Walailak University

Walailak University is a state-funded but highly autonomous public university in Tha Sala District, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, southern Thailand, founded in 1992 and named after Princess Chulabhorn Walailak.瓦莱拉大学（Walailak University，简称 WU）是泰国南部洛坤府他沙拉县的一所公立大学，由国家资助但享有高度自治，1992 年创办，以朱拉蓬·瓦莱拉公主的名字命名。

It is organised into 14 schools and faculties plus three colleges, enrols 14,988 students according to its own figures, and occupies a residential campus of 3,600 acres that it describes as the largest of any Thai university.该校设有 14 个学院与学部以及 3 个书院，按校方数据在校生为 14988 人，校园占地 3600 英亩，校方称其为泰国面积最大的大学校园。

Walailak appears in the 1401+ band of the QS World University Rankings 2027, ranks 1001-1200 in the Times Higher Education 2027 and 2,014th in the U.S. News Best Global Universities 2026-2027, while it did not enter the 2026 Shanghai ARWU main table.该校在 2027 年 QS 世界大学排名中处于 1401+ 并列区间，在 2027 年泰晤士高等教育排名中位列 1001-1200 区间，在 2026-2027 年度 U.S. News 全球最佳大学排名中列第 2014 位，未进入 2026 年软科世界大学学术排名主榜。

History

• The campaign for a university in Nakhon Si Thammarat began in 1967, when local leaders argued that the province's school leavers had to travel to Bangkok or Songkhla for higher education.在洛坤府创办大学的运动始于 1967 年，当地人士认为本府中学毕业生必须远赴曼谷或宋卡才能接受高等教育。
• In 1979 members of parliament from Nakhon Si Thammarat brought the first formal proposal for a provincial university to the national parliament, opening a legislative track that ran for more than a decade.1979 年，洛坤府选出的议员首次把设立府立大学的正式提案提交国民议会，开启了一条延续十余年的立法路径。
• A group of influential local figures formed the Campaign Group for a University in Nakhon Si Thammarat in 1984, turning a parliamentary request into a public movement with donations and rallies.1984 年，一批有影响力的当地人士成立「洛坤府创办大学运动小组」，把议会层面的请求转变为依靠捐款与集会推进的公众运动。
• The cabinet passed a resolution in April 1990 formally approving the establishment of a university in the province, which fixed the site at Tha Sala and set the project on a seven-year path to opening.1990 年 4 月，内阁通过决议，正式批准在该府设立大学，把校址定在他沙拉，并使项目走上七年筹建之路。
• In February 1992 King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX, gave the new institution the name Walailak University, taking the second name of his youngest daughter, Princess Chulabhorn Walailak.1992 年 2 月，拉玛九世普密蓬·阿杜德国王为新大学赐名「瓦莱拉大学」，取自其幼女朱拉蓬·瓦莱拉公主名字中的第二部分。
• The founding legislation received royal approval on 29 March 1992, and that date has been kept as the university's Foundation Day ever since.建校法案于 1992 年 3 月 29 日获得御准，此后这一天一直作为该校的建校纪念日。
• Between 1992 and 1998 the Tha Sala site was developed as a residential campus, with dormitories, teaching buildings and service facilities laid out on land that had previously been rubber and fruit holdings.1992 至 1998 年间，他沙拉校址被建设为寄宿型校园，在原先的橡胶园与果园用地上布置宿舍、教学楼与服务设施。
• On 23 May 1998 about 70 school leavers, most of them from Nakhon Si Thammarat and neighbouring provinces, enrolled as the university's first students.1998 年 5 月 23 日，约 70 名中学毕业生注册成为该校首批学生，其中多数来自洛坤府及邻近各府。
• Teaching began five days later, on 28 May 1998, in temporary rooms while the permanent academic buildings were still being finished.五天后的 1998 年 5 月 28 日，教学在临时教室中开始，当时永久性教学大楼仍在收尾。
• In its first decade the university concentrated on agricultural technology, the sciences, liberal arts and management, fields tied to the rubber, palm oil and fruit economy of the peninsula's east coast.在最初十年里，该校集中于农业技术、自然科学、人文与管理等学科，这些领域与半岛东海岸的橡胶、棕榈油与水果经济紧密相关。
• During the 2000s it added the health sciences, nursing and pharmacy, and later medicine and dentistry, turning a regional comprehensive university into a medical educator for the upper south.2000 年代，该校相继增设卫生科学、护理与药学，其后又开办医学与牙科，使一所地区性综合大学成为泰国南部的医学教育机构。
• An external quality assessment in 2019 awarded the university 4.75 points out of five, a result it cites among its national credentials.2019 年的一次外部质量评估给予该校 4.75 分（满分 5 分），校方将此列为全国性的办学资质证明之一。
• The Walailak University Medical Center Hospital opened its first phase of 426 beds on 24 November 2022, creating a tertiary referral centre for Nakhon Si Thammarat and the upper south.瓦莱拉大学医学中心医院于 2022 年 11 月 24 日启用第一期 426 张病床，为洛坤府与泰国南部上部地区提供三级转诊服务。
• In 2024 the university was placed in the 501-600 band of the Times Higher Education Young University Rankings, its first sustained appearance in an international young-university table.2024 年，该校进入泰晤士高等教育年轻大学排名 501-600 区间，这是它在国际年轻大学榜单上首次持续亮相。
• The university marked its 34th anniversary on 29 March 2026, with the campus now housing more than 14,000 students and a full medical centre.2026 年 3 月 29 日，该校迎来建校 34 周年，此时校园已容纳超过 14000 名学生与一座完整的医学中心。
• In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2027 it rose to the 1001-1200 band, entered the top three Thai universities on that list and was placed first among universities in southern Thailand.在 2027 年泰晤士高等教育世界大学排名中，该校升至 1001-1200 区间，进入该榜单泰国高校前三名，并在泰国南部高校中位居第一。
• The same 2027 exercise ranked Walailak first in Thailand for research quality, a result the university attributes to its citation impact and its concentration on health and applied sciences.同一轮 2027 年排名还把她列为泰国科研质量第一的高校，校方将这一结果归因于论文引用影响力以及对健康与应用科学的集中投入。
• Walailak entered the QS World University Rankings for the first time in the 2027 edition, where it is listed in the 1401+ band alongside 101 other institutions.该校在 2027 年版 QS 世界大学排名中首次入榜，与另外 101 所院校一同列入 1401+ 区间。
• Although state funded, the university has held a high degree of administrative and academic autonomy since its foundation, an arrangement unusual among Thai public universities of its generation.尽管由国家资助，该校自建校起就拥有较高的行政与学术自治权，这在同代泰国公立大学中并不常见。

