UNITED KINGDOM: Legal challenge to international student ban slapped on university

David Jobbins04 September 2012 Issue No:238

 

The UK university barred from teaching students from outside the European Union (EU) is to challenge the decision in court by the end of this week.

Professor Malcolm Gillies, vice-chancellor of London Metropolitan University (LMU), told the BBC flagship Today programme on Tuesday that it was seeking to have the revocation of its Highly Trusted Status by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) stayed.

“Our analysis with leading immigration lawyers indicates this report of the UKBA is wrong in so many details,” Gillies said. “We have an obligation to go to court.”

Loss of Highly Trusted Status (HTS), under which universities are required to vet applicants from outside the EU to ensure they meet immigration requirements, means that up to 2,700 current LMU students face deportation if they cannot find an alternative university at which to continue their studies by the end of November.

Gillies told the BBC: “We fundamentally contest their claim that there is a systemic failure here.”

He accepted that the decision by the UKBA, announced on 30 August, had done “huge damage” to LMU.

It had also done “a lot of damage to the credibility of British higher education”.

LMU said that the evidence it provided to the UKBA clearly showed that “on file after file we were taking every reasonable measure we could to be compliant”. The UKBA claim that LMU did not address serious and systemic failings identified six months ago was “simply not true”.

It said its checks on international students for English language and educational ability not only met but exceeded the UKBA requirements in a number of key areas.

“The university's staff has been diligently performing stringent checks to try and ensure that all individuals who are studying at the university are legally entitled to do so.

"The UKBA has not provided any constructive advice to the sector on this matter, despite being asked to on numerous occasions.”

The university believes that its monitoring complies with the UKBA's guidance and accused UKBA officers of ignoring information that was made available to them when they conducted their audit.

“Despite our concerns, we cooperated and assisted them fully and tried to persuade them on a number of occasions to review evidence that we felt was relevant.”

LMU claimed that the UKBA's requirements had changed substantially at least 14 times in the past three years.

“We believe the university's approach to complying with this multitude of changes is of a standard that not only equates with practices adopted by the majority of other universities in the sector but in a number of key areas exceeds sector-wide practice.”

This week the powerful House of Commons public accounts committee criticised the UKBA for disrupting the student visa system with “poorly planned and ill thought-out” changes in the rules for overseas students.

As a result an extra 50,000 people abused the system, coming to Britain to work rather than study, it said.

The committee of MPs said in a report published on Monday that the UKBA had enforced new rules for overseas students in 2009 before controls were in place. The result was a "difficult and costly" three years as the agency tried to amend the rules to clamp down on abuse.

It is against this background that vice-chancellors have expressed concern at the decision to make LMU the first university to lose its HTS.

On the same day, Immigration Minister Damian Green told MPs: “The UKBA found systemic failures that meant that London Met had not been able to ensure the appropriate admission and tracking of students from abroad.”

Green said that two other unidentified universities had their licences to admit overseas students temporarily suspended after UKBA investigations, but added that both had resolved their problems and were no longer suspended.

On 30 August David Willetts, the universities minister, announced that a task force led by the Higher Education Funding Council for England – and which includes Universities UK, the UKBA and the National Union of Students – would start immediately to support affected students and enable genuine students to find another institution at which they could continue their studies in the UK.

A ‘clearing house’ set up by LMU will support students wishing to transfer from that university to an alternative education provider or institution. It is to operate from 17 September and will offer every LMU international undergraduate student affected by the revocation decision a course or courses to which they can apply.

The task force said after its second meeting on Wednesday that the courses offered would be comparable in cost and curriculum, and the providers will be quality assured so that students can be confident that their learning experience will continue to meet high standards.

Providers will be based in London wherever possible in order to minimise disruption to students’ accommodation and transport arrangements.

The start of the clearing house has been put back, however, because of LMU’s legal challenge to the revocation of HTS. If the university wins a stay, the revocation will be set aside pending a further hearing and the university will be able, and will want, to continue to teach its current international students.

But the task force acknowledged the risk that later legal hearings might lead to the re-imposition of the revocation, creating a risk that students could have their studies disrupted in the course of the academic year.

Therefore, if the revocation is set aside, the task force may seek a guarantee that students will be allowed to complete their programmes at LMU for the whole of the academic year 2012-13. Any decision then taken to confirm revocation would be implemented in full only from 1 August 2013.

But if the UKBA and the government cannot agree to that solution and the risk of in-year disruption persists, students will be given the option of moving to another institution.

The potential for wider damage to the UK's international student recruitment was illustrated on 31 August when City University found itself named as the UKBA's target in China due to the similarity of its and LMU's titles in Mandarin.

It was wrongly named, by the Chinese national broadcaster, as the university stripped of its trusted status.

City University said: We are aware there may be some confusion around the translation of City University. There are two universities which use this name in Mandarin Chinese – City University London and LMU."

It stated it retained its HTS, enabling it to recruit and teach students in the UK.
 

INDIA: Poor quality and too few seats push 600,00 students abroad

Alya Mishra09 September 2012 Issue No:238

 

Inadequate higher education infrastructure and poor quality courses are pushing 600,000 Indian students to top universities overseas – and are costing the country around Rs950 billion (US$17 billion) in foreign exchange annually – a study has found.

The study, “Higher Education Scenario in India”, was conducted by the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India, or ASSOCHAM, and is yet to be published.

It found that most Indian students go abroad because they do not find seats in quality institutions within the country. The huge capacity constraint in quality higher education could be tackled through public-private partnership models, the study suggested.

Competing for too few seats

With an aspiring middle-class, the limited number of quality higher education institutions is failing dismally to meet demand.

In 2012, 500,000 students sat the entrance exam for 9,590 seats at Indian institutes of technology (IITs), India’s premier technical colleges. The Indian institutes of management (IIMs) received close to 200,000 applications for 15,500 seats.

Notably, in 2011 Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), one of the leading commerce colleges in the country, set a minimum marks cut-off for admission of 100% for students with science subjects. Anything less than a perfect score would disqualify an applicant.

The move outraged students and sparked debate about access and quality in higher education. According to the SRCC principal, PC Jain, the problem lies in the supply of and demand for higher education.

“The number of students who score 90% and above is increasing every year. But we have a limited number of seats. If everyone applies for SRCC then we have to find a way to limit the number,” said Jain.

“We need more quality higher education institutions since the number of students graduating from school with good performance is surging every year.”

