Brief Project Description
The ‘Human Capital Empowerment in Myanmar (HCEM)’ is a follow up project of the previous three Mahidol-Norway Capacity Building Initiative for Myanmar and ASEAN (CBIM Phase 1/2 and CBIA) undertaken during 2013-2022. The previous 3 projects aimed at promoting sustainable development through knowledge and skill upgrades to Myanmar and ASEAN human capital. Mahidol University was trusted and tasked by the Norwegian government by enrolling around 200 students to various Master’s and Doctoral programmes provided in Mahidol University throughout the past years under the 3 scholarship projects.
To prepare human capital for Myanmar in post-COVID 19 period, HCEM will help provide opportunities for Myanmar, particularly in the areas specified by the country as in urgent needs for development. It is understood that the university enrollments of Myanmar high school students were disrupted due to the COVID-19 situation. To offer scholarships at the Bachelor’s level is believed to assist Myanmar with needed human resources for future development. Therefore, the upcoming HCEM scholarships are allotted for Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree programmes which will cover 16 Bachelor’s degree and 28 Master’s degree scholarships. The fields will be spreading among 17 programmes in 11 faculties and institutes, such as engineering, healthcare and public health, information and technology, population and social research, so on and so forth.
The project is aimed to start enrolling students from January 2024 through to July 2027. The first batch of Bachelor’s students will be expected to graduate in 2028 and Master’s students in 2026 onwards.
About the organization
Mahidol University is a public and autonomous institution. Originally established as a medical school at Thailand’s first hospital in 1888, it has grown and diversified significantly as one of Thailand’s top academic and research institutions with 3,491 academicians, 30,466 students, and 648 degree and non-degree programs (226 international). The University’s strength ranges from life sciences & medicine, social & population sciences, arts & humanities as well as basic & applied sciences. For the overall ranking, the University is recognized as No. 1 in Thailand and No. 2 in ASEAN. Apart from this, it is a proud member of the ASEAN University Network (AUN) and currently serves as Secretariat of AUN-Health Promotion Network and convener of AUN – Human Rights Education.
With the vision to support a culture of social-responsibility in its staff and students, the University has created a Community Research Cluster in order to help researchers use their knowledge and expertise for the benefit of local and/or international communities. Since 1980’s, the University has served as a leading provider of human resource development training through various types and length of non-degree and degree programs for Myanmar citizens and citizens from other least developing countries in ASEAN, South Asia and beyond. Examples include short-term medical training programmes in various disciplines ranging from nursing, public health, population and social research, human rights and peace studies, medicine so on and so forth.
As a public institution, Mahidol University is partially funded by the government. However, major source of funding is mainly generated by income from medical and health services, research grants from public and private sectors locally and internationally, as well as tuition and fees. With the status of public university along with its determination to become a world – class university, the management / executive team emphasize the importance of good governance and transparency. Following this, the University’s Finance Division is set to function through its 5 complimentary sections of Fund Management, Material Management, Finance, Accounting as well as Managerial Accounting and System Development while internal and external audits are routinely applied under the supervision of the University’s Internal Audit Center and Office of the Auditor General of Thailand. In 2016, Code of Good Governance was released in both Thai and English versions to keep administrators / personnel aware and uphold professional ethics and morality.
Recently in 2018, Mahidol University trained its staff for ITA: Integrity and Transparency Assessment in accordance with the transparency scheme and policy of the Office of The National Anti – Corruption Commission (ONACC).
Project Description: Norwegian Scholarships Project: Human Capital Empowerment in Myanmar (2023-2028)
The project is a partnership between the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Mahidol University aiming to promote sustainable development through knowledge and skill upgrades to Myanmar human capital. Under collaborative scholarship scheme in which the Norwegain Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided funding of 70% and Mahidol University contributed another 30%, qualified candidates will be recruited and enrolled in undergraduate and graduate study programs at Mahidol University.
The Project plan was to provide full scholarships for 28 Master’s and 16 Bachelor recipients in the areas of Population studies, Publich Health, Healthcare studies, Engineering, Environment and resource studies, Nursing , Physical Therapy, and Information and Communication Technology as well as 4 Capacity Building projects. There are altogether 12 Faculties and 3 Institutes, participating in this project including Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies, Faculty of Information Communication and Technology, Faculty of Medical Technology, Faculty of Nursing, Faculty of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Public Health, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, ASEAN Institute for Health Development, Institute for Population and Social Research, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia.
