Yangon Technological University (YTU) is an elite engineering university located in Gyogone, Insein Township, Yangon Region, Myanmar, established as Faculty of Engineering under the Rangoon University in 1924.
YTU remains the best university in Myanmar which demands highest scores from the students in order to get admitted and also popular by its former name Rangoon Institute of Technology (RIT). YTU is the country's oldest and largest engineering university and offers bachelor's, master's and doctorate degree programs in engineering disciplines for nearly 8000 students.
In its earliest times, it was located as school of engineering in the extended compound of the Rangoon General Hospital in downtown Yangon and was the home of 2 lecturers and 17 students. In 1927, it became a separate entity as BOC College of Engineering and Mining, named after Burma Oil Company, and was moved four miles north. In 1946, the college became the Faculty of Engineering of the Rangoon University.
The current campus of Yangon Technological University (YTU) was a gift from the Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), to the Union of Burma in 1957. On 2nd November of 1964, the college became an independent university under the Ministry of Education with the name of Burma Institute of Technology (BIT) of Rangoon. In 1964, 2nd November, it was renamed to Rangoon Institute of Technology (RIT). In 1989, the year in which Burma and Rangoon had been changed to Myanmar and Yangon, the university was retitled as Yangon Institute of Technology (YIT) in 1990 and was placed under the Ministry of Science and Technology in 1997. In 1998, Yangon Institute of Technology was relabeled again as Yangon Technological University (YTU). The undergraduate programs of the University were delayed from 1997 to 2011.
In 2012, Yangon Technological University was reopened and started again to accept the best and most outstanding students around the country for undergraduate programs of engineering and architecture. Every year, only 250 highest-scored students in the annual university entrance examinations are accepted to YTU's undergraduate programs.
On 1st February 2021, the military junta seized power in a coup after detaining the country's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and numerous top government figures. Since the military takeover, professors, teachers, students and employees refused to cooperate under the military rule and started joining in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), a movement against the country's post-coup military regime. On June 7, 2021, University Council of YTU was established under the rules of Ministry of Education of National Unity Government, Myanmar to provide courses and knowledge relating to revolution and post-revolution, while rejecting education offered by the junta.
Civil Engineering was the only program offered until 1938 when a combined program of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering was introduced. After Burma's independence in 1948, the college extended Mining, Chemical, Metallurgy and Architecture programs in 1954 and a Textile Engineering program in 1955. Telecommunications and Food Engineering programs were added in 2019.
YTU maintains 18 academic departments: Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Power Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering (by Electronic Engineering Department), Computer Engineering and Information Technology, Mechatronic Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Textile Engineering, Food Engineering (by Chemical Engineering Department), Mining Engineering, Petroleum Engineering, Materials Science and Metallurgy Engineering, Biotechnology, Architecture, Engineering Geology, Engineering Physics, Engineering Chemistry, Engineering Mathematics, and Languages.
RIT began conferring Bachelor of Engineering and Master of Engineering degrees instead of Bachelor of Science Engineering and Master Science Engineering degrees, hitherto offered at Rangoon University. The university expanded its bachelor's and master's degree offerings to the current 11 disciplines over the years. The PhD programs were opened only in 1997. The university offers six-year B.E. and B.Arch. programs and two-year M.E. and M.Arch. Programs. The Ph.D. programs usually last between three and five years.