In 1987, when a million students took grade 12 exams, SRCC had 800 seats. In 2011, 10.1 million students wrote grade 12 exams but the college had the same number of seats.

Struggling to achieve quality

Even if more seats were available, students who have experienced a foreign education said they would rather go abroad for the academic and cultural experiences, than study in India.

“Even average institutions in the US and UK are better than most colleges in India. Critical thinking, freedom to express your thoughts and to interact with faculty members, and inter-disciplinary studies is what distinguishes many foreign universities from their Indian counterparts,” said Shaleeni Chopra, a postgraduate of the University of Sussex in the UK.

According to experts, even if universities began strengthening the quality of education, it would be a very long time before the tide of students going abroad could be arrested.

“The role of universities is to produce knowledge, apply knowledge to research and build an academic culture,” said Professor MK Sridhar, member secretary and executive director of the Karnataka Knowledge Commission, a think-tank under the chief minister’s office.

“Unless universities re-orient themselves, embrace technology and open their doors to competitive research and faculty building, India will keep losing students and professionals to foreign universities, which provide students and teachers with a richer academic environment,” Sridhar said.

Caught in red tape

According to the ASSOCHAM study, higher education in India is subsidised enough by the government to attract students, provided that they gain admission to quality institutions.

“An IIT student pays an average US$150 monthly fee, while students opting for education in institutions in Australia, Canada, Singapore, the US and UK shell out US$1,500 to US$4,000 in fees every month,” said ASSOCHAM Secretary General DS Rawat.

“Demand for education loans has also been increasing by over 20% annually,” he said.

The paper suggested that India set up more quality institutions along the lines of IITs and IIMs to ease the outflow of students.

Notably, under the 11th Five Year Plan from 2007-12, the government announced the setting up of 51 publicly funded higher education institutions – including eight IITs and seven IIMs.

Most of the proposed institutions have been plagued by setbacks, including delays in land acquisition, shortages of qualified faculty and, in several cases, disputes between the central government and states.

Sriram Kelkar, an associate professor at the University of Hyderabad, said universities needed more autonomy in order to innovate and experiment, to attract students and achieve internationally competitive standards.

“Just providing funds for expansion is not the answer. Norms for hiring faculty need to be liberalised so that fresh talent can be brought in. The conventional teaching and grading systems need to be re-looked at and teachers need to be given more autonomy.

“Only then can we compete with our global counterparts,” Kelkar said.

UNITED STATES: Most university heads optimistic about future – Survey

The Chronicle of Higher Education 09 September 2012 Issue No:238

 

US higher education administrators have mixed and even contradictory views about the financial future of their institutions. While the economy continues to recover at a sluggish pace, 57% of respondents in KPMG’s new Higher Education Outlook Survey said they expected their college to be in better financial shape in five years, writes Eric Kelderman for The Chronicle of Higher Education.

What the colleges represented in the survey did to survive the recession includes measures that have become standard parts of the higher education landscape. More than half raised tuition fees, 45% delayed capital projects, and more than a third offered more online classes and cut programmes with low enrolments. The survey also revealed the shifting priorities of higher education, with more than 60% of respondents saying that student retention and graduation would be a priority in the future. And more than 40% said their institutions would be focusing on online learning.

Full report on The Chronicle of Higher Education site
 

UNITED KINGDOM: Access chief warns elite universities over intake

Guardian09 September 2012 Issue No:238

 

The government's university access tsar has warned Oxford and Cambridge that they risk losing their status as world-class universities if they fail to widen their entry to include more students from state schools, writes Peter Wilby for the Guardian.

In the first interview since his controversial appointment last spring Les Ebdon, who started work as the new head of the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) last Monday, told the Guardian: "If the top universities are to retain their positions, they need to access the full range of our society. Otherwise, they are losing a major source of potential."

Both Oxford and Cambridge take more than 40% of their entrants from fee-charging schools, which educate only 7% to 8% of children.

The government's selection of Ebdon was opposed by Conservative Party backbenchers who thought him a hardline advocate of ‘social engineering’. As vice-chancellor of Bedfordshire University, Ebdon recruited nearly all his students from state schools to study subjects such as journalism, sport and social work.

Full report on the Guardian site 

Harvard students fight cheating allegations

Bloomberg Businessweek09 September 2012 Issue No:238

 

Harvard University students under investigation for cheating on a take-home government course exam said they’re waging a battle against the allegations, writes John Lauerman for Bloomberg Businessweek.

About 20 students and graduates have gone to the media to tell their side of the story, saying skipping classes, sharing notes and collaborating on tests were all tacitly condoned by the professor and teaching fellows of the course being probed. The probe involves about 125 students over cheating on a take-home exam for the course “Introduction to Congress”.

Harvard officials called it the biggest such probe in living memory. The students who are talking said they want to remain anonymous because of concern the accusations could affect their degrees or jobs taken since graduating. One 2012 graduate said losing his bachelor degree in economics might cost him his position at a Wall Street finance firm. 

Full report on the Bloomberg Businessweek site

 

Harvard University students under investigation for cheating on a take-home government course exam said they’re waging a battle against the allegations. 

About 20 students and graduates have gone to the media to tell their side of the story, saying skipping classes, sharing notes and collaborating on tests were all tacitly condoned by the professor and teaching fellows of the course being probed, students who took the class said.

The probe involves about 125 students over cheating on a take-home exam for the course, called Introduction to Congress. Harvard officials called it the biggest such probe in living memory. The students who are talking said they want to remain anonymous because of concern the accusations could affect their degrees or jobs taken since graduating. One 2012 graduate said losing his bachelor’s degree in economics might cost him his position at a Wall Street finance firm.
“Harvard went public with their version of the story, the version that looks good for the school,” a Harvard senior said. “We’re trying to present the other side.”

A Harvard e-mail to the 2012 graduate previewed his hearing before the Administrative Board, a college disciplinary body, for cheating on the final exam. The process of responding to a complaint to the board takes about two weeks, according to the letter.

‘Very Unfair’

“There was a tone set by the nature of the class and the professor teaching the course that collaboration was OK,” the graduate said in a telephone interview. “Dragging us into this investigation now, when we have financial obligations and jobs, seems very unfair.”

