Kachin State Comprehensive University. Photo Credit: Kachin News Group
In areas controlled by groups that are in conflict with the military regime in Myanmar, alternative universities have been set up to provide access to higher education for regime opponents. 6 universities have been set up since the military coup of 2021 and the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that emerged in opposition to it. The situation later turned into a civil war between the State Administrative Council (SAC), the military junta regime and its allies, and the National Unity Government (NUG) made up of various oppositional and ethnic insurgent groups. Amid the war’s destruction and displacement, and the 2021 coup’s impact on higher education, people in opposition-controlled areas have been working to revive universities.
One result of such attempts is the Kachin State Comprehensive University (KSCU) that was initially established in 2022. The university currently houses schools of Arts and Sciences, Nursing Sciences, Medial Sciences, Economics, and Technology. It is on course to open a School of Agriculture in January 2025. According to University World News, all of the professors currently at KSCU were part of the CDM and its more than 100,000 teachers and professors who resigned or were suspended and fired from their institutions. In addition, since 2021, 176 teachers who participated in the CDM have been arrested. 146 of those teachers are still in prison serving life sentences. Other teachers or students in teaching colleges have died in battle. The lack of teachers and educational personnel in teaching colleges is a serious obstacle to the educational efforts of the NUG.[1]
Students at KSCU and other similar institutions also face dire circumstances. Most of the approximately 1,700 students studying at KCSU come from conflict-ridden regions and are mostly internally displaced. Many students have left their institutions that fell under the control of the military regime following 2021, as the number of students enrolled at those institutions has diminished around 90% compared to the 2019-2020 academic year.[2] But even if students are able to access educational institutions set up by the NUG, additional obstacles remain. Many students wish to go abroad for higher education in order to escape conflict in their country. According to the most recently available data from 2022, more than 17,000 students from Myanmar are studying abroad, with the number increasing since 2021.[3] But in countries like Thailand, governments do not recognize degrees given by schools under NUG control in order to maintain good relations with the junta regime.[4] For those in regions controlled by the SAC, which has recently announced that 8 new universities would be built in 2025,[5] higher education is one of the few ways to avoid conscription into the military under the two-year mandatory service requirement.[6]
Academic freedom conditions are among the worst in the world in Myanmar with an Academic Freedom Index score of 0.03 out of 1.00. In addition to conditions mentioned in this report, academic freedom in Myanmar is limited through state repression of students and teachers, the military use of campuses by state and non-state forces and consequent attacks on university campuses. Read more on Myanmar in our country profile here.
Endangered Scholars Worldwide (ESW) is concerned about the ongoing challenges to academic freedom as a fundamental human right in Myanmar. We welcome attempts to provide education at all levels including higher education. ESW further stands in solidarity with displaced students and scholars in Myanmar in their efforts to uphold academic freedom.
Sources and further reading:
[3] https://www.trade.gov/market-intelligence/burma-study-abroad#:~:text=The%20outbound%20student%20mobility%20rate,are%20studying%20abroad%20in%202022.
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