Mahasarakham University (MSU) ( th, มหาวิทยาลัยมหาสารคาม; ), ''pronounced:'' má-hăa wít-tá-yaa-lai má-hăa-săa-rá-kaam) is a Thai public

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

in Maha Sarakham province, about 470 kilometres from

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

. In 2017 it enrolled 41,000 students. MSU is the only Thai university to offer postgraduate programs in paleontology and a Bachelor of Arts in the

Khmer language Khmer (; , ) is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Khmer people, and the official and national language of Cambodia. Khmer has been influenced considerably by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious registers, thro ...

. It was the first

Isan Northeast Thailand or Isan ( Isan/ th, อีสาน, ; lo, ອີສານ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pali ''īsānna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 prov ...

university to offer a BA accounting and the second to offer PhD courses in the same subject. Its Faculty of Education, the flagship of MSU, was voted Thailand's Best Education Faculty in 2010 by the National Education Office. The university is the first Thai

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after compl ...

institution rated under the QS Stars System for excellence in higher education. It has become one of the top 20 universities in Thailand based on the

Webometrics The science of webometrics (also cybermetrics) tries to measure the World Wide Web to get knowledge about the number and types of hyperlinks, structure of the World Wide Web and using patterns. According to Björneborn and Ingwersen, the definitio ...

Ranking of World Universities.

History

The development of Mahasarakham University can be traced back to 1963, when it was known as "Mahasarakham Teacher's Training College". On 27 March 1968, it was established as Mahasarakham College of Education for strengthening and expanding higher education in the Northeastern region (

) of the nation. Located in the outer north area of Maha Sarakham province, a small town right at the center of the region, the college has been responsible for developing quality educators to serve educational institutions of all levels. In 1974, the college's status was elevated when it became a regional campus of Srinakharinwirot University. At that time, there were four academic faculties: education, humanities, social sciences, and science. In 1994, the college gained its statutory status through the Thai Higher Education Act and became Mahasarakham University, the 22nd public university of Thailand Mahasarakham University has since expanded rapidly in academic infrastructure, facilities, and relevant services. It became a comprehensive university, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs in three academic clusters: social sciences; pure and applied sciences; and health sciences. In 1988, the Kham Riang Campus, known as the New Campus, was established, approximately seven kilometres from the Old Campus. With 17 faculties and two colleges, the university has been recognized as one of Thailand's fastest growing. The total student enrolment has increased from thousands in its earlier years to about 40,000 students in 2016. To extend its academic services to remote communities, MSU has had 15 academic service centers in the northeastern region, later reorganized into two centres in Nakhon Ratchasima province and

Udon Thani province Udon Thani province ( th, อุดรธานี, ) is one of Thailand's seventy-six provinces (''changwat'') which lies in upper northeastern Thailand, also called Isan. It is bordered by the provinces of Nong Khai to the north, Sakon Nakhon ...

. As a regional education center,

Maha Sarakham Sarakham is the capital city of Maha Sarakham Province in Thailand's northeastern (Isan) region. Sarakham, as it is known to its inhabitants, is in a rice-growing area on the southern Khorat plain, straddling the Chi River. Mahasarakham is 475 ...

is known as the "

Taxila Taxila or Takshashila (; sa, तक्षशिला; pi, ; , ; , ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area a ...

(or Takshashila) (a Hindu and Buddhist centre of learning in ancient India) of

Budget

The university was allocated 1,096 million

baht The baht (; th, บาท, ; sign: ฿; code: THB) is the official currency of Thailand. It is divided into 100 ''satang'' (, ). The issuance of currency is the responsibility of the Bank of Thailand. SWIFT ranked the Thai baht as the 10th-m ...

in federal funding for

fiscal year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...

2021, up from 1,034 million baht for FY2020.

Campuses

The university has two campuses: the Old Campus in

city center and the New Campus in the Kham Riang Sub-district of Kantharawichai District. The New Campus is now the administrative headquarters of the university.

Downtown campus

The original campus of Mahasarakham University, Downtown Campus, also known as the Old Campus (''mor gao'' — ''Thai:'' ม.เก่า), is in the city center. It covers an area of 368

rai RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

(145.5 acres). This campus hosts the Faculty of Education, Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, and the Institute of Northeastern Arts and Culture.

Kham Riang campus

The Kham Riang Campus, known as the New Campus (''mor mai'' — ''Thai'': ม.ใหม่), is in the northwest of the city of Kham Riang District, seven kilometres from the city centre. This campus with a total area of 1,300 rai (513.98 acres) hosts new buildings and facilities to serve the education community and houses the main administrative center and most of the academic faculties, colleges, and research institutes of the university.

Academic divisions

MSU has 18 faculties, two colleges, and nine research centres.

Faculties

Humanities and social sciences

* Faculty of Education ( คณะศึกษาศาสตร์) * Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences ( คณะมนุษยศาสตร์และสังคมศาสตร์) * Mahasarakham Business School ( คณะการบัญชีและการจัดการ) * Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts ( คณะศิลปกรรมศาสตร์) * Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management ( คณะการท่องเที่ยวและการโรงแรม) * Faculty of Cultural Science ( คณะวัฒนธรรมศาสตร์) * Faculty of Laws ( คณะนิติศาสตร์)

Applied sciences and technologies

* Faculty of Architecture, Urban Design and Creative Arts ( คณะสถาปัตยกรรมศาสตร์ ผังเมืองและนฤมิตศิลป์) * Faculty of Engineering ( วิศวกรรมศาสตร์)) * Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies ( คณะสิ่งแวดล้อมและทรัพยากรศาสตร์) * Faculty of Informatics ( คณะวิทยาการสารสนเทศ) * Faculty of Science ( คณะวิทยาศาสตร์) * Faculty of Technology ( คณะเทคโนโลยี)

Health sciences

Faculty of Medicine A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...

( คณะแพทยศาสตร์) * Faculty of Nursing ( คณะพยาบาลศาสตร์) * Faculty of Pharmacy ( คณะเภสัชศาสตร์) * Faculty of Public Health ( คณะสาธารณสุขศาสตร์) * Faculty of Veterinary Sciences) ( คณะสัตวแพทยศาสตร์)