University of Yangon
Myanmar · Asia
About
The University of Yangon (also known as Yangon University, Burmese, pronounced [jàɰ̃ɡòʊɰ̃ tɛʔkəò], formerly the University of Rangoon and Rangoon Arts and Sciences University) is a public university in Yangon, Myanmar. Located in Kamayut Township on the southwestern bank of Inya Lake, it is the country's oldest university and celebrated its centenary in 2020. The university originated in Rangoon College and Judson College and was established under the University of Rangoon Act 1920. Modelled in part on British universities, it became closely associated with Burmese nationalism, and student strikes at the university in 1920, 1936, and 1938 were significant events in the country's anti-colonial movement. In the 1950s, the University of Rangoon was regarded as one of the leading universities in Asia. After the 1962 Burmese coup d'état, the university was reorganised as Rangoon Arts and Sciences University, stripped of its autonomy, and its faculties were separated into specialised institutions. Its campus remained a focal point of political protest, including during the 1962 Rangoon University protests, the U Thant funeral crisis, and the 8888 Uprising. Undergraduate programmes were suspended from 1996 for sixteen years before the university began to gradually reopen after the political reforms of the 2010s. The university now comprises 21 departments and the Un
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