“Most students like us, from outside of Moulmein [city], mostly live [in] off-campus accommodation. As we want to live freely, we do not want to live [in] on-campus [accommodation]. We can say we just do not have interest to live on campus yet,” said Physics major Min Aung Paing.
Moulmein University’s campus provides for both male and female students to live on-campus; Thandar building and Moulmein building, which has recently re-opened due to repairs, provides housing for male students, with the Nilar , Pu-le (pearl) and Shwe Myaing buildings for female students.
“As far as we know, students from outside [of Moulmein Capital], have to live on campus in this forthcoming academic year. And now they are building new accommodations,” said Min Aung Paing.
One Moulmein University student from Thanbyuzayat Town said that the head professor of the university has planned that all students coming from outside Moulmein, from townships across Mon State, must live on-campus, while local students from Moulmein City can live in their homes.
According to U Kyaw Win, head of Moulmein University’s Students’ Affairs Department, the university provides room for 330 male and 550 female students, but only a fraction of these accommodations have been filled.
“Until now, there are only 167 male students and 362 female students enrolled to live [in] on-campus [accommodation],” continued U Kyaw Win.
Each student living in on-campus accommodation is charged 5000 kyat per month, along with 500 kyat per meal.
On-campus housing was closed by the military government in 1988, following the 8888 protest, and reopened only last year.
The University of Moulmein was founded in 1953 as the Moulmein Intermediate College, under Yangon University. Renamed in 1964 as Moulmein Degree College, it later became an independent university in 1986.