Academics

• Walailak is organised into 14 schools and faculties and three colleges, a structure that combines broad undergraduate faculties with specialised health and international units.瓦莱拉大学由 14 个学院与学部和 3 个书院组成，这一结构把覆盖面较广的本科院系与专业化的健康、国际单位结合起来。
• The schools are Graduate Studies, Agricultural Technology, Allied Health Sciences, Architecture and Design, Dentistry, Education and Learning Innovation, Engineering and Resources, Informatics, Liberal Arts, Management, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Political Science and Law, Public Health and Sciences.这些学院为研究生院、农业技术、相关健康科学、建筑与设计、牙科、教育与学习创新、工程与资源、信息学、人文、管理、医学、护理、药学、政治学与法学、公共卫生以及理学。
• The three colleges are the Agrarajakumari College of Veterinary Medicine, Walailak University International College and the Walailak University International College of Dentistry.三个书院分别是阿卡拉拉查库玛丽兽医学院、瓦莱拉大学国际书院以及瓦莱拉大学国际牙科书院。
• Its own count of 14,988 students makes it a mid-sized Thai university, and the residential model means most undergraduates live on or beside the campus for their entire degree.校方统计的 14988 名学生使其成为中等规模的泰国高校，寄宿制模式意味着多数本科生在整个学位期间都住在校园内或校园旁。
• The university reports about 1,500 academic and support staff, a ratio of roughly one staff member to ten students across its taught and clinical programmes.该校报告约有 1500 名教学与辅助人员，在其授课与临床项目中，师生比大致为一比十。
• The School of Medicine trains physicians for the upper south and uses the 750-bed Walailak University Medical Center Hospital, which handles an estimated one million patient visits a year, as its main clinical base.医学院为泰国南部上部地区培养医师，以拥有 750 张病床、年接诊量约 100 万人次的瓦莱拉大学医学中心医院为主要临床基地。
• The School of Dentistry and the International College of Dentistry share a dental hospital and teach in Thai and English, serving a region that had few trained dentists before the 2000s.牙科学院与国际牙科书院共用一座牙科医院，以泰语和英语授课，服务一个在 2000 年代以前缺少受过训练牙医的地区。
• The School of Pharmacy, School of Nursing and School of Allied Health Sciences supply the hospitals of Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani and Krabi with pharmacists, nurses, medical technologists and physiotherapists.药学院、护理学院与相关健康科学学院为洛坤、素叻他尼与甲米的医院输送药师、护士、医学检验技师与物理治疗师。
• The School of Engineering and Resources and the School of Architecture and Design focus on civil, electrical, mechanical and materials engineering, together with building design for tropical climates.工程与资源学院及建筑与设计学院侧重土木、电气、机械与材料工程，并研究适应热带气候的建筑设计。
• The School of Agricultural Technology and the veterinary college work on rubber, oil palm, fruit crops, animal health and food processing, the economic base of the peninsula.农业技术学院与兽医学院研究橡胶、油棕、水果作物、动物健康与食品加工，这些正是半岛的经济基础。
• The School of Management, School of Liberal Arts, School of Political Science and Law, School of Informatics and School of Education and Learning Innovation carry the university's undergraduate teaching in business, languages, law, computing and teacher training.管理学院、人文学院、政治学与法学学院、信息学学院以及教育与学习创新学院承担该校在商科、语言、法律、计算与师资培训方面的本科教学。
• The College of Graduate Studies coordinates master's and doctoral degrees across the faculties, with research degrees in health sciences, agriculture, management and environmental science.研究生院协调各学院的硕士与博士学位，研究型学位覆盖健康科学、农业、管理以及环境科学。
• First-year admission works through a quota for secondary school graduates from the 14 southern provinces and through the national entrance examination administered by the Ministry of Education.本科一年级招生通过面向南部 14 府中学毕业生的配额制，以及教育部组织的全国入学考试两条渠道进行。
• Teaching follows the United Kingdom Professional Standards Framework, which the university adopted among the first in Thailand, and field practice is organised through Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education.该校教学遵循英国专业标准框架（UKPSF），是泰国最早采用该框架的高校之一，并通过合作教育与工作整合学习安排实地实践。
