International Journal of Higher Education
ISSN 1927-6052 (Online) Vol.1, Vol. 1
Establishment of Institutional
Policies for Enhancing Education Quality in Cambodian Universities
Sam Rany (Corresponding
author)
School of Educational
Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia
PO
box 11800, Penang, Malaysia
Tel:
604-175063234 Email: sr11_edu045@student.usm.my
Ahmad Nurulazam Md Zain
School
of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia
PO
box 11800, Penang, Malaysia
Tel:
604- 6532971 Email: anmz@usm.my
Hazri Jamil
School
of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia
PO
box 11800, Penang, Malaysia
Tel:
604-6532989 Email: hazri@usm.my
Received: March 30, 2012 Accepted: April 27, 2012 Published:
May 1, 2012
doi:10.5430/ijhe.v1n1p URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v1n1p
This research is funded by the USM short-term research grant. It is also supported by the USM PhD Fellowship to the first author from the Institute of Graduate Studies (IPS) at the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Malaysia.The first author would like to thank Professor Dr. Roshada Hashim, Dean of the Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Associate Professor Dr. Rozinah Jamaludin, the Centre for Instructional Technology and Multimedia of the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) for their kind helps and encouragement.
Abstract
In the
context of global and national economic development, higher education in
Cambodia plays a significant role to develop human capital with technical knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes
for sustainable economic growth, social development, and alleviation of
poverty. When the civil war in 1998 was over, the Royal Government of Cambodia
considered higher education as a top priority on the list of priorities in order
to be integrated into the Association of South East Asian Nations
Community by 2015 through implementing numerous mechanisms
and policies to promote quality education for the students. This
paper will discuss the status of national and institutional policies to promote
educational quality to ensure academic success for students in a Cambodian public university. The documents and data of existing
government ministries, development partners and higher education institutions
will be used in the analysis of policies.
Keywords: Higher education, Institutional policies, Education
quality, Academic success, Cambodian public university
1.
Introduction
Since 1998, in the aftermath of darkness and
destruction, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has initially created
strategic development plans and national policies to facilitate
integration into the regional and
international economies and
to reduce poverty among its people. Surprisingly, Cambodia became the 10th member of the Association
of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on April 30, 1999 and
the 148th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on October 13,
2004 respectively. Economically, Cambodia is one of the poorest nations in the world with a population of 14.7 million people with annual gross domestic product (GDP) of 802 USD per capita. Aproximately
55% of population lives on agriculture, and 35% of the population in 2010 lives in poverty
(WB, 2011). This situation, according to Jin, is a result of low
educational quality which is one of the key factors leading to
unemployment and poverty in Cambodia (Jin, 2011). Compared with neighbouring
countries in the Southeast Asian region, Cambodia ranks 139th
of the 187 countries, in the area of human capital, with
Singapore at 26th, Brunei at 33th, Malaysia at 61st,
Thailand at 103th, Indonesia at 124th,
Vietnam at 128th, Laos at 138th, and Myanmar at 149th
respectively (UNDP, 2011). Cambodia has suffered the disease of corruption for many years with a ranking number 164th out of 182
countries in the world (Guardian,
2011), and has lived in peace and security with a ranking number of 115th
out of 153 countries (IEP, 2011).
Notwithstanding some negative problems, Cambodia has
considered education as one of the top priorities of
the country. According to Article one of the ASEAN charter, member states have
to strive to develop human resources in order to be able to compete with other
members in its single market and production as well as in the common labour
market and in the community of the participating nations (ASEAN, 2007). Molly pointed out that some ASEAN countries
including Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand have established their national
strategies and policies to become educational exporters in order to attract
their neighbouring countries’ students to enroll in their
own higher learning institutions (Molly, 2006). A case study of the Malaysian government reveals that it has developed its economic policies toward a knowledge-based
economy through reshaping and restructuring its tertiary education to respond to globalisation of economic
development (Jasvir, 2010). The Singaporean government has been making strides
to become a hub for excellent education in Asia by attracting
15,0000 international students by the year 2015 (Rajaka, 2009). In addition, the Thai
government has formulated its educational policies to become an education hub
in the ASEAN region to recruit more international students to
study in Thailand by 2016 (Rosa, 2012). Cambodia has been undertaking numerous reforms to
balance the quality and quantity of education by establishing a wide range of
institutions and implementing national strategies such as the Accreditation
Committee of Cambodia (ACC) in 2003, the National Supreme Council of Education
(NSCE) in 2005, the Rectangular Strategy for Growth, Employment, Equity and
Efficiency in 2003-2012, the National Strategic Development Plan
Update 2009-2013, and the Education Law (Chealy, 2009). The Prime Minister of Cambodia suggests that HEIs should set up their strategies and
policies to strengthen the quality of teaching, of the curriculum, and of
examinations in order to achieve recognition at regional and international
levels. He also recognised that current governmental policies strive
to foster the quality of education while at the same time trying to assure a
balance of quality and quantity (Sen, 2011 ).
This paper
will discuss and analyze institutional policies in Cambodian public
universities, and will focus on the existing academic support services
and non-academic support services in current Cambodian public
universities that can meet the needs of students for
their academic achievement and effectiveness. Therefore, this paper will
examine the recent development of policy within higher education institutions
in Cambodia.
