A German economics professor from the University of Kaiserslautern who is visiting Myanmar this month said he was astonished by the enthusiasm of local masters and PhD students who attended his first lecture on February 18.“It was a great pleasure for me to give the lecture because many students came and there was a lot of discussion,” Professor Michael Von Hauff told The Myanmar Times on February 19.He said he spoke for about an hour and then led a discussion for another 40 to 50 minutes.

“The Myanmar students were very much interested and asked a lot of questions. We talked about the problems of international financial market and sustainable development strategies,” he said.

“Another topic they asked was the connection between institutions and economic development. And they were also interested to know how they could meet people from other countries to get new experiences,” he said.

– Extracted from Thein Win Nyo and Htin Kyaw, “German profs lecture in Yangon”, The Myanmar Times, 25 February – 2 March 2008. This program of academic visits is arranged by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. Long-time readers may recall the controversy surrounding a previous trip to Burma organised by this organisation. Back in October 2007, that trip was reported on New Mandala here and here.