History

In 1964 the faculty of Medicine, Mandalay was upgraded to the Institute of Medicine Mandalay and the first year M.B; B.S course was started. English was one of the prescribed subjects for 1st year students. Then, the course was one and a half year long and junior and senior classes overlapped every academic year. But during the years from 1979 to 1982, regional colleges which ran a two-year-undergraduate foundation course, were opened and so, students enrolled at the institutes of medicine starting from second year M.B;B.S class. At that time, English was taught to the second year M.B; B.S students as an additional subject.

In the academic year 1982 – 83, the new system was started and matriculated students were directly admitted to the institutes of medicine starting from the first year M.B; B.S class. In1992, a lecturer/head post was assigned for the department.

In 2003, the curriculums of all the classes of the M.B; B.S course was revised and reviewed at the 6th Medical Education seminar. In accordance with the guidelines laid down at the seminar, teaching English has been aimed at mastering all the four language skills.

At the 9th Medical Education Seminar in 2011, 190 teaching hours were allotted to the teaching of English as a foreign language at all the Universities of Medicine, Myanmar.

In the academic year 2019-2020, the new system, in which integrated curriculums are adopted and student-centered learning is mainly emphasized, started. The Foundation Year course is only 6 months long and only 120 hours are allotted for English.

The first head, Daw Khin Thet Mu served here from 1964 to 1977. Then Daw Marie Celine D-monte performed duties as a head from 1977 to 1997 and U Aung Thein Htun from 1997 to 2016. The present head, Daw Moe Shwe Sin Chit has been taking responsibility since 2016.