SDG 5
Gender Equality
Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna (RMUTL) | Sustainability Report 2025
SDG 5 Highlights 2025
In 2025, Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna (RMUTL) continued to promote gender equality, diversity, and inclusion through institutional policies, leadership opportunities, and community engagement. The university emphasized equal treatment, respect for gender diversity, and inclusive participation in academic and university life, building on its ongoing commitment to human rights and social responsibility.
Promoting Gender Equality and Community Inclusion. RMUTL continued its participation in Pride Month activities, following its involvement in Chiang Mai Pride in 2024. On June 21, 2025, faculty members, staff, and students from RMUTL Lampang Campus participated in Lampang Pride 2025, themed “Diverse but Equal.” The event provided opportunities to raise awareness of gender equality, human rights, and respect for LGBTQ+ communities. Participation in these activities across consecutive years demonstrates the university’s continued public engagement in promoting diversity and social inclusion.
Supporting Women in Academic and Administrative Leadership. Women held senior leadership positions at RMUTL in 2025, including vice president, dean, assistant to the president, and director-level roles. Their representation across academic and administrative functions highlights women’s participation in university governance, institutional management, and decision-making. The university’s publicly available executive structure provides information on leadership positions and supports institutional transparency.
Strengthening Gender-Inclusive Institutional Policies. RMUTL continued implementing its Gender-Inclusive Graduation Attire Policy, allowing transgender and gender-diverse graduates to request permission to wear graduation attire consistent with their gender identity. In 2025, the university maintained a formal application and approval process, with a submission deadline of February 12, 2025. This policy provides an established institutional mechanism for recognizing gender diversity and supporting equal treatment during official academic ceremonies.
Together, these initiatives reflect RMUTL’s continued commitment to creating an inclusive university environment where individuals are respected regardless of gender identity or expression. Through community participation, women’s leadership, and gender-inclusive policies, the university promotes equality, human dignity, and sustainable institutional development.
Pride Month
A Continuing Commitment to Gender Equality at RMUTL (2024–2025)
RMUTL embraces SDG 4.7 and SDG 5, promoting education for human rights, gender equality, and respect for diversity as part of its core mission.
In 2024, RMUTL joined Chiang Mai Pride 2024, Thailand’s first official Pride event, with a delegation of staff, the student council, and student clubs taking part in the Pride Parade and related public celebrations in Chiang Mai. RMUTL carried this commitment forward in 2025, showing that its support for Pride Month is an ongoing institutional practice rather than a one-time activity. On 21 June 2025, RMUTL Lampang led faculty, staff, and students in joining Lampang Pride 2025: Diverse but Equal, organized by the M Plus Foundation (Lampang Branch) and the Khelang Nakhon Tourism Business Association. The activities included an awareness-raising march through the city, and a public gathering space for the LGBTQ+ community and the wider public to exchange views and experiences.
RMUTL’s participation in Pride Month in two consecutive years, at two different campuses, shows that its support for gender equality and LGBTQ+ inclusion is a sustained institutional commitment rather than an isolated gesture.
Through this continued engagement, RMUTL strengthens its alignment with SDG 5 by:
- Encouraging gender equality and inclusivity in education and community life.
- Raising awareness of human rights and social justice among students and staff.
- Promoting diversity and respect as core institutional values.
- Sustaining visible participation across consecutive years (2024–2025), reflecting an ongoing rather than one-time institutional commitment.
By maintaining this engagement year after year, RMUTL continues to support SDG 4.7 and SDG 5 and strengthens its standing in the Times Higher Education Sustainability Impact Ratings as a university that consistently promotes equality, inclusivity, and sustainability.
Source: https://lpc.rmutl.ac.th/news/29232
Women in Senior Academic and Administrative Leadership at RMUTL
A Continuing Commitment to Gender Equality at RMUTL (2024–2025)
RMUTL’s published executive structure shows that women hold a number of senior academic and administrative leadership positions across the university, including Vice President for Council Affairs and Quality System Development, Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration and Liberal Arts, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Agricultural Technology, Assistant to the President, and Director of the Office of the President. These positions span both academic leadership (deanships, vice presidency) and core administrative management, indicating that women are represented at multiple levels of the university’s senior decision-making structure, not confined to a single role or division.
Senior posts at RMUTL are held according to position and responsibility, not gender, and the executive structure is published openly for staff, students, and the public. Women’s presence in these roles shows that the university supports women to serve in senior academic and administrative positions, and it contributes to a leadership environment in which gender is not a barrier to advancement.
Source: https://www.rmutl.ac.th/structure/executive?lang=en
RMUTL's Continued Commitment to Gender Equality
through the Gender-Inclusive Graduation Attire Policy
RMUTL maintains a Gender-Inclusive Graduation Attire Policy, first formalized in the official graduation regulations, which allows transgender and gender-diverse graduates to dress according to their gender identity at the royal conferment ceremony. Graduates may submit a written request through the Division of Student Development or the Education Division of their respective campus, which is then reviewed and forwarded to the Ceremony Department for approval, ensuring that gender-diverse students can express their authentic selves at this significant academic milestone.
As a standing university regulation rather than a one-time measure, this policy continues to apply at each graduation cycle. For the 2025 conferment ceremony, the university again issued its official request process, allowing graduates and postgraduates whose gender identity or gender expression differs from their sex assigned at birth to apply to dress according to their gender identity, with the application deadline set for 12 February 2025. This confirms the policy as a written, actively enforced non-discrimination measure for transgender and gender-diverse individuals — not merely a stated intention — demonstrating that gender inclusivity at RMUTL is institutionally protected on an ongoing basis and reinforcing the university’s continued alignment with and leadership in promoting SDG 5 Gender Equality and equal rights in higher education.
By formalizing this policy within the official graduation announcement, RMUTL demonstrates that gender inclusivity is not merely encouraged but institutionally protected. This regulation aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 5 Gender Equality and showcases the university’s leadership in promoting social inclusion and equal rights in higher education.
Translation of Thai Regulations (Section 7)
- Graduates and postgraduates whose gender identity or gender expression differs from their sex at birth and who wish to dress according to their current gender expression:
1 Must submit a written request in person at the Division of Student Development or the Education Division of their respective provincial campus on the day of reporting in person. The request form can be downloaded from https://graduation.rmutl.ac.th/.
7.2 The Division of Student Development or the Education Division of each provincial campus will collect the information, give recommendations, and forward the requests to the Ceremony Department for consideration and approval by 12 February 2025.
7.3 Those who are permitted by the university to dress according to their gender identity that differs from their birth sex when receiving the Royal Degree must strictly follow the guidelines provided by the Ceremony Department.”
Through such forward-thinking initiatives, RMUTL exemplifies its role as a transformative educational institution, one that nurtures not only academic excellence but also empathy, equality, and the empowerment of every individual, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.