History of the Faculty of Liberal Arts

The Faculty of Liberal Arts was established by royal decree on 31 December 1961. Prof. Dr. Adul Wichiancharoen, who initiated the founding and was then the university's secretary-general, became its first dean. The founding proposal called for giving students broad knowledge across science, social sciences, and the humanities before they specialized, so graduates would reason well and apply their specialized knowledge in the context of a wider understanding of society, nature, and culture. Two core objectives guided the founding: (1) teaching foundational social-science, humanities, and science courses to every Thammasat undergraduate, and (2) offering degree programs in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences not yet available at the university. Teaching officially began on 15 August 1962, now marking the faculty's founding anniversary. Initially every Thammasat student spent their first two years studying general-education courses at the Faculty of Liberal Arts — covering science and mathematics, the humanities, social sciences, and foreign languages — before moving into a specialized faculty (law, commerce and accountancy, political science, economics, or social administration) in their third year.

The faculty teaches at two campuses. Tha Phra Chan, the original site on the bank of the Chao Phraya River in central Bangkok, houses the faculty building, the Pho Tree courtyard, and the Jing Nong sculpture — a historic space tied to Thammasat's identity and to its democratic and cultural movements — and today hosts special-project and international bachelor's programs, master's and doctoral programs, and short and long training courses. Rangsit was developed from 1967 as part of the university's expansion, an initiative led by Dr. Puey Ungphakorn; the Faculty of Liberal Arts was among the first faculties to move teaching there when it opened for the 1986 academic year. First-year students studied at Rangsit before returning to Tha Phra Chan in later years; that arrangement extended to two years at Rangsit in 2002, and from 2009 all regular bachelor's programs have been taught fully at Rangsit.

Jing Nong is a bronze figure sculpture in the art garden of the Tha Phra Chan campus, inspired by Auguste Rodin's "The Thinker" and blended with Sukhothai-era artistic form. Founding dean Prof. Adul Wichiancharoen conceived it and commissioned artist Khien Yimsiri — a leading student of Prof. Silpa Bhirasri — to design and create it alongside the faculty building's construction in 1962. Originally titled "The Student" by its creator, it was called "Adulmuni" by the first generation of art students and then "Jing Nong" by the second, the name that stuck. Prof. Adul described it as embodying the need to master Western academic learning while preserving Thai identity: its gaze rests on Thai script carved into the building wall, its left hand holds a textbook symbolizing love of learning, its right hand rests thoughtfully at its chin echoing Rodin's Thinker, and its advancing left foot recalls a walking-posture Sukhothai Buddha image — together reflecting the ideal student who reads, thinks, acts, and blends Thai and international identity. Larn Po, the Pho Tree courtyard in front of the faculty building near the Tha Phra Chan gate, surrounds an old pho tree of unknown origin, believed to predate the campus. When the faculty building was under construction in 1962 there was a proposal to cut it down, but Prof. Adul asked that it be preserved; the courtyard later became a symbol of the struggle for democracy, as a gathering place for student movements and political and cultural expression.