• Walailak holds memoranda with universities in more than twenty countries, including Hokkaido University, the University of Hong Kong, Heidelberg University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Malaya and Chongqing University.瓦莱拉大学与二十多个国家的大学签署了合作备忘录，其中包括北海道大学、香港大学、海德堡大学、威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校、马来亚大学与重庆大学。
• Walailak University International College teaches degree programmes in English and receives exchange students from partner universities in Asia and Europe for one or two semesters.瓦莱拉大学国际书院以英语开设学位项目，并接收来自亚洲与欧洲伙伴大学的学生进行一至两个学期的交换学习。
• Research is concentrated in natural products and medicinal plants, materials science, artificial intelligence and data science, public health and the management of tropical coastal resources.该校科研集中于天然产物与药用植物、材料科学、人工智能与数据科学、公共卫生以及热带海岸资源管理。
• The university hospital's 160-acre medical grounds house four specialist centres for heart disease, cancer, dermatology and geriatrics, which also support clinical teaching and research.大学医院占地 160 英亩的医疗园区内设心脏病、癌症、皮肤科与老年医学四个专科中心，这些中心同时支撑临床教学与研究。

Campus

• The main campus lies at Thaiburi in Tha Sala District, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, at about 8.64 degrees north and 99.90 degrees east, between the Gulf of Thailand and the forested hills inland.主校区位于洛坤府他沙拉县泰武里，地处北纬 8.64 度、东经 99.90 度附近，介于泰国湾与内陆森林丘陵之间。
• The site covers 3,600 acres, which the university and Times Higher Education both describe as the largest single campus of any university in Thailand.校园占地 3600 英亩，校方与泰晤士高等教育均称其为泰国面积最大的单一大学校园。
• The campus stands 780 kilometres south of Bangkok, about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from the resorts of Samui Island and the airports and beaches of Surat Thani and Krabi.校园位于曼谷以南 780 公里，距苏梅岛度假区以及素叻他尼、甲米两地的机场与海滩约两个半小时车程。
• Walailak is a residential university, and its dormitories, canteens, sports grounds and clinics are planned so that students can live on site for a full four-year degree.瓦莱拉是一所寄宿型大学，其宿舍、食堂、运动场与诊所按学生可在校内完成四年学位生活的标准规划。
• The campus is laid out against a mountain backdrop, with a botanic park, lakes and stands of padauk trees that the university treats as part of its teaching and recreation space.校园以群山为背景，园内设有植物公园、湖泊与成片的紫檀树林，校方把这些空间视为教学与休憩场所的一部分。
• A sports complex with a stadium, indoor courts and a swimming pool serves both the student body and national competitions hosted by the province.配有体育场、室内球场与游泳池的体育中心既服务学生，也承办由该府举办的全国性赛事。
• The university hospital and its four specialist centres occupy a 160-acre medical ground within the campus, connected to the academic buildings by a dedicated internal road.大学医院及其四个专科中心占用校园内 160 英亩的医疗用地，并以专用内部道路与教学区相连。
• Walailak keeps a coordinating office in Bangkok and a service centre in neighbouring Surat Thani Province, which handle admissions, alumni services and relations with government agencies.该校在曼谷设有协调办公室，并在邻近的素叻他尼府设有服务中心，负责招生、校友服务与政府机构联络。
• The postal address is 222 Thaiburi, Tha Sala District, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80161, and the campus is reached by daily flights, trains and buses from Bangkok, Hat Yai, Phuket and Malaysia.该校邮政地址为洛坤府他沙拉县泰武里 222 号，邮编 80161，可从曼谷、合艾、普吉与马来西亚经每日航班、火车与长途汽车抵达。
• The campus lies in a province whose capital, Nakhon Si Thammarat, grew around Wat Phra Mahathat, a Buddhist temple founded in the thirteenth century and one of the oldest in southern Thailand.校园所在的洛坤府，其府城洛坤市围绕帕玛哈塔寺发展而成，这座佛寺建于十三世纪，是泰国南部最古老的寺院之一。

