# Chiang Mai University

Chiang Mai University (CMU; Thai: มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่) is a national public research university in northern Thailand founded in 1964. It has a strong emphasis on engineering, science, agriculture, and medicine. Its instructional mission includes undergraduate, graduate, professional and continuing education offered through resident instruction. Its main campus lies between central Chiang Mai and Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai province.
The university was the first institution of higher education in northern Thailand, and the first provincial university in Thailand.

## Campuses

Chiang Mai University has four campuses, three of them in Chiang Mai and one in Lamphun, which together cover about 3,490 acres (14.1 km$^2$). There are 18 housing complexes located on campus for students attending the university. Seventeen of them are on the main campus and one is on the Mae Hea campus

### Suan Sak Campus (main campus)

The main university campus, known as Suan Sak campus (Thai: สวนสัก) or Cherng Doi (Thai: เชิงดอย), lies about five kilometres west of the city center. Set against Doi Suthep, the campus occupies a 725-acre (2.93 km$^2$) site, bounded on three sides by main shopping streets and on the fourth by the Chiang Mai Zoo. The campus includes the university's administrative centre, the science, engineering, humanities, and social science faculties, political science and public administration, law, the graduate school, all of the campus resource facilities and services and major sports facilities. An attractive feature of this campus is the Ang Kaew Reservoir. Constructed to supply water for the university, it is also a recreational area for campus residents and the local community. In the 1960s, the area was still forested. With conservation in mind, university buildings were constructed between the trees, with the result that the campus still retains much of its original setting.

### Suan Dok campus

Near the main campus, and closer to the city, the health sciences complex, the Suan Dok campus (Thai: สวนดอก), occupies a 110-acre (0.45 km$^2$) site which includes faculties of medicine, associated medical sciences, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, and Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital, known locally as Suan Dok, the largest teaching hospital in northern Thailand.

### Mae Hia campus

About 5 km south of the main campus, the 864-acre (3.50 km$^2$) Mae Hia (or Mae Hea) campus (Thai: แม่เหียะ) is home to the faculties of veterinary medicine agro-industry and School of Public Policy. The Energy Research and Development Institute (ERDI), the university center for renewable energy (mainly biogas and biomass), and energy efficiency improvement center, moved from the main campus to the Mae Hia campus in January 2009. This center is a national "biogas center of excellence", emphasizing biogas activities, especially biogas on swine farms.

### Si Bua Ban campus

The university's latest acquisition is the Si Bua Ban campus (Thai: ศรีบัวบาน) in Amphoe Mueang Lamphun, Lamphun Province, about 55 kilometres south of Chiang Mai, on a 1,890-acre (7.6 km$^2$) site close to the Lamphun industrial centre.

## Academics

Chiang Mai University is a large, highly residential, research university, with a majority of enrollment coming from graduate and professional students.

### Faculty

There are 20 faculties and 2 college in three disciplines.
| Science and Technology Faculty of Agriculture Faculty of Agro-Industry Faculty of Architecture Faculty of Engineering Faculty of Science College of Arts Media and Technology International College of Digital Innovation | Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Chiang Mai University Business School Faculty of Economics Faculty of Education Faculty of Fine Arts Faculty of Humanities Faculty of Law Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Mass Communication School of Public Policy |
| Health Science Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences Faculty of Dentistry Faculty of Medicine Faculty of Nursing Faculty of Pharmacy Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Faculty of Public Health | Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Chiang Mai University Business School Faculty of Economics Faculty of Education Faculty of Fine Arts Faculty of Humanities Faculty of Law Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Mass Communication School of Public Policy |

### Rankings

Chiang Mai University ranks 3rd in academics and 5th in research according to the Office of the Higher Education Commission. Quacquarelli Symonds ranked the university 88th in Asia in 2023. Chiang Mai University Ranking has been going up recently giving it 601–605 place by QS TOP UNIVERSITY RANKINGS in 2023

### Research institutes

* Energy Research and Development Institute-Nakornping (ERDI)
* Research Institute for Health Sciences (RIHES)
* Social Research Institute (SRI)

### Non-university schools

* Language Institute Chiang Mai University (LICMU)
* Chiang Mai University Demonstration School (K-12)
* Chiang Mai University School of Public Policy (CMU-SPP)

## Alumni and notable people
### Alumni

* Chaturon Chaisang, Deputy Prime Minister from 2002 to 2006
* Sompop Jantraka, activist
* Apirak Kosayothin, 14th Governor of Bangkok
* Yingluck Shinawatra, 28th Prime Minister of Thailand
* Samruam Singh, author, scholar and activist
* Suthep Thaugsuban, Deputy Prime Minister from 2008 to 2011
* Kasem Wattanachai, Privy Councilor from 2001–present

### Lecturers

* Roger A. Beaver, biologist
* Minfong Ho, writer