The AMCHAM Myanmar Scholarship Program was founded in 2014. In the first year, the program was able to fund 30 disadvantaged but outstanding Myanmar students from the University of Yangon with financial support to complete their undergraduate studies. In 2016, the program expanded not only the universities it cooperates with but also the number of students up to thirty-five.
AMCHAM Myanmar believes in the empowering effects of education and has decided to invest in Myanmar’s future by supporting its brightest minds. The scholarship program is part of AMCHAM Myanmar’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts.
The program has highly competitive criteria for selecting its scholarship recipients; the applicant must be outstanding in their academic performance, in need of financial support, and committed to the AMCHAM Scholarship Program activities. The AMCHAM Myanmar Scholarship can be renewed every year so long as the students meet the AMCHAM Scholarship Renewal Criteria until the student graduates.
AMCHAM Myanmar Scholarship Program aims to recruit students from a variety of ethnic groups for the scholarship program in line with the diverse ethnic composition of the country. The 35 students who won scholarships for 2017 come from six ethnic groups; Shan, Kayin, Pa-O, Rakhine, Mon and Burma.
The students major in 15 different fields: anthropology, botany, chemistry, computer science, English, history, industrial chemistry, international relations, law, mathematics, physics, business accounting, business development studies, population studies, and public administration.
AMCHAM Myanmar’s scholarship program does not only award financial support to the students, but ensures that they get the most benefit out of being AMCHAM Myanmar scholarship award winners. The program arranges internship programs, mock job interviews, factory and company visits, and talks and presentations given by key personnel at AMCHAM Myanmar member companies. The program engages those future leaders with the Chamber’s members and businesses to widen the students’ perspectives, their creativity and their critical thinking.
In the future, the program aims to enlarge and widen its CSR efforts and initiate school renovation and teacher training programs throughout the country. The program aims to help students effectively not only during their studies, and also support them after graduation.
AMCHAM Myanmar believes that the key to driving the country towards a better future is to enrich and build the capacity of the youth, who will in turn benefit Myanmar’s society as a whole.
