Mahamakut Buddhist University (MBU) was one of Thailand’s state-run universities with its missions on production of undergraduates and graduates with the academic excellence based up Buddhism, research, community academic services and preservation of arts and culture. All the students, graduated from the university, were endowed with worldly knowledge and Buddhism and they became scholars capable to live their living life, to lead the community and the society, and to solve any problem with intelligence. The university’s objectives were (1) to produce undergraduates and graduates endowed with knowledge and good conduct in Buddhism, (2) to search new resources of Buddhist knowledge, (3) to grant the community and the society much more assistance, (4) to provide the community and the society with Buddhist services as the Buddhism Educational Center, (5) to preserve and promote the national arts and culture, and (6) to maintain Thai nationalism through Buddhist teachings.
The university played its important role to support Buddhist activities and to propagate Buddhism with a great number of Thai and foreign monks graduated each year. All of them were well-behaved and very competitive to lead the society and they were part of Buddhism propagation in the world.
Initially, Mahamakut Buddhist University was a college for Buddhist monks and novices, named Mahamakutarajavidyalaya (Mahamakut Royal Academy) and founded on October 1, 1893 (B.E. 2436), by King Chulalongkorn (King Rama V) in commemoration of his late father King Mongkut (King Rama IV). Later, in B.E. 2488, Mahamakutarajavidyalaya was established by its executive board, presided over by Somdet Phra Sangkharat Chao Krom Luang Wachirayanwong (the thirteenth Supreme Patriarch of Thailand), as Mahamakut Royal Academy Educational Council to become the higher-educational institution for Buddhist monks and novices. It was also known as the first Buddhist university in Thailand.
On October 1, B.E. 2540, Mahamakut Royal Academy Educational Council was approved as a state university under the country’s Ministry of Education and officially named Mahamakut Buddhist University in order to provide both monks and laymen with undergraduate and graduate degrees. Now, Mahamakut Buddhist University has seven campuses and three colleges all over the country. In addition, Mahamakut Buddhist University, Srilanchang Campus was the seventh campus of Mahamakut Buddhist University, located in Wat Srisuddhavasa (Royal Temple). In B.E. 2536, the campus was initially inaugurated by Phra Dhamma Varalangkarn (Luang Pu Srichan Vannabho), an abbot of Wat Srisuddhavasa (Royal Temple) in Loei province. On March 28, B.E. 2538, it was approved to establish as Srilanchang Campus by the Council of Mahamakut Buddhist University.