Harvard said last week that each of the students and graduates under investigation will be called before the Administrative Board. Students found to have cheated on exams can be asked to withdraw for two semesters, or may receive a warning or be put on probation, Jay Harris, Harvard’s dean of undergraduate education, said in an interview last week. Some students may be exonerated, Harris said. He wouldn’t say whether the board would consider taking away graduates’ degrees.
No cases have been heard yet, Harris said. Officials declined to say which course the students were in because the board’s proceedings are confidential. Students and graduates are also prohibited from discussing their cases in public, he said.

Students said the course in question was “Introduction to Congress,” which had 279 enrolled in the semester ending in May. Freshmen through seniors were all represented in the class taught by Matthew Platt, an assistant professor. He declined to comment when reached by telephone last week and didn’t respond to a call yesterday.

Suspicious Similarities

Harvard is investigating whether the students inappropriately collaborated on the take-home exam, Harris said. A teaching fellow in the course noticed in May that many of the turned-in exams contained suspicious similarities, and an analysis of all the course’s exams led to the Administrative Board actions, he said.

“Academic integrity is very important at Harvard, as are fairness and due process,” Jeff Neal, a spokesman for Harvard said in an e-mail. “We expect to learn more about the way the course was organized and how work was approached in class and on the take-home final,” and the process will “take time and require patience,” he said.

Platt is known as a good lecturer who kept the course entertaining, said a senior who took the course and wanted to remain anonymous. The course is widely considered to be easy, the senior said.

‘120 A’s’

“Platt said, ‘I gave out 120 A’s last year and I’ll give out 120 A’s this year,”’ the senior said. “I’m taking a lot of difficult courses, so I take my A’s where I can get them.”

Platt said in class that he didn’t mind whether lectures were skipped, the students said. Students frequently shared lecture notes, which probably contributed to the similarities in people’s answers, those who took the course said.

“That’s how people understood this course worked,” the senior said.
Platt’s exam instructions say that “students may not discuss the exam with others -- this includes resident tutors, writing centers, etc.” That contradicts the way the course was actually conducted, students said.

Students consult Harvard’s Q guide to get previous course- takers’ reviews. Q guide reviews say that collaboration was accepted in Platt’s course, students said.

 

Ex-Harvard scientist found guilty of misconduct

The Boston Globe09 September 2012 Issue No:238

 

Marc Hauser, a prolific scientist and popular psychology professor who resigned last summer from Harvard University, had fabricated data, manipulated results in multiple experiments, and incorrectly described how studies were conducted, according to the findings of a federal research oversight agency that were posted online on Wednesday, writes Carolyn Y Johnson for The Boston Globe.

The report details the problems that triggered a three-year university investigation that concluded in 2010 that Hauser, a star professor and public intellectual, had committed scientific misconduct. The document, which was to be published in the Federal Register last Thursday, lists six cases in which Hauser engaged in research misconduct in work supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Hauser agreed to a number of restrictions for three years, including a ban on serving as an advisor to the US Public Health Service, a requirement that any work he does with funding from that agency be supervised, and that an institution vouch for the validity of any such research.

Full report on The Boston Globe site

JAPAN: Universities adopt the hard sell for campus visits

The Asahi Shimbun09 September 2012 Issue No:238

 

Interview coaching, a free lunch and discounted exam fees are some of the incentives Japan's institutions are offering as they try to attract applicants from the country's shrinking pool of 18-year-olds, writes Hiromi Oida for The Asahi Shimbun.

Universities are radically reviewing their summer campus visit programmes in order to lure as many prospective students as possible. "Competition among private universities has really intensified lately," said an official from Jissen Women's University in Tokyo, which offers eight ‘open house’ visit days a year.

Osaka University of Economics and Law pays 15,000 yen (US$192) to offset the journey costs of those travelling from distant islands such as Hokkaido and Okinawa. Those who take the shorter three-hour train ride from Tokyo can receive 7,000 yen. Hyogo University in Kakogawa, Hyogo Prefecture, slashes the cost of its 30,000 yen entrance exam by a third for applicants who visit a campus open day and complete a checklist of tasks, such as filling out a questionnaire. University officials say almost all visitors receive the discount.

Full report on The Asahi Shimbun site

Online universities blossom in Asia

KUALA LUMPUR: Thousands of kilometres from Kuala Lumpur in Cameroon, doctoral student Michael Nkwenti Ndongfack attends his Open University Malaysia classes online and hopes to defend his final thesis by Skype.

A government worker, Ndongfack could not find the instructional design and technology course he wanted in his own country, so is paying a foreign institution about $10,000 for the degree instead.
Online university education is expanding quickly in Asia, where growth in technology and Internet use is matched by a deep reverence for education.

“I chose e-learning because it is so flexible,” Ndongfack, 42, told AFP via Skype from his home in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde.

Web-based courses dramatically boost opportunities for students and are often cheaper than those offered by traditional bricks-and-mortar institutions.
But online learning has also caught the eye of some of the world’s most prestigious universities, with Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently teaming up to offer free courses over the Internet.

“With the improvement in technology, the number of institutions offering online education has increased, both in terms of numbers and the kind of classes offered,” said Lee Hock Guan, senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

The Malaysian government said about 85,000 people took online courses in the country last year, both at web-based institutions and traditional universities offering Internet teaching.
In high-tech South Korea more than 112,000 students at 19 institutions are taking web-based classes, all of which have begun since 2002.

China embraced the concept of online learning in the late 1990s to expand access to education, particularly in its vast rural regions, and there are now scores of providers, with 1.64 million people enrolled in 2010.

A new type of learning
Online courses are changing the way students learn, educators say, placing less emphasis on the rote learning that has long characterised education in parts of Asia, and harnessing modern consumer technologies.

And “open” universities, which typically offer courses primarily through the Internet, allow anyone to enrol for online programmes regardless of prior qualification or degrees.
At Kuala Lumpur-based Asia e University, students download course materials from an online forum and virtual library. They are in contact with teachers and fellow students mostly through email, online chats, phone and text messages.

Assignments typically include illustrating what they have learned with videos and other presentations made with smartphones, iPads or other devices and uploading them to YouTube.
Academics say such interactive learning helps students engage with the material more than they would sitting passively in a lecture hall, and opens a window to learning through a medium they know and love – the latest gadgets.

“Everyone is a front-row student,” said Ishan Abeywardena, who teaches information technology at Wawasan Open University, based in northern Malaysia.
Students who might be too shy to ask questions or otherwise engage with their class in a traditional setting are much bolder online, Ishan said.

