Chiang Mai University

The city’s principal public university was established in 1964, making it the first Thai university to be set up outside of Bangkok. Today the university is considered the most well-respected centre for higher education in the north and boasts 107 departments, 26,800 students and 2165 lecturers. Scholastically CMU doesn’t compare overall to such notable Bangkok universities as Silpakorn, Chulalongkorn or Thammasat, but it has earned special respect for its faculties of engineering and medical technology; the education was good enough for one-term Bangkok governor Apirak Kosayothin, one of the university’s notable graduates.