Burma / Myanmar
Briefing
Liz Dempsey
Higher Education Team
Manchester
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Importance of Burma to the UK
Importance of Burma to the UK
British Council in Burma
• offices in Burma since 1947
• 2 offices – Rangoon & Mandalay, 80 Staff, 1000+ visitors per
day
• Exams / Library / Information / Teaching Centre
BC Portfolio
• English
– Teaching centres
– Annual ELT conferences for 450+ teachers
– Courses in ELT methodology for Burmese Teachers
– Administer more than 60,000 British examinations
– “Word on the street” BC & BBC World (Oct 2012) – a
broadcast audience of 2m p.wk.
• Arts
–Annual film festival with European partners
–Development Through Theatre programme
–Literary Festival
BC & Education
• Working with UUK on Knowledge Partnerships
• Comprehensive Education Sector Review – led by Ministry of
Education. BC + DfID on working group along with ADB, AusAid,
JICA, Save the Children, UNESCO, Unicef, WB:
– In-depth review & assessment of legislation
– To identify challenges / priorities and strategic options
– Will culminate in development of a new education sector plan
• Working with Ministry of Education to train 10,000 English
Language Teachers p.a. in the 20 State Teacher Training Colleges
(commencing 2013)
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4
BC & Education
• Working at policy level – engaging with Ministry & Academic
Leaders on a regular basis
• Working closely with Aung San Suu Kyi – recent Government Draft
Universities Bill
• Education Dialogues
 Social network space with 40,000+ members – Myanmar Web
 BC Services in International Education Marketing – including
Exhibitions, agent training, etc.
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Contact
 Country Director:
Kevin Mackenzie
Kevin.mackenzie@mm.britishcouncil.org
or
Liz Dempsey
Liz.dempsey@britishcouncil.org
email general.enquiries@britishcouncil.org
Education in Burma
– Off track to achieve MDG #2 “to ensure all children complete a
full course of primary school”
– Secondary schooling facing major challenges of quality &
management
– Disparity in completion rates in poorer ethnic regions
– University entrance exam completely divorced from secondary
curriculum
– Education financing:
• 2011/12 only 3.74% of National Budget allocated to education
• 2012/13 up to 6.26%
• In terms of GDP 0.69% to 1.4%
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Education Environment
• Challenging environment
–No legal structures to recognise foreign providers
–Limited international banking system – predominantly cash
based transactions
• Donor led environment
• DfID £10.5m over 4 years – Schools project – student retention
• Other international presence:
–USA
–Australia
–France
–Malaysia
–Japan
–Thailan