“Can you imagine the iPad, iPod and iPhone generation today, who are going to enter the university say, in 15 years’ time, going for a chalk-and-talk kind of model of learning? You learn by doing,” said Ansary Ahmed, Asia e University’s president.
But even those in favour of online learning admit face-to-face interaction – which can also help keep students motivated and personally engaged – is lost.

Ndongfack, whose web-only institution opened in 2000, said online studies were not easy, leaving him feeling isolated. “There is no one there to give you instant support,” he said.
The growth of online degree programmes is also constrained by poor Internet accessibility in parts of Asia and beyond.

More than 80 percent of South Koreans and 60 percent of Malaysians have online access, but in China the rate slips to about 40 percent and it slumps to around 10 percent in India.
Other criticisms include inadequate regulation, allegations of poor-quality teaching, student cheating, and the fact that online degrees are still not as widely recognised as traditional ones in the marketplace, say industry experts.

But Asia e University’s Ansary says such teething problems will be addressed over time, and in a few decades students will no longer attend just one university but several, picking and choosing from online offerings.

“These are early days,” he said. “The window is just opening.”

Soccer hits the streets of Battambang town

Thursday, 06 September 2012

Dan Riley

 

The jam-packed weekend of football action kicks off in Battambang town tomorrow afternoon as the 2012 SMART Street Football Tournament plays out over three days and six separate youth futsal seasons culminate in finals on a super Sunday of soccer supremacy. Competition organisers SALT Academy will set up two regulation futsal fields on the street near the riverside Naga Fountain to accommodate the contests.

Twenty-two adult teams have registered for the street football event, drawing players from Battambang, Pailin, Siem Reap and even as far as Phnom Penh. Pool games will start from tomorrow’s opening ceremony and continuing until Sunday morning. Quarterfinals and semifinals will bring the total of games to 60.

Sunday afternoon will feature a congested schedule of seven championship games. For the youth futsal competitions, the finals mark the end of a lengthy rainy season leagues.

Forty-one boys sides and 23 girls sides comprising players from 8 to 18 years old participated in weekly fixtures and practised twice a week with their coaches. Teams were bracketed into six age and gender divisions, with an U-11 Girls competition run for the first time.

The futsal season is a shorter version of SALT’s regular annual youth league campaign played on grass fields, which includes life skill lessons and positive community building activities. Last weekend saw exciting semifinal and third place playoff matches held at Battambang Airfield, with several games decided by penalty shootouts.

Organisers expressed their gratitude to main sponsors Smart Mobile for supporting the weekend’s festivities and providing awards for the winners.

---

Sunday’s Youth Futsal Finals
U17 Boys
Jerusalem v CFI

U14 Boys
DCC v Salaa Hope

U11 Boys
Aden v Jerusalem

Big Girls
Chrey v Chher Teal School

U14 Girls
Chrey v CFI

U11 Girls
Rapha v Khasch Poy School

To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Riley at dan.riley@phnompenhpost.com

Sung Bonna: Investing in the future of Cambodia

Thursday, 06 September 2012

Rupert Winchester

 

Sung Bonna is a man with plans. Not content with being one of the most powerful players in Cambodia’s property market, he wants to take his company regional, covering all aspects of the property business.

Talking to Post Property in his bustling offices in BKK1, the genial Bonna is softly-spoken, but his steely-eyed ambition quickly becomes apperent.

Starting from a small office space in 1999 with only a desk and an old motorbike, Bonna is now the president of the National Valuers’ Association of Cambodia and vice president of Real Estate Developers Association of Cambodia.

“At the moment we have business as property investors, developers, management and real estate and property agents and property valuation, so anything related to the property business, we cover. We develop residential, we develop offices, we develop commercial. We do it all,” he says proudly.

Over the years, Bonna has seen ups and downs in Cambodia’s property market, which he blames on inconsistent investment from overseas, which is now changing. “In 2006 and 2007, the investors were mostly Korean and Chinese. The Koreans were the main players. At the moment now things are going in a different direction. The Koreans are very slightly here. Most are Chinese, Vietnamese and Malaysian. Singaporeans and also the Japanese are coming as well at the moment this is a good sign that the Japanese are coming to Cambodia. But foreign investors now make up about 30 per cent of the total transactions, and 70 per cent are Cambodians.”

Bonna says that local investors are starting to look around the country and not just at Phnom Penh. “The local market is divided into two: one is the Cambodians from overseas, the second is Cambodian Cambodians  - the majority being real locals. They are starting to look at the provinces, and the other major cities, like Siem Reap, Sihanoukville, Battambang, and some of the Special Economic Zones near the borders with Siem Reap and Battambang.”

However Bonna says that Phnom Penh is still the best place for serious property investment: “After the crisis of 2008 and 2009 property prices dropped, almost 50 or 60 per cent in some locations across the whole country. In Phnom Penh is just fell by 30 or 40 per cent.”

He says that Phnom Penh has weathered the storm well, and is continuing to prosper. “Phnom Penh reached the bottom early, in 2010, and flattened out and started to be stable until 2011, but in the provinces it still continued to slide down and down until 2011. Those values are still flat, and some provinces are still down a little bit because the demand and supply isn’t there. But in general Phnom Penh is the best, especially in the city centre and areas where the government is,” he says.

“Starting from 2011,” he continues, “the number of transactions increased almost 20-30 per cent, and it makes the prices stable and pick up a little bit: comparing 2011 and now, we’ve just finished the first half of 2012, and year-on-year the number of transactions has almost doubled. But the prices have also increased, about 10 per cent on average. Especially in BKK1 and Daun Penh and along the main commercial boulevards.”

However, Bonna thinks some of the more visible stalled projects that dot the Phnom Penh skyline need to dealt with. “If there is a huge project in the middle of the city which is stuck, it makes other investors feel concerned. Sometimes they don’t think it’s a company’s internal problems, they think maybe its the country that has problems, so they think maybe the economy is not too good.   Sometimes, if possible, the ministry needs to keep an eye of supply and demand, and take care of investors.”

He rejects the idea that Phnom Penh could be facing another property bubble. “I don’t think with residential there will be a bubble, the buyers at this stage are not like the buyers before. The buyers at this stage are more concerned with real demand and real investment, not like the investors in 2006 and 2007,” he says.

With commercial and office space, he is slightly less sanguine. “There is some concern that there could be some oversupply in the future but in terms of the reality, it will be a challenge to stimulate demand … the market will find a solution. In the next three years, it’s not a concern. This is good for the country, it’s good for customers and good for demand, because of the competition.”

