For many, it’s a matter of degrees

University of Melbourne PhD student Khim Keovathanak says tertiary students in Cambodia aren’t learning the basics. Will BaxterUniversity of Melbourne PhD student Khim Keovathanak says tertiary students in Cambodia aren’t learning the basics. Will Baxter

Tuesday, 03 January 2012
Shane Worrell with additional reporting by Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

Corruption, funding shortages and an obsession with profit are plaguing the quality of university education in Cambodia, students say, driving them overseas in search of master’s and PhD programs.

If the government hopes to keep its best and brightest at home, it must resolve these issues and build a world-class university system from within, said Sim Socheata, one of three Cambodians on scholarship at the University of Melbourne, Australia, who spoke to the Post about their frustrations with Cambodian education.

“It is time for Cambodians to start researching, analysing, drawing conclusions and suggesting what needs to be done . . . Up until now, this has been largely left to external advisers,” said the 29-year-old, who is studying for her master’s in public health.

Obstacles hindering Cambodia’s higher education system include low salaries for teachers – which force them into second jobs – a lack of materials and equipment and a “mushrooming” of the private system, which has encouraged a focus on profit over quality, and flooded the labour market with graduates who can’t find work in their field, she said.

With Hun Sen receiving his PhD from the Irish Int'l U., it's no wonder the current quality of education is questionable

Cambodian government questions the current quality of education

October 6, 2008
ABC Radio Australia

Cambodia's Ministry of Education Youth and Sport says the government isn't satisfied with the current quality of education.

The Ministry's higher education deputy director general, Mak Ngoy, says increasing the number of higher education institutions is a positive sign, but the country is struggling with the hard task of strengthening quality.

In 2000, there were 10 post-secondary institutions in Cambodia. Now there are 70 private and state-run universities.

Mak Ngoy says most programs offered by those institutions are dismal.

Qualified university professors complain that many students rarely do their work and cheating is rampant.

Royal University of Phnom Penh rector, Lav Chhiv Eav, says a number of students are content to pay for a degree and do not realise the benefit of a good education.

He says some students are scared of studying hard and think what they need is any degree, not quality and the final result will be joblessness.

The education ministry says more than 135,000 Cambodians are currently enrolled in some form of higher education, compared to just 25,000 eight years ago.

According to the Economic Institute of Cambodia only one in 10 recent university graduates have found work.