2. Recent development of policy in higher
education institutions in Cambodia
Due to the development
of higher education within the global and regional contexts,
Cambodia has been paying attention to its national policies in order to
strengthen its educational system since 1994. First,
consultative meetings between government and development partners were
conducted to find out possible recommendations to reform
Cambodian higher educational institutions. Remarkably, there were two
significant changes since the Government implemented the privatization policies
in 1997. First, the government has allowed the private sector to be involved in
tertiary education. Second, the government has authorized Public HEIs (Higher Educational Institutions) to enroll non-scholarship
students on a tuition fee paying basis in addition to
Government scholarships which are competitively selected by the Ministry of
Education, Youth, and Sports (Pit, 2004) on the basis of the grade 12 examination results. As
a result, the Norton University (NU), the first private university, was
established to provide educational services with affordable tuition fees
together with other public universities in 1997. Presently, there are 91
Cambodian higher education institutions, comprised of 34 public and 57 private universities, in 19 provinces and in Phnom
Penh, the capital. Not surprisingly, the expansion of higher
education institutions is reflected in the
growth of the number of enrollments. According
to a report of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, the total annual
registration rate has increased dramatically more than four times from 57,828
to 246,069 between 2003 and 2012, with approximately 91 percent of students
paying fees in the public and private HEIs. In particular, in the academic year
2011-2012, there
were 1006 doctorate students, 14,127 master students, 207,666 undergraduate students, and 23,123 associate
students (MoEYS, 2012). However, the rapid growth
of HEIs and their enrolments has lead to the realisation of the need to
confront both the low quality of education, and at the same time, the fact that the large number of educated graduates may
not be equally matched with market demands (Chealy, 2009). To resolve these matters, a number of national and
institutional policies and regulations have been adopted by the Cambodian
parliament and government. Hence, this study will discuss the existing national
policies, legal frameworks, and institutions for enhancing education quality in
Cambodia.
Table1: Comparison
table of student statistics from academic year 2003-2012
3. Existing
national policies, legal frameworks, and institutions for enhancing education
quality
Presently, the Royal
Government of Cambodia is striving to establish many
policies and regulations to promote education quality for
academic success in HEIs. There are obvious institutional
policies associated with academic success and education quality. In existence are two fundamental legal instruments that determine the
government’s commitment to these educational policies.
First, article 65 of
the Cambodian constitution stipulates that, “the state shall protect
and upgrade a citizen’s rights to quality
education at all levels and shall take necessary steps for quality education to
reach all citizens. The state shall respect physical education and sports for the
welfare of all Khmer citizens. In addition, the state shall establish a
comprehensive and standardized educational system through the country that
shall guarantee the principles of educational freedom and quality to ensure
that all citizens have equal opportunity to earn a living (RGC,
1993, admended 1999)”.
Second, government
strategy on the Rectangular Strategy for Growth, Employment, Equity and
Efficiency in Cambodia,
rectangle 4 stated that, “the Royal Government will continue to strengthen its
partnerships with the private sector and the national and international
community to enhance and improve the quality of education services, both in
vocational and technical training and in higher education, consistent with
international standards and the development needs of the nation (Sen, 2004)”. Next section will highlight relevant institutions,
educational policies, and regulations that are linked with institutional
policies for academic success.
Figure 1:
Organizational chart of existing national policies, legal frameworks, and
institutions for enhancing education quality in Cambodian universities
3. 1 National
policies on education
3.1. 1 Educational Strategic Plan 2006-2013 (Education
for All)
There are two stages of implantation of the Education
Strategic Plan from 2006 to 2013. The first stage is the Education
Strategic Plan (ESP) 2006–2009, which includes the main purposes for the
success of the plan. In order to achieve the goals outlined in the plan, the government has introduced the following policies in this
strategic plan including increased access and equity of enrollment
opportunity to realize the Royal Government of Cambodia’s pro-poor policy. These strategic plans include:
(1) Implement the quality assurance and improvement at
both institutional and system levels,
(2) Strengthen
institutional management and development ESP 2006–2009 strategies, and
(3) Implement all the above through the Department
of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education which has
significant roles to implement these plans in order to meet the needs of the
rapid higher education expansion (MoEYS, 2010 ).
The second stage is the Education Strategic Plan (ESP)
2009–2013, which is established to ensure linkages between education policies
and strategies within the development and action
programs. In this stage, the Ministry of Education continues to
provide the highest priority to equitable access with education quality, in particular, to
basic education in order to attain goals of the National Education
for All (EFA) Plan by 2015. Furthermore, it gives greater chances to expanding
early childhood education, non-formal education, technical and vocational
training and opportunities to access secondary education and post-secondary
education by establishing good relationship with development partners, private
sectors, non-governmental organizations, communities and
parents. This strategic plan also has goals to strengthen the implementation of
the Education Law, the teachers’ code of ethics, and good governance. In
conclusion, the key components of the educational strategic plans 2006-2013
include the equitable access of students to education, the development of
educational staff capacity, educational quality and assurance, and
encouragement for decentralization (autonomy policy).
3.1.2 The Master plan
for research in the education sector 2011-2015
The
Master Plan for Research in the
Education sector which supports the
seven strategies of the Policy on Research Development in the Education Sector was approved
by the Ministerial Meeting on March 14, 2011, and is guaranteed in
articles 18 and 28 of the Cambodian Education Law. This master plan has been technically and financially supported by the World Bank’s Higher Education Quality
and Capacity Improvement Project (HEQCIP), and has
mainly focused on three significant purposes to increase the
number of articles published by Cambodian academicians in national and
international academic journals. These projects are included:
1.
To increase the
number of national and international research conferences held in Cambodia.
2.
To increase the number
of national and international research conferences attended by academic staff and
The Master Plan also describes strategies and training programs that
will facilitate research development in higher education and enhance the research
capacity of academic staff and institutions. Furthermore, it highlights the need for the Cambodian public and private higher
education institutions to cooperate with international education institutions
to develop research and academic exchange programs that promote
the educational quality of graduates for participating in the social and
economic development of the country, particularly those that respond to job market demands. In short, these policies will help
stimulate Cambodian educational and economic development to
conform to the second stage of the Rectangular Strategy of the
Royal Government of Cambodia. In addition, higher education's needs
for a new legal framework to provide the foundation for high quality of education are also recognized regionally and
internationally.