Bonna’s plans include listing his company on the Cambodia

Securities Exchange, the country’s nascent stock market. “Now I’m preparing the company, moving it, because it was at first a family company for the first five years, then the next five years it was a local entity, and now we’re aiming to become international so we’re changing a lot of our corporate governance policy, systems and structure, we are changing, and also our accounting and tax and everything, and we hope we’ll be ready by the end of next year or early in 2014.”

I ask him why he thinks listing would be useful for him, and what the company would do with the funds raised. “We are planning to invest in Cambodia. My personal nationalism means I would prefer to develop my country, and I would prefer to invest in this country. We want to expand the brand to cover the whole country, that’s what I’m planning, to be in every province, everywhere there will be a retail office.”

His plans of rolling out the brand nationally are already well underway: “We’ve already started, in Siahanoukville, and in Siem Reap, which is opening this week, and we’ll be in Battambang by the end of this year. We want to expand to make it easy for customers and for investors, so they can just walk in, and it looks like a retail bank.”

But Bonna’s plans extend overseas as well: “We want to jump in to ASEAN as a network, so we’re planning to open branches in ASEAN countries, Next year we’re planning to have one branch somewhere, my thinking is Myanmar, and Laos, and in Vietnam, trying to bring in investors into Cambodia. We want to list to get funds to expand overseas and encourage more investors to Cambodia.”

Bonna feels that this is a good time to invest in the Kingdom. “Cambodia still has a lot of advantages, interesting things, there are only some negative things in terms of its reputation, but its culture and environment has more or less changed a lot, it has developed a lot in terms of the law, regulations. We know that it hasn’t reached the levels that everyone needs yet, but at least it’s changing and there are still positive signs.”

He still feels that more changes are needed before the country becomes truly competitive, however.

“We hope that the government changes more things, especially as we’re preparing to join the ASEAN Free Trade Area, so to be competitive we have to change ourselves more: the most important is the law: regulation and enforcement and culture, so this is important, so I think we still need to change, compared to most other ASEAN countries, we have more potential, and we can attract investors from around the world to Cambodia.”

Bonna says that the country’s recent history has made it harder for it to compete internationally. “Cambodia is very young, in terms of the government, in terms of the private sector, education, experience, business, human resources, things like that, it’s very young. So it’s very hard. We’re not complaining about the government but we are complaining, I suppose, about the history of our country, so everything is difficult and it’s not easy to compete with other ASEAN countries.”

Finally, I bring up the subject of the Bonna Tower, a long-mooted project to build a grand office building in Phnom Penh. “At the moment we don’t have the budget or the funds,” he tells me,  “but this is our dream. As businessmen, if you don’t have a dream you cannot move, we have to build a dream to make ourselves move faster and forward to what we are dreaming, but we hope it will be coming.”

Malaysian Ambassador expresses pride

Friday, 31 August 2012

Post Staff

 

In conjunction with the 55th Anniversary of the National Day of Malaysia, I wish to convey my greetings and best wishes to all Malaysians and to all our colleagues and friends in Cambodia.  The theme for this year’s National Day is “55 Years of Independence: Promises Fulfilled” (55 TahunMerdeka: JanjiDitepati).

On this very special day, I would like to ask all my fellow Malaysians to reflect back and remember our forefathers and those who had sacrificed so much to lay the foundation of our great nation.  The foresight of our leaders who had forged tolerance, understanding, and trust amongst the diverse racial and ethnic groupings, with its multitude of cultures and religious beliefs, has led to a united, harmonious and peaceful society that embraces moderation as a way of life.  The vision of our leaders who had introduced development and relevant economic strategies, has also ensured that Malaysian enjoy better prosperity, education and medical and health care, living in a peaceful, safe and secure environment.

Under the present government, led by  our Honourable Prime Minister, YAB Dato’Sri Najib Bin Tun Abdul Razak, the ‘I Malaysia’ concept was introduced, which is an ongoing nation building programme to emphasise ethnic harmony, national unity and efficient governance.  Various reforms and transformation programs were also introduced, amongst them, the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) which is to rejuvenate a smooth, efficient and clean government, and the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) that would contribute to the growth of Malaysia, and to achieve Malaysia’s vision to be a fully developed nation by 2020.

Since the introduction of the various transformation programs in 2010 Malaysia has increased its per capita income, from US$6,700 to $9,700 in 2011 which is on target to achieve its targetted per capita income of $15,000by the year 2020.  In terms of investment,  the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has increased by 12.3 per cent to RM 33 billion (slightly more than US$ 10 billion), whilst private investment increased by 19 per cent to RM 94 billion (about $30 billion) in 2011, compared to the previous year.

The reforms and transformation programmes have also contributed to Malaysia being recognized as one of the 21 most competitive countries globally in 2012 by the World Economic Forum Report.  The World Bank has also recognized and ranked Malaysia as the 18th country in terms of ease of starting and doing business, ahead of countries like Germany, Japan, Taiwan and France.

As Malaysians, are all very proud of our achievements since independence, with our country enjoying continued peace and stability and its multi ethnic population living harmoniously in unity, enjoying increasing prosperity, better health and education, whilst the country is now recognized as an important member of the global community.

Malaysia is also enjoying strong and friendly relations with Cambodia.  Malaysia has been one of the earliest investors in Cambodia and has invested more than $2.8 billion since the early 1990s and is now the 4th largest investor in Cambodia.  It is now represented very prominently in many sectors, including banking, hotel, telecom, utilities and manufacturing.  Our bilateral trade has grown to $324 million in 2011 compared to $229 million in 2010.  Significantly, Cambodia’s exports to Malaysia increased by 95.5 per cent in 2011, compared to 2010.  This trend is expected to continue to grow this year.  In terms of visitors, about 100,000 Malaysians visited Cambodia in 2011, compared to 84,000 in 2010.  Cambodians visiting Malaysia also increased from 48,000 in 2010 to about 50,000 to 2011.

The contribution of Malaysian businesses to the Cambodian economy has been well recognized by the Cambodian government.  The increase in bilateral trade, investment and people-to-people contact, between Malaysia and Cambodia, both members of ASEAN, augurs well for the success of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) which will come into being in 2015.  In this regard, we wish to congratulate Cambodia for its Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2012 and playing a very significant role in moving forward the realization of this grand vision.  Interestingly, Malaysia will take over the Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2015.  It is the hope of the Malaysian government that Malaysian investors and Malaysians working in Cambodia will continue to contribute to the development and economic progress of this dynamic country, and to assist in enhancing the excellent relations between Malaysia and Cambodia.

