corundum, Burma.12, gems

Jobbins describes a UNESCO mission to the University of Rangoon in 1967–68 to establish and develop gemmological teaching, research, and collections in Burma, a country with a long history of ruby, jade, and other gemstone production. The project created a gem-testing laboratory equipped for student instruction and research, established systematic collections of gemstones and minerals, and introduced procedures for their identification, cataloguing, storage, and curation. Courses were planned for final-year geology students, postgraduate students, and research workers, with the curriculum based largely on the Diploma syllabus of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain and emphasizing mineralogy, crystallography, gemstone identification, and the geology and mineralogy of Burmese deposits. The programme also aimed to strengthen applied geology teaching at Rangoon Arts and Science University in such fields as geochemistry, geophysics, mining, advanced mineralogy, laboratory techniques, and curation. By the end of the mission, a well-equipped gemmological laboratory had been established and fifteen students, including three staff members, had been trained to professional level, providing Burma with a foundation for further gemmological education and research connected with the development of its gemstone resources.