3.2 Legal frameworks to support
tertiary education quality in Cambodia
Cambodia's
parliament and government have passed many new laws and
regulations to support educational policies for facilitating the
functioning of HEIs, improving tertiary educational quality,
and strengthening quality assurance. These legal frameworks included the
Sub-Decree on Creating and Administering of Higher and Technical Education
Institutions of 1992, the Royal Code on promulgating the Law on the
Establishment of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport in 1996, and the
Sub-Decree on Criteria of University Establishment in 2002. Other regulations
are passed by the various legislative and executive institutions such as the
Royal Decree on the Accreditation of Higher Education in 2003, the Resolution
on the Credit Exchange System and the Implementation of
Curricula in the Credit System and Credit Transfer in 2004, the Royal Degree on
Promulgating the Law on Education in 2007, and the Sub Degree on PhD Training
Program in 2010. Besides providing legal frameworks, some
institutions actively participate in enhancing the educational quality of the current Cambodian
educational system. Therefore, this paper will investigate educational
institutions that support the enhancement of education quality in Cambodia.
3.3
Educational institutions for enhancing educational quality
There are three
prominent institutions that actively participate in helping the
government to implement the national educational policies and strategies and to
strengthen the educational quality in Cambodian higher education institutions. These
institutions are the Accreditation Committee of Cambodia, the Supreme National
Council of Education, and the Directorate Department of Higher Education.
3.3.1 The
Accreditation Committee of Cambodia (ACC)
The Royal Government
of Cambodia (RGC) with development partners including the World Bank (WB), The
Asian Development Bank (ADB), the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) and other donors have approved the establishment of the
Accreditation Committee of Cambodia (ACC), an
independent institution supervised by the Council of Ministers. However, it has
been functioning as an external but official
quality assurance body to evaluate the educational
quality of all HEIs throughout the country. According to article
2 of the Sub-Decree on Organization and
Functioning of the General Secretary of the Accreditation Committee of
Cambodia, the ACC has seven vital missions which determine accreditation policy and measures to assure academic quality for
all HEIs in the Kingdom of Cambodia:
a)
Determining the accreditation status of HEIs
b)
Approving curriculum for the foundation course for
first-year university students
in HEIs
c)
Maintaining records of institutional and program evaluation involved with quality
assurance accreditation
d)
Making evaluations on the basis of visits to the HEIs
e)
Cooperating with other national and international
institutions involved with quality assurance
and accreditation, and
f)
Securing proper participation of stakeholders concerned with
the outcomes of each academic institution that applies for accreditation, concerned ministries and
professional associations, and
g)
Making broad
announcement to the public of the results of the ACC findings in relation to
its task of accreditation (RGC, 2003b).
Furthermore, in order to
ensure the quality of HEIs, the ACC has implemented institutional accreditation
by examining nine minimum quality assurance standards of an HEI, namely its:
1.
Mission
2.
Governing
structure
3.
Management and planning
4.
Academic program
5.
Academic staff
6.
Student and
student services
7.
Learning service
8.
Physical plants,
financial plan and management and
9.
Dissemination of
information
In addition, after
receiving a license from the Royal Government of
Cambodia to operate its institution, each HEI is subjected to an
evaluation of its management system, academic quality, and curricula in order to obtain the accreditation certificate. Only
Cambodian HEIs accredited by the ACC, have the right to
award bachelor, master and Ph.D. degrees in
accordance with article 2 of Royal Decree on the Accreditation of
Education Quality in Higher Education (RGC, 2003a). In short, this institution has significant roles to
facilitate alignment of HEIs performance to meet the high
educational quality standard requirements.
3.3.2 The Supreme National Council of
Education (SNCE)
Presently, the Supreme
National Council of Education (SNCE), directly supervised by the Cabinet of the
Prime Minister, is in existence to support the Cambodian Educational Law.
This institution has three main tasks:
1. Promote educational quality
including proposing long-term educational policies and strategies in response
to social and economic development needs of the government.
2. Evaluate work in the areas of
education, technical and professional training and their adherence to the policy of the government
This council has the highest authority over the
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) and the Accreditation Committee
of Cambodia (ACC). Remarkably, the members of the National Supreme Council of
Education are appointed from among high ranking officials who have experience
in education, politics, the economy, the sciences,
technology and culture. The ministries and committees in
charge of education and the accreditation of institutions are the Secretariat of the National
Supreme Council of Education. Therefore, this council is a crucial
mechanism to achieve the goal of educational quality.
3.3.3 The Directorate Department of Higher
Education (DDHE)
The Directorate of Higher Education in Cambodia,
unlike in other ASEAN countries, is structured under the
Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports (MoEYS). It has two
main departments: the Department of Higher Education and the
Department of Science Research. The Department
of Higher Education, which employs 64 staff, is managed by a director who is
supported by four deputy directors in charge of five offices: namely, the
Academic Coordination Office, the Statistical Information Office, the Policy
Office, the Inspection Office, and the Administration office. This Department
has three key roles in developing policy and
strategy for the higher education sector:
1)
Providing
licenses to HEIs for their operations
2)
Assisting HEIs to
develop academic curricula and management instruments needed to meet
accreditation standards
3)
Improving the
quality and efficiency of higher education nationwide
The
Department of Science Research is established to facilitate the educational functioning of HEIs at master’s and PhD degree levels, and to improve the quality of learning-teaching
and research at postgraduate levels through updating teaching
methodologies and curriculum development, research and innovation, and
publication. In short, this department has a fundamental role
to assist the government ministries to implement their policies and strategies
in order to promote Cambodian tertiary educational quality.
