Myanmar govt agency cuts ties with Akamai university and Malaysia's EDS Business School

PETALING JAYA: Myanmar's Union Civil Service Board (UCSB) severed ties with two universities in January this year after its credentials came into question, reported news portal The Irrawaddy.

The UCSB, a Myanmar government agency that recruits and trains civil servants, severed the partnership with Hawaii-based Akamai University and its affiliated institution, Malaysia's EDS Business School.

The two institutions previously provided training as well as a master's degree programme for high-ranking Myanmar government officials.

However, The Irrawaddy reported that a Myanmar scholar studying at Oxford University in England had revealed that the UCSB was working with these universities, which were not recognised in their home countries.

The scholar, Ko Nay Yan Oo, posted videos of the supposed Akamai University campus, which was just two small rooms in a two-storey building, which he described as being "no bigger than a grocery store".

A sheet of A4-sized paper could be seen bearing the name of the purported university on the doors to one of the rooms.

The Irrawaddy reported that the videos had gone viral in Myanmar, which led to many questioning the partnership between UCSB and the two institutions.

The UCSB initially defended its relationships with the two institutions but Myanmar media later reported that it had ended the partnerships on Jan 4 this year.

Ko was quoted by The Irrawaddy as saying that ending the cooperation was not enough.

"They must explain to people why they worked with those institutions. How much money has been spent on those two universities?

"Public funds spent on those two universities have been wasted," he was reported as saying.

The education credentials of several Pakatan Harapan politicians have come under public scrutiny recently.

Among them is DAP's Tronoh assemblyman Paul Yong Choo Kiong, who is reported to have had obtained his MBA from Akamai University.

According to The Irrawaddy's website, the news organisation was founded in 1993 by a group of Burmese journalists living in exile in Thailand.