Reputation

• The QS World University Rankings 2027 places Walailak in the 1401+ band, the open final segment in which 102 institutions share a single rank rather than receiving individual positions.2027 年 QS 世界大学排名把瓦莱拉列入 1401+ 区间，这是榜单末端不设上限的并列段，102 所院校共享同一名次而非各自排位。
• Times Higher Education ranked it 1001-1200 in 2027, its strongest result in a global table and enough to place it among Thailand's top three universities on that list.泰晤士高等教育在 2027 年将其列于 1001-1200 区间，这是该校在全球榜单上的最好成绩，也足以使其进入该榜单泰国高校前三名。
• The same ranking put Walailak first in Thailand for research quality, measured through citation impact, and first among universities in southern Thailand.同一排名还以论文引用影响力衡量，把她列为泰国科研质量第一的高校，并在泰国南部高校中排名第一。
• The U.S. News Best Global Universities 2026-2027 ranks it 2,014th in the world, a placement based largely on publications, citations and global and regional research reputation, with the methodology giving weight to bibliometric indicators as well as to academic-reputation surveys.2026-2027 年度 U.S. News 全球最佳大学排名将其列于世界第 2014 位，这一位次主要依据论文发表、引用以及全球与区域研究声誉，其方法同时对文献计量指标与学术声誉调查赋予权重。
• Walailak does not appear in the 2026 Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities main table, and no earlier ARWU result is used in its place.瓦莱拉未出现在 2026 年软科世界大学学术排名主榜中，正文也不以更早年份的软科成绩替代。
• In the Times Higher Education Young University Rankings 2024 it was placed in the 501-600 band, a table restricted to institutions founded within the previous fifty years.在 2024 年泰晤士高等教育年轻大学排名中，该校处于 501-600 区间，该榜单只收录建校不超过五十年的高校。
• A 2019 external quality assessment by the Thai higher education authorities gave the university 4.75 out of five, and it is one of the first Thai universities to adopt the UK Professional Standards Framework.2019 年泰国高等教育主管部门的外部质量评估给予该校 4.75 分（满分 5 分），该校也是泰国最早采用英国专业标准框架的高校之一。
• Its research reputation rests on medicinal plants and natural products, tropical agriculture, materials and health services research rather than on a long publication history, since the university is only three decades old.该校的科研声誉建立在药用植物与天然产物、热带农业、材料与卫生服务研究之上，而非悠久的论文积累，毕竟建校仅三十年。
• No Nobel laureate, Fields Medalist or Turing Award winner has been affiliated with Walailak. Its standing instead comes from national quality assessments and its rapid rise in the THE and QS tables.瓦莱拉尚无诺贝尔奖、菲尔兹奖或图灵奖得主，其地位主要来自国内质量评估以及在泰晤士高等教育与 QS 榜单上的快速上升。