On this very auspicious occasion, I take this opportunity to thank the Royal Government of Cambodia, for the assistance and cooperation rendered to the Embassy of Malaysia, and to wish the Government and the people of the Kingdom of Cambodia Great Success, Peace and Prosperity.

Cheating blights our schools

Monday, 27 August 2012

You Sokunpanha

 

 High-school seniors in Cambodia are anxiously awaiting the results of the school-leaving examination they sat just over two weeks ago.

For many, the exam was the culmination of years of hard work and gruelling preparation. How they performed in it is crucial, because it will determine their chance of a place in university, which will, in turn, help or harm their future employment prospects.

Sadly, there was evidence of widespread bribery and cheating during the exam.

Stories have circulated of proctors who set a “quota” – the amount of money raised by those sitting the exam in each room – that had to be paid in return for a blind eye towards blatant acts of plagiarism including copying from “cheat sheets” that were allowed into test centres.

For extra money, some proctors reportedly even offered to write papers on test-takers’ behalf.

That such practices occur at all is unfortunate, though not surprising.

Even the most stringent, well-thought-out proctoring system cannot eliminate cheating. But the most worrying aspect is that the practice of bribery, in exchange for cheating, is now so pervasive that it is accepted as a fact of life and ceases to “feel wrong” or to shock the consciences of those involved.

On one hand, some proctors treat exams as an opportunity to “earn” extra income. On the other, some students simply opt to pay to pass exams instead of studying and preparing for them.

In addition, parents are willing to give their children money to bribe proctors, and a small industry has sprung up to supply test-takers with cheat sheets, often with the claim that questions covered in these cheat sheets will also be on the real exams.

Not all engage in this corrupt practice, but the consequences of tolerating it can be grave.

Students are ill-served by a system that allows an easy pass. Presented with the option of paying for their degree, students have fewer incentives to apply themselves to their studies.

They may fail to gain through schooling the skills and knowledge needed to lead a fulfilling life and become productive, responsible citizens able to contribute to their country’s development.

Furthermore, in a more globalised society, they will find it difficult to compete with the knowledge workers of other countries in the region and the wider world.

I also cannot help but wonder how this experience shapes the moral character of 18-year-old examination candidates.

In addition to being a yardstick for university admission, a high-school degree is a symbol of intellectual accomplishment that is worthy of recognition and praise. That it can be bought and sold so readily may send the wrong signal to young Cambodians that money reigns supreme over honour and respect, and is an acceptable alternative to hard work and real effort.

Surely this is not a lesson we want to leave our children with.

Addressing this issue is not easy, but it is possible. The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport can begin by introducing a zero-tolerance policy towards cheating and bribery during exams.

Proctors who solicit, or accept, bribes should be barred from supervising future exams and be denied promotion.

Depending on the seriousness of their actions, students caught cheating should be required to sit for the examination again, have their grades reduced or given an automatic fail.

At the same time, the education system needs to be reformed to focus more on critical thinking and analytical skills and less on rote learning and exams.

Instead of using examination results as the sole admission criterion, for example, universities should introduce other requirements such as admission essays that challenge students to carefully think about, and articulate, their reasons for wanting a tertiary education.

And these measures should be complemented with longer-term policies aimed at recruiting, training and retaining capable teachers through both an appeal to their sense of public service and reasonable remuneration.

Most important, fixing the problem requires a concerted effort by all of society – students, parents, educators, policymakers – to refuse to take part in a fraudulent practice.

A good sign will be when bribery and cheating, instead of being widely accepted and unquestioned, once again becomes a taboo.

Conscription not for everyone

Friday, 07 September 2012

Stuart White and Phak Seangly

 

In less  than a week, 18-year-old Heng Tina, who has just finished his high-school exam, will take another test that determines whether he’ll get a scholarship to go to technical school, a development that would put him one step closer to his dream of becoming an engineer and designing skyscrapers.

But according to a law passed in 2006, though never meaningfully enforced, Tina should be taking exams of a different sort – such as marksmanship and physical fitness – as a newly minted conscript in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces.

Under the law, which many Cambodians – including Tina – have never heard of, every Cambodian man aged 18 to 23 is obliged to serve in the armed forces for 18 months.

It is something many say would do more harm than good, especially considering penal police director Lieutenant General Mok Chito’s announcement last week that more than 1,200 RCAF soldiers deserted their posts in the first eight months of 2012 alone.

According to the US Central Intelligence Agency’s world fact book, more than 150,000 Cambodian men reach “militarily significant age”, that is, 16 years old, every year, and conscripting every 18-year-old male in the Kingdom would cause a significant spike in the size of the military, despite years-long efforts to trim its size.

“Cambodia is overloaded with a number of soldiers,” said opposition Sam Rainsy lawmaker Son Chhay, who has seen troop counts as high as 200,000 – though he believes the actual number to be closer to 70,000.

Many of the soldiers that were “demobilised” in the past were simply ghost soldiers, he said, names on lists meant to swell a battalion’s payroll so that uncollected pay cheques could be taken by higher-ranking officers, of whom there are also too many.

“The government has to clean house . . . I’ve lost count of the generals.  There are more stars on the shoulders of Cambodian soldiers than there are in the sky,” Chhay said.

And, he added, the military’s already-low pay is responsible for the trend of soldiers moonlighting as security guards for private corporations.

Ho Chantrea, a 29-year-old soldier stationed in Phnom Penh, declined to discuss the particulars of his own pay, but said that many of his friends took outside security jobs to augment their income.

“The salary is not enough,” said Chantrea, adding that he wanted to follow his friends’ example. “I also want to get extra jobs, but not yet.”

The lowest-ranking soldiers, Chantrea said, make only about $50 a month.

Soam Chivoan, who, at age 20, is another would-be draftee, said that given his druthers, he’d stick with the mobile booth he now runs, adding that even if the army paid better, he’d rather stay put.
That low salary, said Chhay, often has adverse effects.

“That’s why you can see soldiers being used by a private company to intimidate people,” Chhay said.

“There are so many abuses being raised by so many soldiers already, so you need soldiers who are qualified … not drunken two- or three-star generals who will set a bad habit for our young soldiers,” he added.