4. Institutional policies for enhancing educational quality in
the campus environments
After
the end of the civil war in 1998, the Royal Government of Cambodia and her
national and international development partners have cooperated to establish
various educational policies, projects, legal frameworks, institutions,
regulations to support and ensure the education quality of Cambodian higher
educational institutions. Strengthening education equality is introduced in the
fourth rectangle of the government’s Second Stage of Rectangular Strategy
(2008-2013) for Growth, Employment, Equity and Efficiency which refers to
capacity building and human resource development, p. 20 (Sen, 2004) . However,
quality and quantity are controversial problems in Cambodia’s current
educational system because of the government’s limited finances and people’s
poverty. Most poor students move from their hometowns in remote areas of the
provinces to pursue their higher education at Phnom Penh, the capital. During
their studies, they face many problems such as limited accommodation, lack of
financial support, few scholarships, and lack of study materials.
To
resolve these problems, the government has founded new universities in four
different provinces such as Chea Sim University of Kamchaymear (former
Maharishi Vedic University in 1991) in Prey Veng Province, Svay Rieng
University (2006) in Svay Rieng Province, Mean Chey University (2007) in
Banteay Meanchey province, and Battambang University (2007) in Battambang
Province. In this context, Cambodia needs to increase the quality and quantity
of human resource capital to compete with her neighbouring countries in ASEAN
community by 2015. Based on the literature, the government has actively taken
the lead on institutional policies through providing financial support or
allocations for academic activities such as research and innovations, national
policies, legal frameworks, and regulations. It also has important roles to
facilitate the institutional functions and their academic supported service
environment. In addition, institutions need to have a high commitment to
provide excellent support services for facilitating students’ academic success
and education quality. Institutional commitment refers to “the willingness to
invest resources and provide the incentives and rewards needed to enhance
student success, p.99” (Tinto, 2005).
In
this paper, there are two kinds of institutional policies that can be
significant factors to support students’ education quality progress, and these
are academic and non- academic services in this present context. In this paper,
academic support services consist of academic foundation studies, foreign
languages, library services and other facilities. Non-academic services refer
to financial support, scholarships, and accommodation.
Figure 2: Organizational chart of the
institutional policies for enhancing educational quality in the campus
environments
5. Academic support services
Cambodian
public higher educational institutions have been operating to provide
appropriate academic support services in accordance with the national and
regional standards including the minimum standards for Cambodian Accreditation
of Higher Education Institutions and the ASEAN Network Quality criteria. There
are nine minimum standards to promote quality education and academic success. Introduced
in the third standard is the academic program, in the fifth standard student
and student services, and in the sixth standard learning services (RGC, 2003a). Academic
programs are course curricula designed to ensure and enhance the quality of
education in the institutions, and they must comply with national policies, the
institutional mission, social needs, the employment market, and students’
needs. Student and student services are defined as academic and non academic
services that contribute to the enhancement of educational quality and the
student’s development of knowledge, competence, and professional skills.
Support services include admission services, tuition fees and scholarship
services, counselling services, accommodation services, food services, first
aid services, security services, and other services. Access to libraries,
computer, laboratories, experimental rooms, research stations, the Internet,
textbooks, journals, research papers, and so on are considered as learning
services as these facilities facilitate students’ learning experiences in order
to attain their academic success. In the second criteria about teaching and
learning of the ASEAN University Network Quality-Assurance, academic support
services also include course curriculum, academic staff, student assessment,
learning process, environment, health and safety standards and learning
resources (ASEAN, 2004).
Hence,
Cambodian public universities are effectively implementing some minimum
educational quality standards to provide excellent academic and non academic
support services for Cambodian students to achieve their academic development
and effectiveness. At the time of writing of this paper, the Cambodian public
universities are providing academic support services such as academic
foundation studies, English language, library services and other facilities to
support the learning environment of Cambodian students.
5.1 Academic foundation studies
To
upgrade and strengthen the general foundation of knowledge of high school
students to succeed at the tertiary level, the Royal Government of Cambodia,
through the Accreditation Committee of Cambodia, has introduced foundation
study programs into Cambodian HEIs in order to promote the education quality of
students. Generally, Cambodian HEIs establish their own independent academic
foundation departments which are accredited by the Accreditation Committee of
Cambodia. These departments offer foundation studies to first year students in
the undergraduate program in the academic year 2005-2006 (ACC, 2005). Thereafter, the
ACC has been accrediting undergraduate and postgraduate curricula. In order to
obtain a bachelor’s degree, freshman students have to successfully complete a
one year foundation studies program. After that, they are awarded with a
foundation study certificate of achievement in all subjects in the foundation
study curriculum. With this certificate, students have the right to enrol in
the second year of the undergraduate program in the same higher education
institution or in another accredited higher education institutions anywhere in
the country. Currently, 38 Cambodian universities’ academic foundation programs
have been fully accredited by the Accreditation Committee of Cambodia (ACC, 2008).
According
to article 30 of the Royal Degree on the Accreditation of Education Quality in
Higher Education, academic foundation curriculums are required to introduce four
compulsory disciplines: Arts and Humanities, Mathematics, Natural Science and
Computer Science, Social Science, and Foreign Languages respectively (RGC, 2003a). The Discipline
of Arts and Humanities includes subjects such as Literature, History,
Philosophy, Fine Art, Musicology, Archaeology, Religious Studies, Khmer
Studies, and other courses approved by the ACC. The discipline of Mathematics,
Natural Science, and Computer Science includes subjects such as Mathematics,
Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Geometry, Environmental Studies, Applied Computer,
Computer Science, and other courses approved by the ACC. The discipline of
Social Science includes subjects such as Political Science, Public
Administration, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, Economics, Geography,
Demography, and other courses approved by the ACC. The Discipline of Foreign
Languages includes the languages of English, French, and other languages. In
this foundation study program, students must complete common courses and
orientation courses required by the foundation department of HEIs. For
instance, the Royal University of Phnom Penh, the oldest and most prestigious
university in Cambodia, offers 40 credits or 600 hours for foundation studies.