Student life

• The university's educational philosophy is summed up in the motto Academic Excellence with Professional Skills, which pairs UKPSF-based teaching with field practice and work-integrated learning.该校的教育理念概括为校训「以专业技能支撑学术卓越」，把基于英国专业标准框架的教学与实地实践、工作整合学习结合起来。
• Its stated graduate identity is good and able, meaning graduates who combine gratitude, volunteering and professional ethics with analytical, synthetic and creative thinking.该校提出的毕业生形象是「良善且能干」，即兼具感恩、志愿精神与职业道德，以及分析、综合与创造性思维。
• The university colours are orange and purple. Orange marks Thursday, the weekday of Princess Chulabhorn's birth, while purple is the colour of Nakhon Si Thammarat Province.校色为橙色与紫色。橙色对应星期四，即朱拉蓬公主出生之日，紫色则是洛坤府的府色。
• Purple is traced to Phra Rattanachatmuni of Wat Tha Pho, a late abbot and education reformer of the south in the reign of King Chulalongkorn, whose personal colour the province adopted.紫色的来源可追溯到塔坡寺已故住持帕·拉达那差门尼，他是朱拉隆功国王时期泰国南部的教育改革者，该府采用了他的个人色。
• The padauk tree, Pterocarpus macrocarpus, is the university's natural symbol, chosen because it grows widely in the forests of Nakhon Si Thammarat and once stood before the governor's residence.紫檀树（Pterocarpus macrocarpus）是该校的自然象征，因其广泛生长于洛坤府的森林，且曾矗立于府尹官邸之前。
• The university emblem carries the letters CB, the initials of Chulabhorn Walailak, beneath a coronet, with the first letter in orange and the second in white on a purple field ringed by gold.校徽在冠冕之下绘有字母 CB，即朱拉蓬·瓦莱拉名字的首字母，首字母为橙色、次字母为白色，衬于紫色底面并由金色环带围绕。
• Foundation Day falls on 29 March and is marked with ceremonies, merit-making and an alumni return to the Tha Sala campus.建校纪念日为 3 月 29 日，校方举行仪式、功德活动，校友也在这一天返回他沙拉校园。
• Because most students live on campus, dormitory life, canteens and the sports complex carry much of the social life, and each school fields teams in inter-faculty competitions.由于多数学生住在校内，宿舍生活、食堂与体育中心承载了大部分社交活动，各学院也组建队伍参加院际比赛。
• Student organisations run volunteering, arts and cultural activities that reflect the multi-ethnic south, including Thai Buddhist, Muslim and Chinese-Thai traditions of Nakhon Si Thammarat.学生组织举办的志愿、艺术与文化活动反映了泰国南部的多元族群，包括洛坤府泰族佛教、穆斯林与泰籍华人传统。

Notable people

• King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX, named the university in February 1992 and gave royal approval to its founding legislation on 29 March 1992, the act remembered as its foundation.拉玛九世普密蓬·阿杜德国王于 1992 年 2 月为该校赐名，并于 1992 年 3 月 29 日御准建校法案，这一御准被视为学校成立的标志。
• Princess Chulabhorn Walailak, the king's youngest daughter and a chemist by training, lends her second name to the university and acts as its royal conferrer.朱拉蓬·瓦莱拉公主是国王的幼女，本身受过化学专业训练，她的名字第二部分成为校名，她也是该校的御赐学位授予人。
• Prof. Dr. Sombat Thamrongthanyawong is the university's president, the senior executive responsible for its academic strategy and its relations with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation.颂巴·探隆他那翁教授博士现任该校校长，是负责学术战略以及与高等教育、科学、研究与创新部关系的最高行政负责人。
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Charun Bunyakan serves as a vice-president, with responsibilities that include the university's planning and quality assurance work.乍伦·汶雅甘副教授博士担任副校长，其职责包括学校规划与质量保障工作。
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mullica Jaroensutasinee, a marine and environmental biologist, is a vice-president and a senior researcher on coastal and coral-reef ecology in the Gulf of Thailand.穆利卡·乍伦素塔西尼副教授博士是海洋与环境生物学家，现任副校长，也是泰国湾海岸与珊瑚礁生态领域的资深研究者。
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Surin Maisrikrod, a political scientist, is a vice-president whose portfolio covers international affairs and academic cooperation.素林·迈西罗副教授博士是政治学者，现任副校长，分管国际事务与学术合作。
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Suwit Wuthisuthimethavee, a specialist in aquatic animal health, is a vice-president responsible for research and innovation.素威·武提素提梅塔威副教授博士是水生动物健康专家，现任副校长，负责科研与创新。
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Warit Jawjit, an environmental engineer, is a vice-president for administration and sustainable development and has published on cleaner production in Thai industry.瓦里·乔吉副教授博士是环境工程师，现任分管行政与可持续发展的副校长，发表过关于泰国工业清洁生产的研究。
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Urai Jaraeprapal, a nurse educator, is a vice-president whose work links the university's health schools with the provincial health service.乌莱·乍伦帕副教授博士是护理教育者，现任副校长，其工作把该校各健康学科与府级卫生服务体系连接起来。
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Siwarit Pongsakornrungsilp, a marketing scholar, is a vice-president for academic affairs and has written on sustainable consumption and community-based tourism in southern Thailand.西瓦里·蓬沙功朗西副教授博士是市场营销学者，现任分管学术事务的副校长，著有关于泰国南部可持续消费与社区旅游的论著。