In the two weeks to this past weekend, I participated in a couple of fascinating and stimulating events on higher education reform. The first was the Global Education Dialogue – Myanmar, which took place at Park Royal Hotel, Yangon on July 4-5, and was co-sponsored by the British Council and UNESCO. The second was a Social Science Curriculum Working Group Meeting, co-hosted by the University of Yangon and Mandalay University, animated by Open Society Foundations, and held on campus at UY on July 16-18. Together, they gave me a chance to take stock of where things stand in this critical sector, notably in the realm of teaching and learning.

Looking first at basic data, Myanmar currently has either 168 or 169 public universities (nobody can be sure) grouped together under 12 (or maybe 13) line ministries. As yet, there are no private universities. At the heart of the system are 47 universities reporting to the Ministry of Education. They range across the arts and sciences, foreign languages, teacher training, economics and distance education. UY and MU are dominant, but for political reasons neither engages much with teaching and learning. Key providers are thus found elsewhere – in new universities built mainly in the 1990s on the margins of urban areas, and in two universities of distance education, each with a series of satellite campuses. In Lower Myanmar, focused on Yangon University of Distance of Education, there are 15 teaching centres with a total of 150,000 students. In Upper Myanmar, focused on Mandalay University of Distance Education, there are 20 teaching centres also with 150,000 students. When all programmes at all tertiary institutions are put together, roughly 1 million students are registered in Myanmar.

Reform dates from 2011, when modernization of higher education was made one of three national priorities, and more fully from 2012, when the MoE launched the Comprehensive Education Sector Review. The ministry coordinates input from other government agencies, and is supported by an array of development partners. Parallel work is undertaken by the National Network for Education Reform, a civil society group led by the NLD that brings together academics, teachers and students. A key moment in shaping a growing CESR/NNER rivalry came on October 7, 2013, when President Thein Sein attended a Naypyitaw seminar on pragmatic education reform, triggering formation of the Education Promotion Implementation Committee. EPIC quickly eclipsed all other activity and became the new reform driver. It is much closer to the government’s CESR than to the NLD’s NNER. Among 18 EPIC working groups is one dealing with higher education. In draft at present are a national education law, a higher education law, and a private universities law.

As of now, perhaps the most important reformist aim is to sever MoE and other line ministry control of universities. This regulates everything from student enrolment to curriculum design to faculty recruitment, which is managed through a general transfer system that sees academics regularly rotated from one campus to another. University autonomy is therefore a core demand, and is likely to be delivered in some form around the end of this year. Enhanced institutional freedom could lead to new modes of student recruitment (shifting from matriculation scores to university entrance exams), experimentation in curriculum design, and better human resource management. Conceivably, it could also foment a process of institutional consolidation. Within universities, departments could be gathered into faculties. Across the sector, excessive fragmentation (mandated for public security reasons) could be reversed as universities are stitched back into something resembling their former shapes. That, though, will be a difficult and lengthy task.

Higher education reform is gathering speed in Myanmar. Over the next few days I plan to look at several aspects in greater detail.