If students want to achieve a bachelor’s degree in Science majoring in
Mathematics at the RUPP, they are required to study compulsory courses in
English 1 and 2, Khmer Literature, Khmer Culture and Civilization, General
Mathematics, General Chemistry and Physics, Using Library Resources and
Demography, Statistics, Computer Applications, General Geography, General
Algebra 1 and 2, and General Analysis 1 and 2 (RUPP, 2012f).
Similarly,
the Royal University of Law and Economics, one of ASEAN Network University
members, provides 36 credits or 540 hours in its academic foundation
curriculum. For example, Law students have to study 12 courses including Basic
Law, Computer, Culture, Foreign Languages (English, French, and Japanese),
Geography, History, Institutional Law, Statistics, Political Science, and Legal
French (RULE, 2012a) . However, the
Institute of Technology of Cambodia which specializes in engineering provides
70 credits or 3150 hours in a two-year program of foundation studies. In
conclusion, foundation studies are very important to broaden Cambodian students’
basic knowledge and to achieve success in their undergraduate program.
5.2 Academic English Support
Academic
English Support Services are stipulated in standard number six of the ACC’s
minimum standards to promote the education quality and students’ academic
success. It requires that all HEIs offer English training services with highly
qualified teachers and modern language learning facilities such as audio
language labs and English software programs (ACC, 2009). From a Cambodian
historical perspective, higher education institutions use many foreign
languages in instruction due to the influence of political ideologies and to
the technical and financial support of donor countries. During the 1980s, most universities
used the instructional languages of Russian and Vietnamese, for example, the
Soviet Friendship Higher Technical Institute used Russian as the instructional
medium with Soviet professors.
After
the collapse of the Soviet Union, France has donated about US$ 7 million
through the Francophone University Agency (Agence
Universitaire de la Francophonie) to support this
institute. Eventually, the French language became the medium of instruction,
and France renamed this institute to become the Institute of Technology of
Cambodia (Insitut de Techonologies du Cambodge-ITC) on
September 10, 1993. However, at that time, most students protested against
using French because they wanted to continue their instruction in Russian,
Khmer, or English. Although presently Cambodia is one of 56 French speaking
state members in the International Organization of the Francophonie (IOF, 2012 ), Cambodian
students are no longer required to use the French language in their tertiary
level of studies (Clayton, 2006). There are many
controversial problems about language choices between English and French in the
current Cambodian higher education institutions.
According
to Clayton (2006), most Cambodian academicians and administrators, who worked
at RULE, RUPP, NUM, and UHS, have taken every opportunity to convert their
French instruction to English; Cambodian students have preferred to study
English rather than other languages. For instance, when RUPP and RULE have
amended their language policies and allowed students to select their own
foreign language options, 80 % of RUPP’s students chose English and 84 % of
RULE’s students selected English. On the other hand, after Cambodia became
member state of ASEAN in 1999, English has significantly influenced Cambodian
students on their language of choice. English is an official and working
language of ASEAN according to article 34 ASEAN’s charter (ASEAN, 2007), whereas the
Cambodian constitution in article 5 stated that Cambodian official language and
script are Khmer (RGC, 1993, admended 1999).
However,
Cambodian scholars have always considered English language skills as most
important for students’ learning, communication, employment, and scholarship
opportunities abroad, and it is the first and leading foreign language in the
country. The Cambodian Ministry of Education started to introduce an English
curriculum into secondary schools and high schools throughout country in 2000.
Because of limited English proficiency among Cambodian students and lecturers,
most Cambodian public universities have used only Khmer as the official
instructional language. According to Louise Ahens (2000) interviewed in (Clayton, 2006), Cambodian
students need to know English because nearly all textbooks are in English. She emphasized
that “Cambodia can’t afford to develop new textbooks every few year like major
academic publishers in the United States do. Thus, if students cannot read
English, they simply can’t function in higher education.” She also suggested
that Cambodian students who want to pursue their postgraduate degrees in the
region and in English speaking countries must have English proficiency because
English is the language of international education at nearly all universities
in ASEAN as well as in Europe and North America.
Generally,
Cambodian HEIs provide three years or six semesters of English language
training to undergraduate students. Cambodian public universities are not
setting test scores of English proficiency tests like TOEFL or IELTS in their
admission requirements. For example, since 1997, the RUPP has established its
institutional policy to offer English services through the English Language
Support Unit (ELSU). It provides English language training to students in all
faculty departments except foreign language departments at the Institute of
Foreign Languages. RUPP’ students are required to complete six semesters of
compulsory English courses in order to receive a degree from the university. Before
starting classes in first year, students are required to take an English
placement test to evaluate their English proficiency. After that, RUPP provides
classes for students in various levels depending on their English placement
test results, and they have to attend at least six hours of English classes per
week. The ELSU of RUPP has been providing English basic courses and elective
courses including general English (from elementary to upper- intermediate
levels), English for Employment, Academic Writing, Southeast Asian Studies,
Introduction to Research Skills, English Teaching Methodology, and TOEFL Test
Preparation (RUPP, 2012d). As a result,
after students successfully complete six semesters, they are able to attain at
least basic academic research skills in their field of research. Moreover, if
students had an upper-intermediate level of English proficiency in their first
year or second year, they will be able to study specific subjects and advance
concepts for writing their research report or final thesis (RUPP, 2012e). Beside these
courses, the ELSU also provides English services during Summer School to
improve English proficiency by offering enrichment courses for all RUPP
students and students from other universities in Phnom Penh. These summer
courses cover the five macro language skills of Listening, Speaking, Reading,
Writing, and Grammar (RUPP, 2012c).