On August 31, police official Mok Chito blamed deserters, who he said often sell their service weapons, for a spike in armed robberies. In May, the military came under fire from rights groups after a soldier fatally shot a 14-year-old in a forced land eviction in Kratie province’s Pro Ma village, and reports of soldiers’ involvement in land evictions are a near weekly occurrence.

Independent political analyst Lao Mong Hay warned that adding more soldiers without significant reforms wasn’t likely to make things any better.

“I think that it’s not good to have a number of young people familiar with using guns, that after a while you let loose without discipline,” he said.

According to Mong Hay, a military that provided conscripts with a set of skills, and options for the future, could be a positive development, but the current system would be unlikely to produce such results.
Furthermore, he said, Cambodia has neither the human nor financial resources for full implementation of  the 2006 law.

Nicolas Agostino, a technical assistant at the rights NGO Adhoc, also expressed concerns that the law would be unevenly enforced, and could have adverse political side effects.

“Those who are more well-off or well-connected would be able to evade conscription,” he said.

Multiple officials in various branches of the Ministry of National Defence, including the ministry’s policy arm, declined to comment on the conscription law.

Press and Quick Reaction Unit spokesman Ek Tha directed questions to Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan, who said he was unfamiliar with the law.

តួនាទី​ព្រះពុទ្ធសាសនា​ក្នុង​ការ​អភិវឌ្ឍ​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា

ដោយ សួន សុផលមុន្នី

2012-09-07

ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​ខ្មែរ​ដែល​ជា​អ្នក​កាន់​សាសនា​ព្រះពុទ្ធ​មាន​រហូត​ទៅ​ ៩៥% ប៉ុន្តែ​អ្នក​ដែល​បដិបត្តិ​តាម​ធម៌​វិន័យ​របស់​ព្រះសម្មាសម្ពុទ្ធ​ភាគ​ច្រើន មាន​តែ​ទៅ​លើ​មនុស្ស​ចាស់ ដែល​ជា​អ្នក​កាន់​សីល។ បញ្ហា​នេះ​បាន​ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​គេ​មាន​ការ​ព្រួយបារម្ភ​ទៅ​លើ​ក្រុម​យុវជន​នៅ​ក្នុង ​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា។

ព្រះពុទ្ធសាសនា​កំពុង​ដើរ​តួនាទី​យ៉ាង​សំខាន់​នៅ​ក្នុង​ការ​អភិវឌ្ឍ​ ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា។ នៅ​ពេល​បច្ចុប្បន្ន​នេះ គេ​សង្កេត​ឃើញ​មាន​ព្រះសង្ឃ​ជាច្រើន​អង្គ កំពុង​ចូល​រួម​ធ្វើ​សកម្មភាព​ជួយ​ដល់​ការ​អភិវឌ្ឍ​នៅ​ ក្នុង​សង្គម​កម្ពុជា តាម​រយៈ​ការ​ចុះ​អប់រំ​ផ្ទាល់​នៅ​តាម​សហគមន៍ និង​បាន​ទេសនា​អប់រំ​ធម៌​វិន័យ និង​សីលធម៌​តាម​ប្រព័ន្ធ​ផ្សព្វផ្សាយ មាន​ដូច​ជា វិទ្យុ ទូរទស្សន៍ ជាដើម។

ព្រះសង្ឃ​ព្រះនាម ទុយ លីណា គង់​នៅ​វត្ត​ពិភិទ្ធារាម មាន​ថេរ​ដីកា​ថា ក្រៅ​ពី​ព្រះអង្គ​បួស​ជា​សង្ឃ​គង់​នៅ​ក្នុង​វត្ត ព្រះអង្គ​បាន​ស្ម័គ្រចិត្ត​ចូល​រួម​ចំណែក​លើ​ការងារ​អភិវឌ្ឍន៍​សង្គម។ ក្នុង​នោះ​ព្រះអង្គ​បាន​ចូល​ប្រឡូក​ក្នុង​ការងារ​សហគមន៍ ទស្សនៈ​សីលធម៌​ព្រះពុទ្ធសាសនា និង​បាន​សម្ដែង​ធម្មទេសនា​តាម​វិទ្យុ។

ព្រះអង្គ​ស្ម័គ្រចិត្ត​ដោយ​បាន​បើក​វគ្គ​បណ្ដុះ​បណ្ដាល និង​ផ្សព្វផ្សាយ​ពី​ផល​ប៉ះពាល់​នៃ​ការ​ប្រើប្រាស់​គ្រឿង​ស្រវឹង ហើយ​និង​ផល​ប៉ះពាល់​នៃ​ការ​ប្រើប្រាស់​អំពើ​ហិង្សា៖ «បើក​វគ្គ​បណ្ដុះ​ បណ្ដាល​លើក​ឡើង​អំពី​ផល​ប៉ះពាល់​នៃ​ការ​ប្រើប្រាស់​គ្រឿង​ស្រវឹង ក៏​ដូច​ជា ដំណោះ​ស្រាយ ការ​ជំរុញ​លើក​ទឹក​ចិត្ត​ដល់​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ និង​យុវជន​ទាំង​អស់​រស់នៅ​ក្នុង​ឃុំ​គោល​ដៅ​ហ្នឹង ឲ្យ​គាត់​មាន​ការ​ភ្ញាក់​រលឹក​យល់​ដឹង​ពី​ផល​ប៉ះពាល់​នៃ​ការ​ប្រើប្រាស់​ គ្រឿង​ស្រវឹង មាន​ការ​បើក​សិក្ខាសាលា អញ្ជើញ​វាគ្មិន​ចូល​រួម ដើម្បី​បកស្រាយ​អំពី​បញ្ហា​ហ្នឹង ហើយ​មាន​ការ​ចូល​រួម​ប្រជុំ​តាម​សហគមន៍ ប្រជុំ​ជាមួយ​ក្រុម​ប្រឹក្សា​ឃុំ​សង្កាត់»។

