Thammasat University is a public research university in Thailand with campuses in Tha Phra Chan near the Grand Palace in the heart of Bangkok Old City), in Rangsit which is 42 kilometers north of Bangkok, in Pattaya, a popular seaside district in the Eastern Seaboard, and in Lampang Province near Chiang Mai. Thammasat is Thailand's second oldest institute of higher education. Officially established to be the national university of Thailand on June 27th, 1934 the university was originally named by its founder, Pridi Banomyong, the University of Moral and Political Sciences, reflecting the political fervor of Thailand.