upgraded to the Chulalongkorn University (Thai: จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย), and the schools were transformed into four faculties: Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Faculty of Public Administration, Faculty of Engineering, and Faculty of Medicine.

The university firstly granted certificates to its graduates. The education for a degree was then prepared. The Rockefeller Foundation reorganized the curriculum of the Faculty of Medicine. In 1923, the Faculty of Medicine became the first faculty to accept students from the secondary education (known as Mattayom). The remaining faculties then followed suit. After the 1932 Revolution, the Khana Ratsadon wanted the legal and political studies to be independent from "royalists'" Chulalongkorn University so they took the Faculty of Law and Political Science into their new Thammasat University in 1933.

In 1938, the Chulalongkorn University’s Preparatory School was founded to provide pre-collegiate education for its students. Those who managed to enter the university had to spent two years in the Preparatory School before going on to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The Preparatory School, however, ceased to be a university-owned preparatory school in 1947 and became independent Triam Udom Suksa School. Later, the university established Chulalongkorn University Demonstration School (CUD) system as laboratory primary and high schools for Faculty of Education.