In
addition, the Royal University of Law and Economics provides seven semesters of
compulsory English training in its law and economics undergraduate curriculum. These
English programs are provided in conjunction with the English Language
Institute (USA) based at the Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE, 2012b). Because of
effective policies of English training services, leading universities including
the Royal University of Phnom Penh, The Royal University of Law and Economics,
and the National University of Management have been sending their students to
study at English speaking universities in Australia, New Zealand, United
States, Europe, and some countries in Asia. For example, 480 Cambodian students
have received the Australian Development Scholarships (ADS) to pursue their
postgraduate studies in Australia since 1994 (AKP, 2012), and more than
one hundred students have been awarded Fulbright Scholarships (FS) to do their
postgraduate studies at universities in the United States (FAAC, 2012). In short,
Cambodian public universities have provided appropriate academic English
services to support students’ learning experiences, academic excellence, and
education quality.
5.3 Library Services
Library
services and resources are considered as one of the minimum standards needed to
ensure education quality and to facilitate students’ learning process to help
them succeed (ACC, 2009). Moreover,
library services have a positive impact on students’ academic success including
learning, persistence, retention, faculty research productivity, and student
job success. In particular, universities need new teaching technologies and new
electronic information sources such as databases, up-to-date textbooks,
periodicals, journals, advanced multimedia resources, high-speed Internet
access, liquid crystal display projectors (LCD projectors), computer labs,
visual and audio equipment so on to facilitate student learning p. 348 (Heyneman, 2001).
Presently,
access to Cambodian universities’ library resources is limited because of
shortages of governmental financial support. However, university students can
access textbooks and printing materials for their academic research and
learning process. Universities strive to encourage students to use library
services effectively. For example, RUPP offers a library orientation program, a
compulsory course on using library resources to all first year students. This
course attempts to improve students’ research and information seeking skills in
the library, teaching them how to use reference books including encyclopaedias,
atlases, and dictionaries as well as how to search for documents using
technologies such as the Internet, email, CD-Rom, Video, and microfiche (RUPP, 2012g). The Hun Sen
Library of the Royal University of Phnom Penh, the largest library in Cambodia,
officially opened on January 7, 1997 under the financial support of the
Cambodian government and donors from European countries, the United States, and
Japan. The library currently has a floor area of 1600 square meters with
seating for 200 users and has approximately 55, 000 textbooks, of which 62% are
in English, 22% in Khmer, 15% in French, with others in Japanese, Vietnamese,
Chinese, and Thai. The library provides services such as Internet access, word
processing and printing, photocopying services, online public Access Catalogue
(OPAC), circulation services (loan and general collection), and library
orientation workshop services (RUPP, 2012h).
In
addition, the Royal University of Law and Economics has two separated libraries
for the faculties of law and economics where each library has 495 square meters
of space. There are approximately 22,788 general textbooks and 23,788 legal and
economic textbooks. Remarkably, at least 550 students per day (RULE, 2010) access the
university’s library. Beside universities’ libraries, most students use the
National Library of Cambodia, the biggest library in the country, to research
in their academic activities; this library has approximately 10 3,635 textbooks
and 23, 000 volumes of books and journals (Post, 2012) .
6. Non Academic support services
6.1 Financial services and Scholarship
Currently, there are 173, 264 undergraduate students (25,045 government
scholarship students), 20,719 associate students (3079 government scholarship
students), and 55, 149 foundation students
(7512 government
scholarship students) in Cambodian HEIs (MoEYS, 2011). Both scholarship and non- scholarship students face
financial difficulties because they need to spend a lot on living expenses such
as food, accommodation, tuition fees, and study materials at the universities
of the capital. Presently according to census information in 2010,
approximately 80.5% of the Cambodian population lives in rural areas, 55% lives
on agriculture, and 35% lives in poverty (NIS, 2008; WB, 2011). About 80% of provincial and rural students pursue
their higher learning in universities at Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Therefore,
the Royal Government of Cambodia and higher education institutions annually
increase the number of scholarships and establish appropriate policies to set
affordable tuition fees for non-scholarship students. The provisions of
scholarships and financial supports are based on the following criteria:
1.
For outstanding
or talented students
2.
For deserving
students who are not able to afford paying fees for their higher education
3.
For students who
are studying in prioritized fields or specializations for society’s need as
determined by the Royal Government of Cambodia, and
4.
Other
scholarships in response to the policies of the country’s leaders
These scholarship awards are based on the proportion
of gender, geographic location, and ethnic groups in Cambodia (ACC, 2009; RGC, 2003a). For example, the Royal University Phnom Penh
annually awards 770 scholarships to students (RUPP, 2012a) while the University Health Science awards 741
scholarships (UHS, 2012a). The Royal University Law Economics annually provides
390 scholarships included 300 government scholarships, 10 outstanding or talent
student scholarships, and 50 Prime Minister’s scholarships (RULE, 2010). The tuition fees of current public universities are
between USD 250 and USD 1500 per year. It is cheaper when compared with other
universities in the Southeast Asian countries. For instance, the RUPP
categorizes its annual tuition fees into three groups:
1.
USD 250 for the
Faculty of Social Science and Humanity
2.
USD 300 for the
Faculty of Science and
The Royal University of Law and Economics sets tuition
fees in the amount of USD 380 for Law and Economics undergraduate programmes.
Otherwise, medical studies in the University of Health Science being the most
prestigious discipline, demand the highest tuition fees in the country, i.e.
