Ubon Ratchathani University (UBU, มหาวิทยาลัยอุบลราชธานี) was established as a campus of Khon Kaen University, Thailand, in 1987. It gained independent university status in 1990. The university occupies a 2,100-acre (8.5 km) campus in the Warin Chamrap district of Ubon Ratchathani Province, approximately 15 kilometers south of Ubon Ratchathani city. It has around 5000 students in ten faculties: Liberal Arts, Applied Arts, Political Science, Agriculture, Engineering, Science, Management Science, Law, Medicine/Public Health, and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The Management Science faculty used to have an additional campus in Roi Et province, but this has been closed due to financial constraints. The university's former English name, Ubon Rajathanee University, was mandated by its former president Prakob Wirojanagud who disliked the officially approved Royal Institute romanisation system that is used by the government to render the name of the province and city as Ubon Ratchathani. Staff and students protested against this alternative spelling as confusing for foreigners at whom romanization is aimed. The university returned to using the romanization in early 2010.