Mahidol University - Nakhon Pathom 6.82

Mahidol University (MU), an autonomous research institution in Thailand, had its origin in the establishment of Siriraj Hospital in 1888. Becoming the University of Medical Science in 1943, it has been recognized as the country's fourth public university. The university was later renamed in 1969 by King Bhumibol Aduyadej after his father, Prince Mahidol of Songkhla, who is widely regarded as "Father of Modern Medicine and Public Health of Thailand." The university originally focused on health sciences but also expanded to other fields in recent decades. It hosted Thailand's first medical school, the Siriraj Medical School. Today, MU offers a range of graduate (mostly international) and undergraduate programs from natural sciences to liberal arts with remote campuses in Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Sawan, and Amnat Charoen provinces. In terms of fiscal budget and portion of budget spent on research programs, MU receives the highest budget of any public university in Thailand: about $147 million each year, most of which is granted for graduate research programs. Mahidol University was ranked Thailand's #1 university in 2011 by QS Asian University Rankings. In 2015, Mahidol University was ranked as one of the world's top 100 universities at which to study medicine, according to the QS World University Rankings.HistoryThe first Siamese medical school, the Rajapaethayalai, was founded under commissions of King Chulalongkorn in 1888 situated on the former Palace or today's Bangkok Noi campus. The medical school was merged with Chulalongkorn University organized by Vajiravudh's decree in 1917 as the Faculty of Medicine to Chulalongkorn University .