The National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) was established following His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s vision of advancing Thailand’s development through the establishment of an advanced educational institution to prepare people to become agents of change for national development. The inception of NIDA grew out of His Majesty the King’s discussions of the country’s development with Mr. David Rockefeller of the Rockefeller Foundation in the United States of America in 1963. As a result, NIDA was established on April 1, l966. NIDA was established with financial support from the prestigious Ford Foundation in the U.S.A. and academic assistance from the Midwest Universities Consortium for International Activities (MUCIA), the official accrediting organization of all U.S. institutions of higher education, and became an educational institute of higher education for Thai scholars who would otherwise study abroad. Under benevolent auspices of His Majesty the King, NIDA exists and stands today as Thailand’s leading educational institution concentrating exclusively on graduate studies in fields related to national development.