The higher education law that was recently released is being criticized by students and teachers for not giving universities the autonomy they require to increase efficiency and competitiveness, although some improvements are under way.

The University Acts of Yangon and Mandalay universities allowed them to remain independent until the acts were revoked after General Ne Win took power in 1962. Following this decision, university councils were formed to manage higher education, which led to the emergence of the Department of Higher Education.

While the department manages universities, the national education law from the Ministry of Education, which was adopted in 2014 and amended in 2015, pledged there would be more autonomy for universities.

However, the continued lack of autonomy led to the deterioration of Myanmar’s universities, as they were constrained by rules and regulations overseen by the Department of Higher Education, said U Zaw Myo Hlaing, a physics lecturer at West Yangon University.

According to the Ministry of Education, universities need academic, financial, staffing and management freedom to stand autonomously.

All Myanmar universities are funded by the government, which retains financial powers over the institutions. The other above-mentioned freedoms are still retained by the government.

There are nearly 160 universities, degree colleges and colleges under the Ministry of Education, each of which are drafting charters. Those charters, along with the higher education law, will provide universities with a degree of autonomy.

Recently, the draft of the higher education law has been released and is being criticized by students and teachers union deeming the proposal to lead to too much centralization, failing to include relevant stakeholders in the draft phase and contradicting the existing national education law and its amendment.