On May 19, 2012, presidential adviser and public intellectual U Myint issued a famous open letter calling for restoration of the University of Yangon to its former glory (when it was known as Rangoon University). He made a point of arguing for reconstruction of the Student Union building notoriously blown up by Ne Win on July 7, 1962, and singled out for reassembly by Dr Maung Maung in his transitory role as Burmese president during the ferment of 1988. “More than anything else, the new Student Union building will be a landmark in the national reconciliation process and it will fill a void that has been in our hearts for some time. As in the past, it will provide a place where our young people can gather, engage in free debate and discussion, and in keeping with our tradition, they will be encouraged to play an effective role in the nation building task that lies ahead.”

Currently, there’s no sign that a Student Union building will reappear on campus anytime soon. That apart, the university is undergoing an impressive array of restoration activity. One key driver is Aung San Suu Kyi, who chairs parliamentary committees on higher education law and, specifically, UY revitalization. She both mobilizes domestic opinion, and appeals for international support. When awarded an honorary degree by the University of Oxford in June 2012, for instance, she made a direct request for bilateral engagement. Another significant actor is Open Society Foundations, boosted by Myanmar trips taken by George Soros from late 2011 onwards. About 20 other development partners are also involved. Equally important is the willingness of major global players such as Australian National University, Columbia University and the University of Oxford (and a raft of slightly lesser institutions) to step up to the plate. Plus, of course, there is less visible, less heralded work undertaken on campus every day of the week by UY academics and administrators, many of whom gain valuable overseas experience through visiting fellowship schemes. From international relations and law, for example, faculty members are serially spending three months each at Central European University in Budapest. Put together, these activities amount to a quite remarkable joint effort.

The chances are, then, that no more than a few years from now UY will be a globally-networked institution of higher education offering high-quality programmes to outstanding students. Already eLibrary Myanmar provides access to a superb range of online resources: more than 10,000 academic journals, and around 130,000 books. ANU also has a major collaboration, funded by the Australian government, seeking to build capacity in law, demography and international relations. Before long Columbia will be working on projects addressing human rights and the rule of law, and spreading into other areas. Oxford will have a campus presence focused chiefly on constitutional law. And so on through initiatives large and small underpinned by memoranda of understanding with universities from all over the world.

Restoring UY to its former glory, and in tandem bringing Mandalay University up to a near-equivalent standard, will deliver on one part of Myanmar’s higher education reform agenda – building peak institutions that are internationally excellent. That’s terrific – but there’s also much that needs to be done beyond these two elite institutions to make decent tertiary education an option for the mass of the people.