We support Myanmar's education sector through working in partnership with the Ministry of Education and enabling access to the UK's experience and expertise in priority areas of education reform.
We organise international policy dialogues in Myanmar, bringing together key stakeholders and creating a platform to engage with British education institutions and organisations, national bodies, consultants and other international experts.
We arrange study tours to the UK for high-level decision makers to familiarise themselves with how the UK sector operates and to raise awareness in the UK of Myanmar's education sector.
Through our education activities, we aim to build long term, trusting relationships and partnerships between the UK and Myanmar.
One of the British Council’s education projects, Towards Results in Education and English (TREE) is one component of the five-year Myanmar – UK Partnership for Education (MUPE) programme funded by Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
TREE has three intended outcomes:
- Increased competence in Education Degree Colleges (EC) principals and teacher educators (TEs) in implementing teacher education reforms
- Improved learning outcomes for student teachers (STs), particularly in English Language Teaching (ELT); and
- A stronger, more effective and more inclusive education system to support teacher education reforms.
These outcomes are intended to improve student outcomes in English, improve the design and implementation of education reforms and improve linkages between educational institutions. The TREE outcomes will contribute to the overall MUPE desired impact and achievement of stronger more effective education systems and more relevant learning for all Myanmar’s children, equipping them for life after school.
TREE is managed and implemented by a consortium of partners, led by the British Council with Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), Montrose and the Open University UK.
We extend our support by enabling education policy makers to attend regional education policy dialogues and international conferences. We help ensure Myanmar participation in key global events such as the Education World Forum and the British Council's annual conference Going Global.
The higher education sector in Myanmar is in the early stages of significant reform. There is a critical need to build the capacity of leaders and senior management teams in higher education (HE) institutions and Ministry of Education departments to respond to these reforms and lead change in their institutions/departments. This programme focuses on capacity development for these senior stakeholders in Myanmar’s higher education sector, working with and through the National Institute for Higher Education Development (NIHED).
In the pilot year of the programme (THEMP, 2017-18) representatives from the senior management teams of 11 universities received training in five areas:
- Strategic leadership and management
- Leading and managing research
- Leading and managing teaching quality
- Leading and managing curriculum design
- Leading and managing assessment, feedback and evaluation
The training content was designed by University College London Institute of Education (UCL IOE). UCL IOE trained local NIHED trainers who then co-delivered the courses with the UK academics. Two national conferences for 200 leaders from 100 Myanmar universities were also held in the pilot year.
The programme is underpinned by close partnership with the National Education Policy Commission (NEPC), Department for Higher Education (DHE) and the Rectors’ Committee (RC). Following a meeting with these three bodies, it was agreed that a central outcome of the next phase of the programme should be the formal establishment of the National Institute for Higher Education Development (NIHED) as an official body. The formal establishment of NIHED will ensure a sustainable approach to managing HE capacity development beyond the lifespan of this project.
The two main areas of focus for Phase 2 are:
- Development of a proposal for the formal structure of the National Institute for Higher Education Development, covering scope, strategic planning, training needs analysis and approaches, staffing, quality assurance and budget.
- Staff capacity development, building on the work carried out in the pilot year.
Phase 2 started in September 2019 and will run for one year.
Objectives
The programme aims to support the transformational shift focused on Higher Education set out in the roadmap of Myanmar’s Education reform, the National Education Strategic Plan (2016-2021), which is to enhance and strengthen the capacity and professional development of HE governance and management, and to support in establishing a “National Institute of Higher Education Development (NIHED)”. The programme also aims to create a better enabling environment for internationalisation of HE between UK and Myanmar.