Reforming a university during political transformation: a case study of Yangon University in Myanmar

ABSTRACT

Since 2010, Myanmar has been transitioning from an authoritarian military regime towards a parliamentary democracy. Several education policies have been launched as part of this political transformation process, including the reform of Myanmar’s flagship higher education institution, Yangon University. This article investigates the reform of Yangon University. Through so doing, we examine a key node in Myanmar’s higher education system, and contribute to academic debates over higher education reforms in countries undergoing political transformations. The article draws on qualitative data obtained from stakeholders involved in the reform of Yangon University, and uses Arnhold et al.’s ‘educational reconstruction framework’ to conceptualize the reform process. It is argued that while improvements have been made to the physical infrastructure, there has been a failure to consider the ideological and psychological reconstruction of the university, which staff and students alike deem essential to transforming long standing authoritarian practices, and creating a constructive learning environment.

KEYWORDS:

• Myanmar (Burma)
• Yangon University (Rangoon University)
• educational reconstruction
• qualitative research
• educational policy

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, we would like to thank all the participants who bravely agreed to take part in this study. We are also grateful to Brasenose College, University of Oxford, for financial assistance to cover travel and fieldwork costs. Lastly, we would like to thank Hubert Ertl and the two anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

James Esson http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7076-5119