Myanmar

Partners situated in Myanmar

None.

Myanmar in a nutshell

Myanmar, officially the Union of Myanmar, often still called Burma, is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia or Indochina. The country is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southwest with the Andaman Sea defining its southern periphery.

One-third of Myanmar's total perimeter, 1,930 kilometres (1,199 mi), forms an uninterrupted coastline.

The country's culture, heavily influenced by neighbours, is based on Theravada Buddhism intertwined with local elements. Itsdiverse population has played a major role in defining its politics, history and demographics in modern times, and the country continues to struggle to mend its ethnic tensions. The military has dominated government since 1962.

Its population is just over 50 million.

Its capital is Naypyidaw but the largest city is Yangon (often still called Rangoon).

Myanmar education system

The educational system is operated by the government Ministry of Education. Universities and professional institutes from upper and lower Myanmar are run by two separate entities, the Department of Higher Education of Upper Myanmar and the Department of Higher Education of Lower Myanmar . Headquarters are based in Yangon and Mandalay respectively. The education system is based on the United Kingdom's system, due to nearly a century of British and Christian presences in Myanmar . Nearly all schools are government-operated, but there has been a recent increase in privately funded English language schools. Schooling is compulsory until the end of elementary school, probably about 9 years old, while the compulsory schooling age is 15 or 16 at international level.

There are 101 universities, 12 institutes, 9 degree colleges and 24 colleges in Burma, a total of 146 higher education institutions.

There are 10 Technical Training Schools, 23 nursing training schools, 1 sport academy and 20 midwifery schools.

There are 2047 Basic Education High Schools, 2605 Basic Education Middle Schools, 29944 Basic Education Primary Schools and 5952 Post Primary Schools. 1692 multimedia classrooms exist within this system.

There are three international schools which are acknowledged by WASC and College Board – The International School Yangon (ISY), Yangon International School (YIS) and Yangon International Educare Center (YIEC) in Yangon.

Virtual Campuses in HE

Re.ViCa Case-study

None.

Lessons learnt

A few delegates from Myanmar now appear at e-learning conferences outside the country.

References

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For OER policies and projects in Myanmar see Myanmar/OER

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