KMUTT (BANGKOK)

HISTORY The Minister of Education, H E Mom Luang Pin Malakul, once opined to the Director-General of the Vocational Education Commission that Thailand had a severe shortage of coordinators or liaisons between engineers and skilled labors, and that back in 1957 it took 6 years to produce a vocational technician. That is, a student who graduated from Grade 9 in secondary school must continue his education in industrial technology for 3 years in order to receive a vocational degree. After that, the student needed to work or continue his study at a technical institute for 3 more years to earn a diploma degree. Only then could he become an industrial technician. What do we do to expedite the search for such coordinators between engineers and skill labors ? During the search for an ideal location to establish an institution, the Director-General Sanan Sumitr discovered that there was a piece of 32-rai land at Tambon Bangmod, Amphur Ratchburana, Thonburi Province and owned by the Crown Property Bureau had been rented by the Ministry of Education. The property consisted of a standard two-story building with 14 classrooms, housing for the faculty, and a small cafeteria, that had been completed since 1958. All the premises were vacant despite the availability of electricity, tap water, telephone lines, which meant that the property could be immediately utilized. As a result, the Director-General proposed that the property be the location of a new institution called “Thonburi College of Technology”. The Ministry of Education officially announced the establishment of “Thonburi College of Technology” on February 4, 1960. The College accepted students with degrees from secondary schools (equivalent to today’s Grade 12) only in the field of sciences, who would continue 3 more years of education to earn a diploma degree. That makes Thonburi College of Technology the first technological college in Thailand responsible for producing industrial technicians with the highest degrees in secondary schooling. The Vocational Education Commission then appointed Mr. Prapha Prajaksuphaniti, first professor and head of the Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Technology, from Siam Institute of Technology as the Director of the new college. Moreover, the commission granted the permission to Mr. Prapha Prajaksuphaniti to bring with him 6 colleagues to join the new college, namely Mr. Sompong Panyasuk, Ms. Ubon Chantakamol, Mr. Uthai Kaewchuang, Mr. Sutham Tawitsri, Mr. Tanong Ruengrojdee, and Mr. Etisak Thongkam. Prof. Sanan Sumitr, the Director-General of the Vocational Education Commission, found the light he was searching for and proposed that a new technological college be established under the supervision of Vocational Education Commission in order to quickly fulfill the government’s needs for more technicians. Students with high school diplomas in sciences would be accepted into the college and continued 3 years education. The Ministry of Education approved this project in November 1959. King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi was founded from Thonburi College of Technology which was under the supervision of the Vocational Education Commission, the Ministry of Education on February 4, 1960. In 1971, Thonburi College of Technology was merged with North Bangkok College of Technology and College of Telecommunication Technology to become King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Thonburi (KMITT) under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. After that, in 1974 the Institute was upgraded into a state academic institution under the Ministry of University Affairs. In 1986, KMITT became a juristic entity within the Ministry of University Affairs under a royal decree for King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Lakrabang, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Thonburi, and King Monkut’s Institute of Technology North Bangkok. King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, by a royal decree in the year 1998, was changed into a state juristic university outside the civil service system but is still under the supervision of the government. The status change was officially declared in the Royal Gazette Volume 115, Section 11 ก on April 4, 1998 and was made effective on March 7, 1998. (http://www2.kmutt.ac.th/eng/abt_history/index.html)