Classifying poverty into three stages can help RMUTL provide more effective assistance. In 2025, unprecedented and repeated flooding affected many students’ families, damaging homes, vehicles, and other property. Many students from farming families also experienced severe crop losses. Such emergencies can cause short-term poverty by suddenly destroying resources accumulated over time. A suitable lump-sum payment can support recovery and help families obtain essentials such as food and water while they await further assistance from government or private organizations.

RMUTL reviews scholarship, living-support, and student-loan applications annually, both before admission and after students enroll. Screening considers five dimensions: (1) financial security, (2) food security, (3) living conditions, (4) a healthy lifestyle, and (5) equitable access to education. These factors are assessed as part of the funding decision. Financial assessments primarily consider parents’ income and total household income, with reference to Thailand’s annual poverty line. Students receiving poverty-related assistance generally come from households below the national poverty line, as well as low-income households slightly above it. For 2025, Thailand’s National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) reported a poverty line of THB 3,044 per person per month.

The geographical location of Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna (RMUTL) provides a strategic advantage. The university operates six campuses across six provinces in northern Thailand, four of which are located in Chiang Mai, Nan, Tak, and Chiang Rai, along the Northern Economic Corridor (CNX). These provinces include important border areas and gateway cities connecting Thailand with Myanmar, Laos, and China. This geographical context facilitates migration, the movement of refugees from other countries, and both legal and irregular cross-border labor migration among people seeking better living conditions and opportunities in Thailand.

These movements have a direct and significant impact on the communities served by RMUTL. Given this area-based context, the university must adapt its role and develop inclusive strategies to address the needs of diverse populations. These strategies include establishing financial assistance funds and welfare programs, as well as implementing humanitarian assistance initiatives to support the growing presence of migrants, refugees, stateless persons, ethnic groups, marginalized populations, and communities living along the Myanmar–Laos border. Young people in these groups are particularly vulnerable to social exclusion, restrictions on their rights, and various forms of abuse and exploitation.

RMUTL’s efforts to address these challenges depend on the effective management and delivery of quality educational opportunities. The university emphasizes practical training to develop students’ skills, expertise, and experience, as well as specialized knowledge that prepares them for future careers. It also seeks to ensure that students from low-income backgrounds have equitable access to social welfare and social security benefits to which all people are entitled.

These mechanisms contribute to a comprehensive, integrated approach to preventing, alleviating, and eradicating poverty throughout the university’s areas of responsibility. These regions are home to communities whose residents interact across provincial and national borders, share cultural traditions or maintain diverse cultural identities, and participate in interconnected creative economies. RMUTL is committed to helping disadvantaged people overcome hunger, deprivation, and physical and psychological hardship, enabling them to rebuild their lives and achieve a better quality of life under the supportive umbrella of the “RMUTL Family.”

This commitment is reinforced by a supportive institutional environment in which policies, measures, and practical initiatives are actively implemented to promote social protection, social policy, and social protection measures. Through these efforts, RMUTL strives to advance inclusive development, reduce inequality, and help vulnerable populations overcome poverty in a sustainable and dignified manner.