ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates how struggles over social hierarchy and political structures have played out throughout the history of higher education in Burma. It covers events from the protests against British regulation of higher education in the 1920s, through to opposition to military rule at the end of the twentieth century and reform of higher education during transitions to democratic rule. Recent protests and the army’s subsequent violent response illustrate ongoing government attempts to retain control over higher education, but using the analogy of the university as a microcosm of the state, it illustrates how university reform sets the tone for social change.
