Civil engineering students on the rise in Cambodia

Thursday, 04 October 2012

Seun Son

 

Students finishing their secondary education this year are carefully looking at market demand to decide what to study to ensure solid future earnings.

Many educators say the recent growth of the construction sector in Cambodia is encouraging parents and students to enroll at the universities of architecture and civil engineering.

Lim Soktai, the dean of the College of Architecture and Civil Engineering of Norton University said that school is important in the development of human resources for success.

He said that in 2011 there were about 600 students enrolling in the College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, and that number is expected to increase in 2012.

Soktai said the number will increase due to the strong growth of the construction sector in recent years. This influences students to major in architecture and civil engineering, because the labour market for this sector is big and they can find jobs after their third academic year.

He claimed, “our university has high-quality professors, materials and experiment equipment, enabling students graduating from our university to find jobs easily.”

He added that there is a high demand for labour in the Kingdom’s construction and architecture market.

Duong Chanthea, the manager of the careers department for students of the National Technical Training Institute, said that the number students enrolling in the architecture and civil construction at the Institute of Technical Training is about 540 this year, an increase of 20 to 30 per cent compared with 2011.

She added that this increase is due to the recommendations by students of previous years who used to study at the institute.

Chanthea claimed, “The real estate market is recovering, increasing the price of land and construction as well as the demand for labour in the field of architecture and civil engineering.”

She continued, “This year, more than 600 students graduated from the National Technical Training Institute, and I hope that they all will find good jobs based on their individual skills.”

Tous Saphoeun, the dean of the College of Architecture and Civil Engineering of Panassastra University, said that in developing countries like Cambodia, architecture and civil engineering is in high demand, and graduates can all find jobs.

However Saphoeun said that this year, only about 100 students had enrolled in the field of architecture and civil engineering, a decrease of 20 per cent compared to 2011, when 130 students enrolled.

He claimed, “This decrease is because the real estate market is not recovering well, the demand is not much as in 2011, and is of little interest of students, even if this profession has a big market in the future.”

Saphoeun added that the government should promote this sector because it can absorb a lot of people, after tourism.

He said, “Even though the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction announced the increase of construction projects this year, I have noted that it does not increase remarkably because the projects they are doing this time are old projects from 2005. I think this sector seems to be sleeping.”

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To contact the reporter on this story: Seun Son at son.seun@phnompenhpost.com