An Oxford college has reportedly taken down a portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi, amid allegations that Myanmar has been carrying out ethnic cleansing against Rohingya.

Suu Kyi was enrolled in a bachelor program in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in St Hugh’s College at the Oxford University in 1967, where the painting was hung near the college’s main entrance in 1999.

According to the college’s student newsletter, The Swan, Suu Kyi’s portrait was removed from public display and replaced with a Japanese painting.

St Hugh's College said: "The College received the gift of a new painting earlier this month which will be exhibited for a period.”

International criticism has been directed to Suu Kyi since more than 400,000 Rohingya Muslims fled the country to Bangladesh.

A “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”, was the phrase which the United Nations used to describe the treatment of the Rohingya minority.

The university expressed its concern by saying : “[The university] hopes the Myanmar administration, led by Oxford alumna Aung San Suu Kyi, can eliminate discrimination and oppression, and demonstrate to the world that Myanmar values the lives of all its citizens”.