Silpakorn University

Silpakorn University is presently under the supervision of the Office of the Higher Education Commission, the Ministry of Education and was originally established as the School of Fine Arts under the Fine Arts Department in 1933. Primarily, the school has offered the only studying programs in Painting and Sculpture by waiving tuition fees for the government officers and the students. Its inception and development owed much to an almost lifetime devotion of Professor Silpa Bhirasri, an Italian sculptor (previously called Professor Corrado Feroci) who was commissioned during the reign of King Rama VI to work in the Fine Arts Department. He subsequently enlarged the classes to include greater members of the interested public before taking his initiative in setting up the School of Fine Arts. The School gradually developed and was officially accorded a new status and named, Silpakorn University, on 12 October 1943. In the early phase of its development, its inaugural faculty was the Faculty of Painting and Sculpture (presently is named the Faculty of Painting Sculpture and Graphic Arts). Since 1955, the Faculty of Thai Architecture was established (later changed the name into the Faculty of Architecture) and two more faculties were consecutively established to accommodate the university’s growing academic interests, namely, the Faculty of Archaeology and the Faculty of Decorative Arts in the following years.

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In 1966, Silpakorn University had an educational policy to diversify the main areas of the four faculties into sub-specializations to respond to the development of its more academic interests and activities. However, the university underwent a limited physical expansion in Wang Tha Phra Campus. Hence, a new campus, Sam Chandra Palace Campus, was later established in Nakorn Pathom Province in the former residential compound of King Rama VI. The first two faculties founded on this campus were the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Education in 1968 and 1969, respectively. Later, three more faculties were set up, namely, the Faculty of Science in 1972, and the Faculty of Pharmacy in 1985, and the Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Technology in 1991 (originally was named the Faculty of Industrial Technology). In 1999, the Faculty of Music was established completed and becomes more academic excellence and specialization in artistic fields.

Silpakorn University also extends the educational capacity through establishing a new campus in Phetchaburi Province for promoting the higher education in the western Provinces of Thailand since 1997 and the new campus was named “Phetchaburi Information Technology Campus”. In 2001 and 2002, the Faculty of Animal Sciences and Agricultural Technology and the Faculty of Management Science were established consecutively in Phetchaburi Campus. In 2003, the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) was established as well as Silpakorn University International College (SUIC) was established at the same period for providing the international curriculum in different academic fields of studies.

In addition, Silpakorn University also maintains a Graduate School established since 1972 to facilitate and responsible for all offering graduate programs at Silpakorn University.