Founded in March 1917, Chulalongkorn University is Thailand’s first institution of higher learning. The groundwork and preparation for the university’s establishment, however, took place almost half a century earlier. The worldwide economic, social and political changes in the late nineteenth century compelled Siam, as Thailand was officially called until 1939, to adapt in order to avoid Western colonization. King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) introduced a royal policy to strengthen and improve the government so that the country could successfully resist the tides of colonialism. One of the major parts of this policy was to improve the Siamese educational system to produce capable personnel to work in both the public and private sectors. To this end, a school was founded in 1871 at the Royal Pages Barracks within the Grand Palace compound.

This quote, taken from King Chulalongkorn’s royal speech to members of the royal family and civil servants, is confirmation of His Majesty’s belief in equal educational opportunity. The King granted the policy to set up schools throughout the kingdom, together with institutions of higher learning, and declared, “…education in our country must have the highest priority, which I am determined to develop.”