For 140 years, The Prince Royal’s College has been a cornerstone of education in northern Thailand. Founded in the late 19th century and officially named by King Rama VI some 120 years ago, PRC has grown into the largest school in the country, its sprawling and leafy 120 rai campus in the heart of Chiang Mai city supporting a community of 7,000 students and nearly 700 members of faculty and staff. It is an institution with great renown, deep roots — and, as it turns out, a clear eye on the future.
Under the leadership of alumni Manager and Director Kriang Tidtijumreonporn, and Pinn Tananone, Head of the new Science and Technology Excellence Programme, PRC is launching an initiative that speaks directly to one of the more persistent dilemmas facing parents in Chiang Mai today: how do you give your child a world-class, internationally minded education without losing the Thai cultural identity that matters just as much?
Identifying the gap
Chiang Mai’s education landscape is broad, and navigating it can be genuinely bewildering. At one end sit the premium international schools — IB curricula, English-medium instruction, globally recognised qualifications, and fees to match. At the other, affordable government schools that ground students firmly in Thai culture and language. In the middle, a growing number of bilingual and English programme options of varying quality and price ranges.
Each has its merits, but Director Kriang sees a gap that none of these fully address. “One thing I feel that international schools are missing is their Thainess — manners, language, as well as a local social life and lifelong friendships,” he explains. “We offer Thainess and Thai society: culture, language, traditions, manners, respect, friends, peers. This is something that we can uniquely offer.”
It is a distinction that resonates with many families in Chiang Mai, particularly those who have watched children emerge from international schooling articulate and academically capable, but somehow slightly unmoored from the culture they grew up in. This offering will also be attractive to the growing number of mixed Thai an international households with needs for their children to be exposed and to excel on both the Thai and international stages. The new programme’s guiding philosophy is captured in a single phrase: international standard, not international school. The goal is to produce what PRC calls “Thai and Global Citizens” — young people who can navigate the world with confidence, but who remain rooted in who they are.
What the programme looks like
The Science and Technology Excellence Programme is less about producing future scientists than it is about instilling a scientific way of thinking — the kind that teaches children how to approach a problem, follow their curiosity, and test what they think they know. It is, at its heart, a programme about developing minds rather than filling them.
The syllabus has been developed in collaboration with STEM CMU at Chiang Mai University and draws on educational approaches from New Zealand, layered thoughtfully onto the Thai national curriculum. Native English-speaking teachers from the UK, New Zealand, the USA, Australia, and Canada lead instruction, bringing with them a diversity of teaching styles and perspectives. Chinese language study is built into the timetable every single day — a trilingual foundation that reflects both the realities of the region and the direction of travel for the global economy.
Class sizes are capped at 25 students, noticeably smaller than the 30 to 40 typical of standard Thai programmes. The emphasis throughout is on hands-on, enquiry-based learning rather than the rote memorisation that remains common in more traditional classrooms. Children are encouraged to question, experiment, and arrive at understanding through doing rather than simply being told.
Crucially, students sit both standard Thai exams and international assessments, keeping multiple pathways open as they move toward secondary education. It is a practical safety net — and one that parents, understandably, tend to appreciate.
Formalising the New Zealand connection
That New Zealand influence became official on 31st August, when PRC signed two agreements at the school’s 120th Anniversary Cornelia McGilvary Harris Hall. The first, an Education Cooperation Arrangement with Education New Zealand (ENZ), the New Zealand government’s education agency, includes plans for a Thailand-New Zealand Centre to support student exchange and academic cooperation between the two countries. The second is a memorandum of understanding with Avondale College, a New Zealand school honoured with the Ministry of Education’s Excellence in Quality Teaching & Instruction award in 2026.
The Avondale agreement gives Science and Technology Excellence Programme students a defined route through to New Zealand’s own qualifications: NCEA Level 1 and Level 2 study in Thailand, followed by NCEA Level 3 at Avondale College itself. Students can graduate with both a Mathayom 6 certificate from PRC and a Year 13 NCEA Level 3 qualification, usable for university applications in Thailand and abroad. Representatives from four New Zealand universities — Auckland University of Technology, Lincoln University, the University of Otago and Victoria University of Wellington — attended the signing, underlining the pathway’s reach beyond secondary school.
Number crunching
Annual tuition for the programme sits at 250,000 baht — more than a standard English Programme, but considerably less than the top-tier international schools. For context, fees at the most expensive international schools in Chiang Mai can reach 900,000 baht per year, while others sit in the 350,000 to 580,000 baht range. PRC’s offering sits comfortably in the lower to mid-range of the market, but with the added weight of a 140-year institutional legacy that no newer school can replicate. For many families, that combination of affordability and pedigree is a compelling one.
Selective by design
Admission to PRC’s English Excellence Programmes has always been competitive — the school accepts around 10% of applicants — and the Science and Technology track is no different. For the most recent Kindergarten intake, 40 applications were received and just 20 places offered, but competition is expected to get steeper as the programme is coveted by more parents.
The selection process is deliberately holistic and unhurried. Children are observed at work and play while staff assess their English skills and general development. Parents are invited for a one-hour meeting to ensure that family values and the school’s vision are genuinely aligned. It is not simply a box-ticking exercise; PRC is looking for families who share its outlook as much as children who meet a particular academic threshold.
Priority for Kindergarten 3 places is given to children of alumni, siblings of current students, and children of staff. The school is Christian in foundation but welcomes all religions and nationalities.
Growing into the future
The programme currently serves Kindergarten 3, but from May next year it will expand through to Prathom 3. A significant milestone arrives in 2027, when the entire programme relocates across the road to the neighbouring Chiang Mai International School campus site — as CMIS will soon be moving further out of the city — providing a purpose-suited environment for Kindergarten 1 through Prathom 3.
Director Kriang is keen to point out that despite the programme’s premium positioning, it remains recognisably PRC. Students wear the standard uniform, participate in morning flag ceremonies and sports days, and move through school life alongside their peers. “It is still Prince Royal — can’t tell the difference, they all look the same,” he says. The excellence, he suggests, shows up in outcomes, not in creating a separate or elitist atmosphere.
For parents weighing up their options in Chiang Mai’s increasingly crowded education market, the Science and Technology Excellence Programme makes a considered case for itself: a well-established institution, a thoughtfully designed curriculum, a price point that sits sensibly between the extremes, and a genuine commitment to sending children into the world as both confident global citizens and grounded Thais. In a city where educational choices can feel overwhelming, that clarity of vision is itself something of a differentiator.
Tuition Fees for the Science & Technology Excellence Programme
Kindergarten 1 (K1) — THB 170,000
Kindergarten 2 (K2) — THB 180,000
Kindergarten 3 (K3 / Year 1) — THB 250,000
Primary 1 (P1 / Year 2) — THB 250,000
Primary 2 (P2 / Year 3) — THB 250,000
Primary 3 (P3 / Year 4) — THB 250,000
Primary 4 (P4 / Year 5) — THB 275,000
Secondary 1 (M1 / Year 8) — THB 300,000
Secondary 4 (M4 / Year 11) — THB 325,000
For admissions enquiries, contact The Prince Royal’s College directly.
