University of Yangon - History

History

Established in 1878 as an affiliated college of the University of Calcutta, the Rangoon College was operated and managed by the Education Syndicate set up by the British colonial administration. The college was renamed Government College in 1904, and University College in 1920. Rangoon University was founded in 1920, when University College (secular) and Judson College (Baptist-affiliated) were merged. The American Baptist Mission decided to recognise Judson College (formerly Baptist College) as a separate institution within Rangoon University. Rangoon University modelled itself after University of Cambridge and University of Oxford. All subsequent institutions of higher learning founded by the British were placed under Rangoon University's administration: Mandalay College in Mandalay in 1925, Teachers Training College and Medical College in Yangon in 1930, and Agriculture College in Mandalay in 1938.

Although it was attended only by the elites of the day, the university nonetheless was at the center of anti-colonial movement. All three nationwide strikes against the British colonial government (1920, 1936 and 1938) began at the university. By the 1930s, the university was the hotbed of Burmese nationalism, producing a number of future senior Burmese politicians, including Aung San, U Nu, Ba Maw, Kyaw Nyein, Ba Swe, U Thant and Thein Pe Myint.

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Rangoon University was the most prestigious university in Southeast Asia and one of the top universities in Asia, attracting students from across the region.

After the military coup of 1962 under Gen. Ne Win and the Burmese Way to Socialism, Rangoon University was put directly under the control of the Directorate of Higher Education, a central government agency, whereas previously it was run by a council of professors, scholars and government officials. In addition, the medium of instruction was changed to Burmese, a radical departure from English, which had been the University's medium of instruction since its founding. Educational standards began to decline markedly and international bodies stopped recognizing degrees issued or obtained at the University. The university was also renamed the Rangoon Arts and Sciences University (abbreviated RASU), after certain departments and faculties (medicine, economics, education, etc.) were separated from the University in 1964.

Rangoon University students staged a peaceful demonstration and protest on campus against 'unjust university rules' on 7 July 1962. Ne Win sent his troops to disperse the students which led to dozens of students being shot dead and the historic Rangoon University Student Union (RUSU) building dynamited to rubble the next morning.

In November 1974 the former UN Secretary General U Thant died, and on the day of his funeral on 5 December 1974, Rangoon University students snatched his coffin on display at the Kyaikkasan Race Course, and erected a makeshift mausoleum on the grounds of the RUSU in protest against the government for not honouring their famous countryman with a state funeral. The military stormed the campus on 11 December killing some of the students, recovered the coffin, and buried U Thant at the foot of the Shwedagon Pagoda.

In 1989, after the military junta had changed place names throughout Myanmar, the University was renamed Yangon University. The University was closed for most of the 1990s, because of fears of a repeat of the 8888 Uprising, in order to prevent student activists from assembling. To this day, the university is shut down at irregular intervals by the government. To prevent students from congregating, the government has dispersed the existing institutions and departments that make up Yangon University into separate learning institutions scattered throughout the city. Today, only graduate studies, certain professional courses, and a few diploma courses are conducted at the University's main campus. Newer universities such as Dagon University, University of East Yangon and University of West Yangon are designated for undergraduates.

Yangon University celebrated its Diamond Jubilee in a week-long celebration, which began on 1 December 1995. The Jubilee marked the school's formal establishment of 75 years. For its commemoration, the government built the Diamond Jubilee Hall, a four-storied building in the University's grounds, which cost K 630,000,000, and a new set of postage stamps was also produced. Once-affiliated institutes and departments (e.g., the Institute of Economics, Yangon which began life as a department at Yangon University), which had already separated, also celebrated.

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