Professor Michael Von Hauff (R) and Professor Blien, both from the University of Kaiserslautern in Germany, lead an economics seminar in Yangon last week. Pic: Htin Kyaw

A GERMAN economics professor from the University of Kaiserslautern who is visiting Myanmar this month said he was astonished by the enthusiasm of local masters and PhD students who attended his first lecture on February 18.

“It was a great pleasure for me to give the lecture because many students came and there was a lot of discussion,” Professor Michael Von Hauff told The Myanmar Times on February 19.

He said he spoke for about an hour and then led a discussion for another 40 to 50 minutes.

“The Myanmar students were very much interested and asked a lot of questions. We talked about the problems of international financial market and sustainable development strategies,” he said.

“Another topic they asked was the connection between institutions and economic development. And they were also interested to know how they could meet people from other countries to get new experiences,” he said.

“I had a real feeling that the students were very interested in this exchange program,” Prof Von Hauff said.

He was referring to a program established in March 2006 calling for cooperation between the University of Kaiserslautern and Yangon Institute of Economics (YIE) in the areas of research and student exchange.

As part of the program, Prof Von Hauff and another faculty member from the German university, Dr Blien, arrived in Yangon on February 17 for a 10-day visit to deliver a series of lectures and seminars.

“We plan to give at least two or three lectures a day,” said Prof Von Hauff, who first visited Yangon in 2002 to conduct research on economic and social development in Myanmar.

Under the exchange program, each year one PhD student from Myanmar is chosen to study at the University of Kaiserslautern with sponsorship from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation.

“From October last year to this February, the first PhD student from YIE has attended our university to finish her doctorate degree,” Prof Von Hauff said. “This is the first student exchange between the two universities. The next student from Myanmar will come to our university in October.”

Dr Paul Pasch from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation said the exchange program was aimed at building capacity.

“We want to introduce the latest research methods and technologies, and to make the professors familiar with the latest economic theories and to give good counselling to PhD students,” he said.

“One big problem with PhD students is that they have very little time for research because they have to do so much teaching. And the PhD counsellors at YIE have so many students to look after and they also don’t have much time.
“So the PhD students are lucky that the two German professors are here now because they have provided some of these counselling services,” he said.

He said the foundation has also given updated textbooks to YIE.

“But we are a small foundation. Our means are very modest while the needs are so huge. But I think slowly but surely we will be able to enhance the levels of teaching at YIE to acceptable international standards,” said Dr Pasch.

Prof Von Hauff said he thought it was important to continue the program.
“Although this is a small program, we want to continue. I am also here to evaluate our first experiences with this small program,” he said.

“We want to hold discussions with the rector of YIE because it is not only our program; it is a joint program between two universities. We should think about how to continue, how to develop it,” he said.

Four other German universities – University of Cologne, University of Karlsruhe, University of Munich and University of Gottingen – have cooperative agreements with schools in Yangon, including the University of Yangon, Yangon Technological University and University of Forestry.