Thammasat University is Thailand's second oldest university.  Officially inaugurated on 27 June 1934 at Tha Phra Chan on the Rattanakosin Island and on the Bank of the Chao Phraya River. The University’s founder, Prof. Dr. Pridi Banomyong, originally named Thammasat the “University of Ethics  and Politics”, reflecting its primary mission to offer  higher education in the disciplines of law and politics to the new citizenry and prepare Thai people for their new democratic system. Hoping to make higher learning accessible to all, Thammasat began as an open university with 7,094 students enrolled in its first academic year.