Editing Bangkok (section)

===Education===
[[File:Chulalongkorn University Auditorium High View.JPG|thumb|right|alt=The campus of Chulalongkorn University, with many red-roofed buildings and trees; many tall buildings in the background|The [[campus of Chulalongkorn University]] was surrounded by rural fields when it was established in 1917. [[Pathum Wan District]] has since become part of the Bangkok city centre.]]

Bangkok has long been the centre of modern education in Thailand. The first schools in the country were established here in the late 19th century, and there are now 1,351 [[List of schools in Bangkok|schools in the city]].<ref>{{cite web |website=Bureau of Information and Communication Technology |title=Educational Statistics in Brief 2011|publisher=Ministry of Education|pages=28–29|url=http://www.mis.moe.go.th/mis-th/images/news-2555/260555/EIS/stat54/html/T001.html|access-date=15 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141010035137/http://www.mis.moe.go.th/mis-th/images/news-2555/260555/EIS/stat54/html/T001.html|archive-date=10 October 2014}}</ref> The city is home to the country's five oldest universities, [[Chulalongkorn University|Chulalongkorn]], [[Thammasat University|Thammasat]], [[Kasetsart University|Kasetsart]], [[Mahidol University|Mahidol]] and [[Silpakorn University|Silpakorn]], founded between 1917 and 1943. The city has since continued its dominance, especially in higher education; the majority of the country's universities, both public and private, [[List of universities in Bangkok|are located in Bangkok]] or the Metropolitan Region. Chulalongkorn and Mahidol are the only Thai universities to appear in the top 500 of the ''[[QS World University Rankings]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=QS World University Rankings |url=http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2012 |publisher=QS Quacquarelli Symonds Limited |access-date=26 September 2012 |archive-date=2 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502093254/https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi]], also located in Bangkok, is the only Thai university in the top 400 of the 2012–13 ''[[Times Higher Education World University Rankings]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=King Mongkut's University of Technology, Thonburi|website=Times Higher Education World University Rankings|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2012-13/world-ranking/institution/king-mongkuts-university-of-technology-thonburi|publisher=TSL Education|access-date=20 April 2013|archive-date=13 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113115232/http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2012-13/world-ranking/institution/king-mongkuts-university-of-technology-thonburi|url-status=live}}</ref>

Over the past few decades, the general trend of pursuing a university degree has prompted the founding of new universities to meet the needs of Thai students. Bangkok became not only a place where immigrants and provincial Thais go for job opportunities, but also for a chance to receive a university degree. [[Ramkhamhaeng University]] emerged in 1971 as Thailand's first open university; it now has the highest enrolment in the country. The demand for higher education has led to the founding of many other universities and colleges, both public and private. While many universities have been established in major provinces, the Greater Bangkok region remains home to the greater majority of institutions, and the city's tertiary education scene remains overpopulated with non-Bangkokians. The situation is not limited to higher education, either. In the 1960s, 60 to 70 per cent of 10- to 19-year-olds who were in school had migrated to Bangkok for secondary education. This was due to both a lack of secondary schools in the provinces and perceived higher standards of education in the capital.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Sukanya|last=Nitungkorn |title=The problems of secondary education expansion in Thailand |journal=Southeast Asian Studies|volume=26|issue=1|date=June 1988 |url=http://kyoto-seas.org/pdf/26/1/260102.pdf|access-date=22 September 2012}}</ref> Although this discrepancy has since largely abated, tens of thousands of students still compete for places in Bangkok's leading schools. Education has long been a prime factor in the centralization of Bangkok and will play a vital role in the government's efforts to decentralize the country.