USD 1400 for Medicine, Pharmacy, and Dentistry (UHS, 2012b). In Cambodia, government scholarships only cover
tuition fees, so students need to rely on parents, family, and part-time
employment for living expenses. According to Virak (2010), the budget
allocation in higher education is not proportionate to the ratio of students
sponsored between the Ministry of Education and other ministries that provide
higher education services. For example, some ministries may sponsor 10% of the
students, but they receive about 60% of government grants, whereas the Ministry
of Education sponsors 90% of the students, but receiving only 40% of government
grants for higher education expenditures.
Moreover, the number of government scholarship in
Public HEIs is expanding, but the program based budget (PB) in higher education
institutions is shrinking. Beside the government's existing scholarship
program, World Bank (WB) and the Cambodian government have a five year project
on Higher Education Quality and Capacity Improvement (2010-2015) to provide
1,050 "special-priority" scholarships based on pro-poor targeting and
educational criteria in order to increase the retention of poor students in
higher education (Virak, 2010; WB, 2012 ). This World Bank collaborative scholarship which pays
between USD 60 and USD 90 depending on the location of provincial or capital
universities is higher than government scholarship because it covers tuition
fees and monthly allowances. In conclusion, financial support services and
scholarships are very important to facilitate students to succeed in their
academic activities and reach excellence.
6.2 Accommodation
Accommodation
services are spelled out in the Minimum Standard number five for the
Accreditation of Higher Education Institutions regarding student and student services.
It states that HEIs have to provide good services to their students; these
services include accommodation, food services, first aid, security, and other
necessary services. Living environment in campuses are vital factors to retain
students particularly first year students in college and university. Students
who live on campus are able to persist into second year when compared to
students who live off campus. (Jenniefer, 2004;
Kenty, 1997). Moreover,
students who stay in university accommodation or residential halls are more
likely to be actively involved in all university experiences and activities
because they have enough times to interact with their peers, administrators,
and faculty members (Astin, 1999).
Presently,
Cambodian leading public universities in the Phnom Penh do not have their own
university accommodation, whereas four public provincial universities including
the Chea Sim University of Kamchaymear, Svay Rieng University, Mean Chey
University, and Battambang University have their own campus housing offered
freely to prioritized female students and other students whose families live
far away from university campuses. Actually, most students are challenged with
problems to find suitable accommodation during their studies at universities in
Phnom Penh. Some students have to stay with relatives and friends, and others
have to rent accommodation near their university
campus. Fortunately, most male students have a chance to find free
accommodations in pagodas because their families are so poor that they cannot
afford rental rooms.
As
a result, the Royal Government of Cambodia has constructed a six-storey
building as a dormitory near the campus of the Royal University of Phnom Penh.
This accommodation is for students from poor families, remote provinces, and
for females who study at the universities in Phnom Penh (Saoyuth, 2010). The government
will finance some national budgets to expand university dormitories to meet the
need of rapid enrolment rates of students in Phnom Penh. It also has many
projects to build colleges and universities in other provinces throughout the
country in order to reduce the number of students coming to Phnom Penh to
continue their education. In short, accommodations are very important to
facilitate the education quality in tertiary levels.
7. Discussion
Based
upon the finding of this research, Cambodian government and higher educational
institutions have strived to establish numerous policies, strategies, regulations,
institutions and academic support services for promoting the education quality.
To achieve this goal, the government has implemented three main national strategies
including the Rectangular Strategy for Growth, Employment, Equity and
Efficiency, the National Strategic Development Plan Update 2009-2013, and the
Educational Strategic Plan (Education for All) 2006-2013. Especially, the
Privatization Policy has permitted private sectors to invest in tertiary
education. As a result, the numbers of Higher Education Institutions have been dramatically
expanded to more than three times from 28 to 91 between 1997 and 2012. Beside
these strategies, the government has cooperated with development partners and
country donors to create various projects and plans for the enhancement of
higher education quality including the Master Plan for Research in Education
Sector 2011-2015, the Higher Education Quality and Capacity Improvement
2010-2015, and the Development Grants for Cambodian Higher Education
Institutions. Moreover, three prominent institutions have been established to
facilitate these strategies and policies and to assure the education quality that
comprised of the Accreditation Committee
of Cambodia, the Supreme National Council of Education, and the Directorate
Department of Higher Education. Remarkably, each higher education has strived
to improve the quality of curriculums and extra-curricular activities, research
projects, and teaching methodologies as well as to provide some academic supported
services for the special needs of students. As a result, educational qualities
of undergraduate programmes in Cambodia have been recognized by some world-
class universities through accepting Cambodian students to enrol in their postgraduate
programmes; particularly, in the development scholarship programmes of
friendship countries.
However, there are several crucial and missing problems
need to be urgently addressed that could impact on the effectiveness of the educational
policy implementation and the quality of education in Cambodia HEIs. The first problem is the
constraints on higher education financing, which is limited by the government’s
budget. The overall education expenditure accounted for only 1.6 percent of
Cambodia’ gross domestic product and public higher education expenditure was
only 0.05 percent of GDP (WB, 2012). Because of these shortages of annual budgets,
Cambodian higher education institutions cannot implement their institutional
policies to equip modern and adequate facilities to effectively support the academic
and non academic services for student academic successes such as libraries, workshop,
accommodation, laboratories, and classrooms. Corruption and non transparency of
public expenditures in HEIs are also considered as serious problems. The government
has not yet create regulations or policies on public financial management
within public and private higher education institutions. They should be
required to broadcast their annual financial statements for the public. Controversially,
some universities are actively involved in selling diplomas, and bribes are
paid for degrees, academic assignments, and thesis writing (Shane, 2012).
