"In 2003/2004, the author spent a year studying at ITBMU in Yangon, Myanmar. ITBMU is the acronym for the International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University; the largest Buddhist missionary project of the Burmese military regime, opened on the 9th of December 1998...If you have a serious interest in Buddhism, ITBMU is not the place where you would be able to pursue serious academic inquiry. It would be a pity to lose interest after a stint at ITBMU. People would be well-advised to go to Thailand or Sri Lanka. If you want to stay in Myanmar for some time, stay in one of the many meditation centers, you can still find wise teachers and good monks able to give proper meditation guidance. As for the ITBMU, the government department that set it up have their own interest to show themselves in a better light. They need the University and the foreign students to promote their own public relations image abroad; taking pictures of all graduates to fill the pages of the newspapers, both local and foreign..."