A Chat with Dr. Kyaw Moe Tun: Social Entrepreneur; Established Parami University

This week, Stephen Ibaraki has an exclusive interview with Dr. Kyaw Moe Tun.

Dr. Kyaw Moe Tun completed his undergraduate education at Bard College at Simon’s Rock and Oxford University, and received his PhD in Organic Chemistry at Yale University. The transformative liberal arts and sciences education that he received abroad challenged him to find deeper meaning behind his actions. This notion has informed much of his ensuing work. He came back to Myanmar in 2014 to dedicate his life to the development of his native country. As a young social entrepreneur with a dedicated mission to create the next generation of responsible and competent leaders for Myanmar, he believes that empowering the youth is the most rewarding investment that a country can make to safeguard its sustainable future. He believes that a liberal arts and sciences education has the transformative power to develop the types of innovative, adaptable leaders to address fast-changing sociopolitical trends and industrial disruptions seen worldwide.

With this mission in mind, Dr. Kyaw Moe Tun established a well-regarded school known as Parami Institute in early 2017. The Institute has been providing high quality and innovative liberal education programs to young Myanmar college graduates who want to take on challenges facing Myanmar. He raised millions of dollars from local and international philanthropists to transform the institute into a private non-profit residential degree-granting university that would create next-generation leaders for Myanmar, the plan of which was curtailed by changes in government on February 1, 2021. In order to meet the growing educational needs of the country amidst the crisis, he quickly pivoted to incorporate Parami University as a private non-profit online synchronous university licensed by the Higher Education Licensure Commission, Washington D.C., to begin offering Associate and Bachelor degree programs in the fall of 2022 to students in Myanmar and other areas. Parami University and Bard College are now working together in dual-degree programs.