The second problem is lacking of
admission requirements. Most Cambodian higher education institutions are not
setting the specific admission policies and criterions to recruit qualified
students to attend in their institutions, and they mainly depend on the results
of higher school examinations. Consequently, they have competed in attracting
the numbers of enrolments for the purpose of their commercial benefits. Especially,
English or other foreign languages are not required by most public universities
as entrance requirements.
Third problem is lacking human
resources, teaching qualities, and research capacity. There are few full time
academicians who hold PhD’s degree in Cambodian universities because of insufficient
salaries and incentives; especially, educational experts and policy makers who
have qualified experiences and skills to restore Cambodian educational system
to meet the requirements of world class universities. On the other hands, the
Accreditation Committee of Cambodia has not enough qualified assessors and
experts to evaluate the training activities and to assure the education quality
of higher education institutions. In addition, Cambodia is still not policy on
academic professional ranking so that it is not encouraging people to work in
academic careers. Similarly, most universities have problems with research
capacity. For instance, a study of five prestigious Cambodian universities had
found that only 6 percent of university lecturers hold PhD’s degree and about
85 percent have never published any academic papers (Chen, 2007).
The forth problem is academic
relevance. Cambodian government has not yet policy on curriculum and extra-curricular
activities to linkage with the labour markets. Presently, the high rates of
unemployment among the university graduates are due to their lack of
professional skills to respond with the demands of labour markets. For example,
most of Cambodian higher education institutions are providing most disciplines
in business studies, economics, and IT, whereas current Cambodian labour markets
are demanding in natural science, engineering, mathematics, agriculture, and
health (Noch, 2009). The last problem is autonomy and academic freedom within
the public universities. The government has policies to provide HEIs a legal
status as quasi-government institutions or public administration institutions
(PAIs), but the implementation is inactive because of political motivations and
pressures. Currently, there are twelve specialized ministries and agencies to
supervise and to provide higher education services in Cambodia (Sam, 2012). As
a result, political parties and parent ministries have rights to interference
in making decisions of higher education institutions as well as in nominating
high academic ranking officers based on political interests rather than
academic qualifications. Furthermore, academic freedom is so strict in
Cambodian democratic society; for example, the freedom of expression related to
politics, human rights, democracy, corruption, transparency, good governance,
and social justice debate are prohibited by government within the HEIs.
To sum up, Cambodian
government and higher educational institutions have high commitment to set up
many policies for promoting the quality of education, but these policy
implementations have faced some controversial problems because of financial shortages,
time constraints, inadequate human resources, and autonomy and academic freedom.
Therefore, during 14 years of peace and political stability, the government has
achieved in numerous national policies and strategies for developing human
capital, socio- economy, and alleviation of poverty.
8. Conclusion and recommendation
The purpose of this paper is to
explore the institutional policies that address academic and non-academic
support services provided by the Cambodia public universities to support the
needs of students to enhance their academic success and education quality.
Hence, this paper provided a review of current literature, policy documents and
discussion about education quality in Cambodia as well as the academic and
non-academic support services that are provided in current public universities.
Based in the discussion on
various aspects in previous section, the following recommendations are made to
contribute in enhancing education quality at national and institutional levels.
For the national level, the government should pay more attention on HEIs which
expand public financial support for their academic functioning, and increase
sufficient salaries and incentives; the government should effectively audit
their expenditures with transparency and accountability. The government should
put more effort to encourage higher education for reforming their institutional
policies such as admission requirements, curriculum and extra-curricular
activities, teaching methodologies, research methods, and practical skills that
are demanded by labour markets. The government should allocate some national
budgets to support unpopular courses and programmes for the profits of country.
The government should provide adequate training courses related to educational
planning and management, strategic management, and higher education
administration for universities’ staffs and faculty members. The government
should transform public higher education institutions to be the PAIs in order
to make their own decisions in academic and non academic activities. Finally,
the government should provide academic freedom for students, professors, and
lecturers in accordance with Cambodian constitution both inside and outside
university campuses.
For the institutional level,
HEIs should pay more attention to offer adequate academic and non academic
support services for their students including foreign language services,
library services, internet and computer services, advisory and counselling
services, accommodation services, canteen services, health and security
services, transportation services, and financial support and scholarship
services. HEIs should provide only subjects or programmes which match with
their competencies, academic background, and resources for the student academic
success and education quality. HIEs should make more social events and academic
activities to maintain good relationship between students and faculty members.
HEIs should regularly develop professional competencies of academicians and
staffs to assure the quality of education and support services.
Ultimately, the discussion
arrived at here suggests that a provision of significant academic and
non-academic support services will enable Cambodia public universities to
support the actual and urgent needs of students and thereby contribute to their
academic excellence and education quality in order to integrate its educational
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Table 1. Comparison table of student statistics from academic
year 2003-2012
Degree
|
2003-2004
|
2010-2011
|
2011-2012
|
|||
Total
|
Female
|
Total
|
Female
|
Total
|
Female
|
|
Associate
Degree
|
11,517
|
2879
|
20,719
|
6,526
|
2,3123
|
7631
|
Bachelor
Degree
|
44,855
|
13,905
|
173, 264
|
70,954
|
20,7666
|
8,3066
|
Master
Degree
|
1448
|
174
|
12,887
|
2,343
|
14,274
|
2855
|
Doctorates
|
8
|
2
|
981
|
55
|
1006
|
60
|
Grand
Total
|
57, 828
|
207, 851
|
246, 069
|
|||
Sources: MoEYS,
Department of Higher Education and Department of Scientific Research, 2012
Figure
1.
Organizational chart of existing national policies, legal frameworks, and
institutions for enhancing education quality in Cambodian universities
Figure
2.
Organizational chart of the institutional policies for enhancing educational
quality in the campus environments
