Thursday, October 11, 2007

Maejo University

Maejo University

Founded in June 7, 1934, Maejo University is considered as the oldest agricultural institution in the country. It was first established as the Northern Agricultural Teachers Training School under the Ministry of Education and was later transferred under the Ministry of Agriculture to become the Kasetsart Preparatory School. After a year, it was officially installed as Maejo Agricultural School to serve as a research station of Kasetsart University (KU), a state university in Bangkok. It began to accept M.6 (Grade 12) students who, upon finishing at Maejo, were automatically admitted to KU for a 4-year degree program.

In 1956, Maejo was renamed Chiang Mai College of Agriculture, making it the first certificate-granting agricultural college under the Ministry of Education. Its graduates became secondary school teachers in agriculture.

In 1975, Maejo was royally confirmed as one of the state universities under the Ministry of University Affairs and was called the Institute of Agricultural Technology. With this status, it began to accept students from vocational schools to register into its 2-year programs (associate degrees) and, students from the secondary schools to its 4-year degree programs. This move was aimed to give

all vocational school graduates greater opportunity to attain higher education in agriculture. It is for this reason that February the 19th is celebrated as Maejo's Foundation Day.

In 1980, the institute’s name was modified into Maejo Institute of Agricultural Technology upon the request of its alumni. However, due to its rapid development, it was elevated into a full university status, both in title and in essence on November 12, 1996. It was given the name Maejo University which was immediately approved by the national parliament.

Under the Ministry of Education, Maejo University is a degree-granting institute that attempts to educate students in practical agriculture, aiming to prepare them for agricultural pursuits. MJU strives to nurture and develop its graduates to become technically competent besides being culturally and scholarly matured thereby, able to contribute to the future of the country.

At present, Maejo University belongs to the Commission on Higher Education of the Ministry of Education.



University Support Unit
Central Library Services
Officially established in 1975 as a small section of the Division of Educational Services, the main library is presently called the Central Library Services under the Office of the President. Open to all students and non-academic staff members of the university, the library contains more than 86,000 volumes of books and 892 periodicals (2003). Services consist of loaning library materials, book reservations, computerized bibliographical databases and CD-ROMs, current awareness services, distribution of library information journals, inter-library book loans, information and inquiry services, etc. The building contains study booths for more personal and private use. Requested extension of open hours is usually provided to cater particularly to week-end students and to accommodate increased number of library users during pre-exam periods.

International Education and Training Center
This center was recently established in order to respond to the internationalization policy of MJU. Serving as venue to many international training programs, conferences and meetings, the IETC complex houses a main hall for conference gathering, a cafeteria and a hotel-like accommodation. The conference area has a main hall, several small to medium-sized meeting rooms, internet room, and other audio-visual rooms. The cafeteria caters to the specific needs of stay-in participants while the accommodation has single rooms, double rooms and suites. Each room is air-conditioned and has a cable TV, telephone and shower. For convenience of the occupants, there is a 24-hour reception counter. The Center has hosted the 4th EARTH Seminar, SEARCA-AHEAD Training, the yearly Agricultural Resources Management Training for Asian participants, etc.

Information Technology Center
In order to satisfy the growing awareness towards computerized learning, this center was created under the 7th National Socio-Economic Development Plan (1992-1996). Managed by the Planning Division (Office of the President), the Center mainly provides computer services to its staff and students through training, extension and research. Based in the newly-constructed IT building, the center has recently acquired modern equipment and facilities to become a fully-functional unit. MJU believes that this new Center could meet the ever-growing demands of its community and enable its members to develop themselves in their teaching, learning and research activities, especially through internet, campus networking, tele-conferencing, etc.
Ornamental Plant and Orchid CenterEstablished under the Office of the President, this center is responsible for the conduct of research and extension activities to both MJU staff and the general public mainly through training programs on ornamental plants and orchids. The main research is geared towards orchid breeding and multiplication.

Language Center
This project was established to cater to the needs of the students and staff to develop their language proficiency mainly to supplement their scholarly pursuits. The center provides intensive training in English, Chinese, Japanese and even Thai, for interested students and staff who have the desire to continue their studies or travel abroad. The center hopes to cooperate with various foreign language centers and international academic institutions for the fulfillment of its objectives. Presently, its teaching staff consists of several foreign nationals from USA, Philippines, China, Japan, Australia, etc.

Institute of Business Incubator (MJUBI)
Established as a new autonomous structure within Maejo University, MJUBI was approved by the Commission on Higher Education of the Ministry of Education on January 14, 2005 together with all other 25 similar structures in various universities in the country. Its supervision and financial support is derived from the University Business Incubator Coordination Office (UBICO). At present, MJUBI implements various activities such as incubating (seed and start-up) including an incubatee office, education training and development, consulting, provide services, research, local and domestic connections, international networking, UBI shop, UBI savings bank, TLO, etc.

Energy Research Center
This center was recently created in response to the critical economic situation caused by problem in energy resources. Its main purpose of existence is to provide academic services on energy aspects to the community and other organizations. Its vision is to produce researches, transfer technology and develop innovations on energy at the highest efficiency level. Their main activity for the community is to conduct training on agricultural energy technology and on energy management and conservation.

Biotechnology Center and the Institute of Product Quality and Standardization
The Biotechnology Center was established to provide academic services in the form of training programs on knowledge about agriculture and food, laboratory testing of food and product samples, analytic tools/equipment services and use of greenhouse for staff and students of MJU and from other institutions. The Center also seeks to cooperate with agencies and organizations at the national and international levels. The Center has an adjoining state-of-the-art greenhouse that was built using Dutch and Singaporean technologies. At present, the Center is officially called the “HRH Crown Princess Sirindhorn Biotechnology Center”.The Center also contains the Institute of Product Quality and Standardization which is implemented in cooperation with the Institute of Food (Ministry of Industry) and the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA). The Institute aims to develop the food and agricultural products industry in response to food safety policy and in promotion of Thailand as “Kitchen of the World”.
Faculty
Campus

Contact
Maejo University, Chiang Mai - Phrao Road, Sansai, Chiang Mai, Thailand 50290
Tel : (66-53) 873000
Fax : (66-53) 498-862
Webmaster : pravit@mju.ac.th

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Thep, remember me? Panom Disatham. CLSU and UGA. Missed you and happy for your successful career. If you have some time to write to me, please do. Eventhough I am not a Maejo by birth but missed you just the same. Hope you remember our short time together at CLSU./Truely Friend/Panom/mrdmaths@bellsouth.net

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