Most students who go abroad travel o­n a o­ne-way ticket

Western-educated Ye Aung is just the kind of man Burma’s air force needs. He’s a graduate in electrical engineering and computer science and a dedicated airman. But Ye Aung won’t be helping his home country boost its air power—he joined the US Air Force after completing his studies last year at the University of California, Berkeley.

Electrical engineers are in big demand by the US Air Force, and Ye Aung, stationed at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, can expect swift promotion. Less than six years ago he was at high school in Burma, contemplating his slim chances of building a secure and well-paid future.

Like thousands of young Burmese before him, he sought fulfillment abroad. “I left my country to give my life stability, and that’s also the main reason I joined the US Air Force,” he told me in a phone interview. For Ye Aung, stability means the opportunity to earn a secure living in a country free from the restrictions and uncertainties of life in Burma.

Few of the young Burmese lucky enough to study overseas return home to live and work. Those who exchange the good life in the US, Canada, Australia or Europe for the economic, educational and political strictures of life under the generals are pitied by the o­nes who elect to stay abroad.

“If someone says they’re going back [after completing their studies abroad], they are regarded as a fool,” said Thin Thin, who is studying education at William Penn University in Iowa. “It’s human nature to look for green pastures,” she said. “We leave our country because there are no green pastures there any more.”

Nevertheless, 24-year-old Thin Thin will be returning to Burma when she completes her studies. She was a teacher before traveling to the US two years ago, and her dream is to open a private school in her home country. “I want to share with children what I have learned here,” she said. “I will teach them critical, creative and analytical thinking, which are unfamiliar to Burma’s education system.”

Thin Thin said that although she could earn more in the US she would miss her family and friends. The lure of earning good money was the main reason Burmese students remained abroad after completing their studies, she said—“If they had the opportunity to make a good living in their own country, I think they would return home.”

For Thin Thin personally it’s more important to contribute something to her home country and local community than to lead a comfortable life abroad. “It depends o­n what you value,” she said.

Ye Aung loses no sleep over his decision to turn his back o­n the country of his birth. “I spent 17 years of my life in Burma, but the government didn’t do anything for me,” he said. He feels no sense of gratitude towards Burma—on the contrary: “I’d really like to serve my home country, but I’m serving the US because I owe it gratitude.”

Although the skills Ye Aung has acquired in the US could be put to good use in Burma’s air force, Thin Thin says the difficulty of applying in Burma the knowledge learnt in western universities is an additional reason why so many Burmese students elect to stay abroad after completing their studies. “What is learnt here won’t fit in our home country,”

The opposite is true, too—qualifications obtained in Burma are rarely recognized abroad, a sad state of affairs for a country that was o­nce among the region’s leaders in educational standards. Degrees and diplomas obtained at Burmese universities and colleges are not recognized internationally and are practically useless within Burma.

After graduating from Burma’s prestigious Yangon (Rangoon) Institute of Technology in 2004, with a degree in electronic engineering, Khin Ye Lwin had difficulty finding suitable employment. “In Burma, it’s difficult for electronic engineers to get a job, and the salary for them is low,” she said. So she left home seven months ago to study for a master’s degree at Singapore’s Nanyang Institutional University. “It is good to be here because I wouldn’t be able to do anything in Burma.” Many students who graduated from her college were now studying and working in Singapore, she said.

Singapore has been a popular destination for Burmese students since the 1990s. The city state suffers from a manpower shortage and lures foreign students with offers of permanent resident status and 80 percent loans. Recipients repay the loans by working for the Singapore government after completing their studies.

China is also becoming a favorite destination for young Burmese wanting to study abroad.