November 28, 2020
rofessor Chaw Chaw Sein (PhD), University of Yangon
Continued from previous article on 26 November
Managing infrastructure for the revitalization of UY has presented both opportunities and challenges. It is an opportunity for the UY to draw government attention and be given priority for upgrades ahead of many other universities. These priorities for the physical infrastructure include the construction of a student hub, university hub, library extension, canteens and buildings. Before setting these priorities, rebuilding of Rangoon University Student Union (RUSU) which was blown up in 1962 by the Revolutionary Council Government had come to forefront in the transition of the National League for Democracy (NLD) led administration in 2016. The key actors that are involved in University management especially for the physical infrastructure is the University Alumni, the Regional government and the student unions. The Alumni are almost all formed by the older generations who thoroughly know the history of UY and have particular perspectives on managing it. Their main interest and support are for the infrastructure development such as rebuilding the RUSU, university canteen, library and others. They were delighted to see the University reopening and enthusiastic to support physical infrastructure development, given the poor state of the facilities. As the University will celebrate its centennial milestone in 2020, their enthusiastic participation can be seen in Alumni meetings which are held once every month at the Science Research Centre, UY. The strength of the University Alumni is funding. With this funding, they would like to rebuild the RUSU which was blown up by the Revolutionary Council government led by General Ne Win in 1962 and restore it to its former glory, before its destruction. As the RUSU has a history of engagement with political movements, not only student unions from the UY but also from other universities, special attention has been paid to its rebuilding.
After the landslide victory of the National League for Democracy in 2015, the government was formed in 2016 and paid special attention to the revitalization of University. However, there were different perspective among the stake holders to reconstruct RUSU. Some raised their voice on the government not to rebuild the student union building at the original site and suggested that a monument should, instead, be erected in the place to mark it as a historical place for anti-dictator student movements. Some student leaders wanted the building to be reconstructed at its original site while new student generation prefers a modern building. At this point, the dreams of all stakeholders is stuck as different actors have come up with different ideas. Since the rebuilding of RUSU became a debatable issue, the priority for the physical infrastructure turned to developing a student hub instead of rebuilding the RUSU.
In order to tackle these issues, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as a State Counsellor formed the Organization for the Revitalization and Upgrading for University of Yangon with Dr Myo Thein Gyi, Minister for Education, as a Chair on 11th November 2016. The tasks of the organization are to implement a lively campus, to renovate the old buildings without damaging the heritage, to connect with international universities, to raise funding for the University and etc. Software and hardware committees were formed with fifteen members each to support the organization with the aim to carry out revitalization of the University effectively. One of the outcomes of the software committee is to draft Master Plan for University of Yangon (2018-2030). The Plan was drafted by the software committee in collaboration with experts from the Central European University. The Master Plan contains two self-standing but fully integrated components – the programme of institutional transformation (Software Master Plan) and physical revitalization of campus and infrastructure (Hardware Master Plan). Central European University (Budapest, Hungary) provided expertise, research and resources towards the design of the Software Master Plan; the Hardware Master Plan was designed by Kilburn Nightingale Architects (London, UK) and associates. Irrawaddy Policy Exchange (Myanmar) contributed to both sections of the Master Plan. To be in line with the Master Plan, the hardware committee aims to create a physical environment that facilitates the revitalization of the University as an autonomous world-class institution. The CEU has been engaged with the UY since 2013 as a close development partner on different levels, including the formulation of pathways to university autonomy, drafting of the University Charter, design of the institutional quality frameworks, curriculum and faculty development in the social sciences and humanities, building research capacities, and support to library development.
Under this hardware plan, instead of considering to rebuild RUSU, the priorities have been set for construction of new student hub, university hub, library extension, university canteen and new buildings for restructuring of the university into a faculty system. Several meetings of the hardware committee are held to reach a consensus over the architect designs and the place for new buildings. Different views have been explored over issues such as the proposed location of some new buildings that would result in demolishing some old colonial residential buildings.
Besides these challenges in managing the physical infrastructure, different views are held on the building of future student accommodation. The University has student hostels and these hostels are separated by gender. When the University reopened in 2013, girls’ enrolment was higher than boys. This make challenges for the university administration in accommodating girls. To accommodate the demand for more accommodation for girls, the Shwe Bo and Dagon boys’ hostels have been changed into girls’ hostel. This has been brought to the Alumni’s attention and they have questioned the University administration on why this tradition has been changed. These different views on university infrastructure development has led to hinderance in managing the University in the reform process. In the process of upgrading the University, stakeholders’ understanding on the existing needs of University and their collaborative support is needed in order to achieve results.
2020 will be the centennial milestone of the University of Yangon as it is poised to re-establish itself as Myanmar’s Flagship University by restructuring into a faculty system. The reforms will include enhancing university management, developing effective QA Frameworks, preparing to establish Centre for Research and Innovation and assessing teaching, learning and curriculum. In this context, it is time for all the stakeholders to cooperate in order to transform the University of Yangon as the one of the excellent academic institution in this memorial centenary.
TO BE CONTINUED
