On 28th May 2012, the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and the Government of the Republic of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish Myanmar Institute of Information Technology (MIIT) at Mandalay, Myanmar. The MoU envisages that MIIT will be established and operated along the lines of the successful model of the International Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) in India.
Based on the MoU, MIIT was created as a National Centre of Excellence of the Ministry of Science & Technology (MoST), Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar in 2015. MIIT started functioning as a part of the Ministry of Education (MoE) when MoST was merged to become a part of MoE in 2016.
Since its inception in 1999, the International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore (IIIT-B) has become an institution of international repute within a short period of time. IIIT-B has been chosen to act as the mentor institution for MIIT. It will execute the MIIT Project by building and operating MIIT, and transferring a successfully functioning MIIT to the authorities in Myanmar by December 2020.
A short introduction to MIIT.
The MIIT Project is a bilateral project between the two countries – Myanmar and India. The Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar will provide for the MIIT campus the building and the required infrastructure and human resources. The Government of the Republic of India will provide financial, technological, and academic assistance. This includes setting up state-of-the-art IT infrastructure at MIIT, as well as establishing academic and administrative structures and processes that enable MIIT to emerge as an institute of international repute within a short period of time. Faculty from India will spearhead the teaching efforts at MIIT through a strong, internationally comparable curriculum. They will also help in capacity building through structured faculty development programmes.
The MIIT Project aims to lay a strong foundation for MIIT to emerge as one of the top IT institutions not just in Myanmar, but in the ASEAN region. MIIT is expected to play a leading role in incorporating information and communication technologies (ICTs) into the overall development of Myanmar’s economy.