Mandalay University


Mandalay University is a public liberal arts and science university located in Mandalay, Myanmar and one of the sixteen autonomous universities under Ministry of Education. Formerly an affiliate of Rangoon University, Mandalay University is the second oldest university in Myanmar, and the oldest and largest university in Upper Myanmar. The university offers mainly undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes in liberal arts, sciences and law.
On 28 March 2025, the university was heavily damaged by a fire and building collapses caused by the 2025 Myanmar earthquake.

History

Foundation

Mandalay University was established as Mandalay College, an affiliated college of Rangoon University in 1925. The college was closed down beginning in 1942 because of World War II and was reopened only after the war in 1947.

Expansion

In 1958, it became an independent university and the only university in Upper Myanmar. Regional colleges like Magwe College, Taunggyi College, Myitkyina College, and Shwebo College became affiliate colleges under Mandalay University.
Per the University Education Act of 1964, which promulgated establishment of specialised universities in Myanmar, Mandalay University's focus was shifted to offer liberal arts, sciences and law degrees only. The university's Faculty of Medicine was carved out to create Institute of Medicine, Mandalay. In 1978, it was renamed Mandalay Arts and Science University . It again became Mandalay University in 1988 although the university's educational focus remains liberal arts, sciences and law.

Recent history

The Ministry of Education announced that according to a survey conducted by the National Education Policy Commission, Mandalay University was ranked first among arts and science universities across Myanmar in 2017. The assessments evaluated the quality of the universities' research, training, student wellness, quality of faculty and management.

2025 fire

On 28 March 2025, the university was heavily damaged by a fire and building collapses after a violent earthquake struck Myanmar. The fire started at the university's main building after the earthquake caused a short circuit in electrical wiring. The fire caused the main building and some other buildings to collapse and also caused significant damage to other campus buildings. The 280,940 answer sheets of the 2024-2025 matriculation examination held at the main building were destroyed. The fire started while approximately 267 teachers and 62,954 students were doing the examination. Casualties were reported.

Departments

With 19 main and one supporting academic departments, University of Mandalay covers all the major subjects in arts, sciences, law.

Main departments

University of Mandalay offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes. The undergraduate programmes are subdivided into three categories: Liberal Arts, Sciences, and Law. The choice of different fields of learning takes place in upper secondary school where students choose particular subjects directed towards their tertiary education. Postgraduate degrees are separated into three groups: Doctorates, Master's, and diplomas. Although Mandalay University used to no longer offer the undergraduate degrees owing to the uprising in 1996, it now was reopened for the undergraduate degree courses with the name of Center of Excellence in 2014 and accepted only 50 selectively excellent students for each field of studies.
ProgrammeBachelor'sMaster'sPostgraduateDoctorateDiploma
AnthropologyBAMAMResPhD-
ArchaeologyBAMAMResPhD-
MyanmarBAMAMResPhD-
EnglishBAMAMResPhDDiploma in English Language Teaching, Diploma in English Language Proficiency
International RelationsBAMAMResPhDDiploma in International Relations
Political ScienceBAMA, Master of Political Studies MResPhDDiploma in Political Science
GeographyBAMAMResPhDDiploma in Geographic Information System
HistoryBAMAMResPhD-
PhilosophyBAMAMResPhDDiploma in Philosophy
PsychologyBAMAMResPhDDiploma in Applied Psychology
Oriental StudiesBAMAMResPhDDiploma in Oriental Studies
LawLLBLLMMResPhDDiploma in International Law, Diploma in Business Law
Myanmar StudiesBAMAPhD-
Environmental StudiesBAMAPhD-
EconomicsMinor courses for international relations, political science, and law studentsDiploma in Business Studies, Advanced Diploma in Business Studies
BotanyBScMScMResPhD-
ChemistryBScMScMResPhD-
Industrial ChemistryBScMScMResPhD-
Computer ScienceBScMScMResPhD-
MathematicsBScMScMResPhD-
PhysicsBScMScMResPhD-
Nuclear PhysicsMScMResPhD-
ZoologyBScMScMResPhD-
GeologyBScMScMResPhD-
MicrobiologyBScMScMResPhD-
BiochemistryBScMScMResPhD-
Master of Business Administration-MBA-
Public Administration-MPA-
Tourism Studies and ManagementDiploma in Tourism Studies and Management

International collaboration

  1. Cologne University, Germany
  2. Meijo University, Japan
  3. National University of Singapore, Singapore
  4. Singapore Management University, Singapore
  5. Dongguk University, Korea
  6. King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand
  7. University of New South Wales, Faculty of Law, Australia
  8. Across Borders Southeast Asia Community Legal Education
  9. University of Oxford, Department of Earth Sciences, United Kingdom
  10. Yokohama National University, Japan
  11. Gifu University, Japan
  12. Zurich University, Switzerland
  13. Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand
  14. Northern Illinois University, United States
  15. Suratthani Rajabhat University, Thailand
  16. Technical University of Munich, Germany
  17. Chiang Mai University, Thailand
  18. Universitatt Zu Berlin, Institute of Asian and African Studies, Germany
  19. Centre for Geogenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
  20. Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand
  21. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom
  22. University of Florence, Italy
  23. University of California, Riverside, United States
  24. Yunnan University, China
  25. National Chi Nan University, China
  26. University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
  27. National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand
  28. Central European University, Hungary
  29. Bard College, United States
  30. Technical University of Dortmund, Germany
  31. Mae Fah Luang University, Thailand
  32. Busan University of Foreign Studies, Korea
  33. Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology, Thammasat University Thailand
  34. Baoshan University, China
  35. Lund University, Sweden
  36. Uppsala University, Sweden

    CHINLONE

Mandalay University is partner of the "CHINLONE – Connecting Higher Education Institutions for a new leadership on National Education" project. CHINLONE is a three-year international project in the field of Higher Education funded by the European Union in the frame of the Erasmus+ Capacity Building Key Action 2. The project is coordinated by the University of Bologna.

CHINLONE's key aim is to contribute to the modernization and internationalization of Myanmar’s Higher Education System, in order to facilitate the country’s transition toward a knowledge economy. The project aims to modernize Myanmar’s university management system by introducing internationally recognized higher education principles, strengthening faculty capacity to design programs focused on student learning outcomes through pilot curricula in select fields, and establishing or enhancing International Relations Offices to support internationalization and integration into global networks. It also seeks to promote future cooperation between European countries and Myanmar for academic exchange within a regulated framework.
The library system of UM consists of the Central Library and 21 separate departmental libraries. The combined holdings include approximately 186,000 books in English for all subjects and 94,000 books in Myanmar. A new library was completed in March 2013. An online library project was planned by the Open Society Foundations and American Universities.