Despite the threat posed by gang rivalries with other schools, first-year students can still enrol at the Uthenthawai campus of Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-ok (RMUTTO), the minister for higher education said on Tuesday.
However, they must study at other campuses until the violent rivalry with Pathumwan Institute of Technology (PIT) has been resolved, Supamas Isarabhakdi said.
The minister said efforts were being made to end the years-long dispute between the two Bangkok-based institutes of higher learning that has caused multiple deaths and even more injuries over many years.
Most recently, two PIT students were attacked last Friday in front of their campus. One of them died from his stab injuries. In November, a first-year student from Uthenthawai campus was shot and died in Klong Toey district.
Ms Supamas had been hoping for a meeting with the rector of the Uthenthawai campus this week, but the rector is currently on a business trip overseas.
She said a separate meeting with the rector of PIT had been scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, to discuss possible solutions to the problem.
''Regarding student admissions to the Uthenthawai campus, it can still admit first-year students but they need to study at other campuses of RMUTTO, such as in Chanthaburi, Bang Phra in Chon Buri or Chakrabongse Bhuvanarth in Bangkok," Ms Supamas said.
Asked about students wishing to transfer to Uthenthawai campus, Ms Supamas said she would have to discuss this with the rector first. She would work with current and former students, police and other agencies in appraising the situation, to seek a way forward.
The education minister had earlier told Uthenthawai campus not to admit any new students for the 2024 academic year.
There is a long-term plan to move the campus away from Pathumwan district to Samut Prakan, to lessen opportunities for friction between the warring gangs, but it is stalled.
The campus sits on 20 rai leased from Chulalongkorn University in 1935 for 68 years. The lease expired in 2003. Chulalongkorn University has been negotiating for the return of the land since 1975, with no success.
In 2002, the Treasury Department offered the use of 36 rai of land in Bang Phli district of Samut Prakan for use by the Uthenthawai campus, and the government allocated 200 million baht in funding for the project.
The Uthenthaiwai campus signed a pact with Chulalongkorn University to move out by Sept 30, 2005, agreeing to move to the Bang Phli site in November of that year. It came to nought, held up by opposition from students.