នៅ​ក្នុង​សកម្មភាព​នេះ ព្រះអង្គ​បាន​ជំរុញ​ឲ្យ​មេឃុំ ចៅសង្កាត់ សមាជិក​ក្រុម​ប្រឹក្សា​ឃុំ​សង្កាត់ មេភូមិ ឲ្យ​មាន​ការ​កោះ​អញ្ជើញ​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​ឲ្យ​បាន​ច្រើន​ចូល​រួម ដើម្បី​ប្រជុំ​ផ្សព្វផ្សាយ​ស្វែង​យល់​ពី​ការងារ​សង្គម ដែល​ជា​បញ្ហា​ប្រឈម​ជាច្រើន​ទៀត នៅ​ក្នុង​សង្គម​កម្ពុជា។ ព្រះអង្គ​បន្ត​ថា នៅ​ពេល​ព្រះអង្គ​និមន្ត​ពី​ខេត្ត​មួយ​ទៅ​ខេត្ត​មួយ តែង​តែ​ឃើញ​នូវ​ទិដ្ឋភាព​នៃ​ការ​ប្រើ​អំពើ​ហិង្សា ដែល​កើត​ចេញ​ដោយ​សារ​ការ​ប្រើប្រាស់​គ្រឿង​ស្រវឹង។ នៅ​ក្នុង​ព្រះពុទ្ធសាសនា ព្រះអង្គ​បាន​សម្ដែង​ធម៌​ផ្ដោត​ទៅ​លើ​ការ​ដឹកនាំ​សត្វ ឲ្យ​រួច​ផុត​ពី​ទុក្ខ​ក៏​ពិត​មែន ប៉ុន្តែ​ទន្ទឹម​គ្នា​នោះ ព្រះអង្គ​បាន​បន្សល់​នូវ​ទ្រឹស្ដី​មួយ​ចំនួន​សម្រាប់​អ្នក​រស់នៅ​ក្នុង​ បច្ចុប្បន្នភាព។

ព្រះអង្គ​បាន​លើក​យក​ទ្រឹស្ដី​មួយ​ដែល​ព្រះសម្មាសម្ពុទ្ធ​សម្ដែង​ទាក់​ ទិន​ទៅ​សីល​ប្រាំ នៅ​ក្នុង​ចំណុច​សីល​ប្រាំ ព្រះអង្គ​ហាម​ការ​បៀតបៀន​អាយុ​ជីវិត​គ្នា ការ​កាប់​សម្លាប់​គ្នា នេះ​ជា​ទ្រឹស្ដី​មួយ​ដែល​ព្រះអង្គ​បាន​សម្ដែង​ទុក សម្រាប់​មនុស្ស​ទាំង​អស់​គ្នា​ដែល​រស់នៅ៖ «នេះ​ជា​ទ្រឹស្ដី​ដែល​ព្រះអង្គ ​សម្ដែង​ចូល​រួម​អភិវឌ្ឍន៍​យ៉ាង​ខ្លាំង នៅ​ក្នុង​សង្គម​ខ្មែរ​នា​ពេល​បច្ចុប្បន្ន​ហ្នឹង។ ពីព្រោះ បើ​សិន​ជា​មនុស្ស​ទាំង​អស់​អនុវត្តន៍ គោរព​តាម​ពាក្យពេចន៍​ទ្រឹស្ដី​របស់​ព្រះអង្គ ដែល​បាន​បន្សល់​ទុក​ហ្នឹង​មក អត់​មាន​ការ​ផឹក​ស្រា អំពើ​ហិង្សា​កើត​ឡើង​ដោយ​សារ​គ្រឿង​ស្រវឹង​ទាំង​អស់»។

អ្នក​សម្រប​សម្រួល​របស់​មជ្ឈមណ្ឌល​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​ដើម្បី​អភិវឌ្ឍន៍ និង​សន្តិភាព (ភីឌីភី) សាខា​ខេត្ត​បាត់ដំបង អ្នកស្រី កែវ ឈូក បាន​ថ្លែង​ថា វិស័យ​ព្រះពុទ្ធសាសនា​កំពុង​មាន​តួនាទី​យ៉ាង​សំខាន់​នៅ​ក្នុង​សង្គម​ កម្ពុជា។ នៅ​តាម​ទីអារាម​ជា​កន្លែង​បណ្ដុះ​ធនធាន​មនុស្ស និង​ជួយ​ដល់​សិស្ស និស្សិត ដើម្បី​ស្នាក់នៅ​រៀន​សូត្រ។ ព្រះពុទ្ធសាសនា​បាន​ជួយ​អភិវឌ្ឍន៍​ផ្នែក​ស្មារតី តាម​រយៈ​ព្រះសង្ឃ​ទេសនា ការ​ផ្សព្វផ្សាយ​នៅ​តាម​វិទ្យុ និង​ទូរទស្សន៍ អំពី​ដំបូន្មាន​ល្អ ដែល​ធ្វើ​អោយ​មនុស្ស​កាត់​បន្ថយ​ហិង្សា ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​មនុស្ស​ចេះ​ស្រឡាញ់​រាប់អាន​គ្នា៖ «ក្រៅ​ពី​ហ្នឹង ព្រះសង្ឃ​បាន​ចូល​រួម​ចំណែក​ក្នុង​ការ​បង្ហាត់​បង្រៀន​អក្សរសាស្ត្រ ជាក់ស្ដែង​ដូច​នៅ​បាត់ដំបង យើង​នេះ មាន​សកលវិទ្យាល័យ​ពុទ្ធិក​ព្រះសីហនុ មិន​ថា​ព្រះ​សង្ឃ​ទេ​ដែល​អាច​បន្ត​ការ​សិក្សា​បាន សូម្បីតែ​និស្សិត​ជា​គ្រហស្ថ​ក៏​អាច​បន្ត​ការ​សិក្សា​បាន ដូច​ថា សាលា​មាន​វិន័យ​បង្ហាត់​បង្រៀន​អក្សរសាស្ត្រ​ច្បាស់​លាស់»។

លោក គឹម ងួន ប្រធាន​ការិយាល័យ​នៃ​មន្ទីរ​ធម្មការ​ខេត្ត​បាត់ដំបង លោក​បាន​មាន​ប្រសាសន៍​ថា ព្រះពុទ្ធសាសនា​កំពុង​ធ្វើ​សកម្មភាព​យ៉ាង​សកម្ម ដើម្បី​ជួយ​ដល់​ការងារ​អភិវឌ្ឍន៍​សង្គម​កម្ពុជា។ ក្នុង​នោះ ព្រះសង្ឃ​បាន​រួម​ចំណែក​យ៉ាង​សំខាន់​ក្នុង​ការ​ផ្សព្វផ្សាយ​ព្រះធម៌ អប់រំ​សីលធម៌​សង្គម តាម​វិទ្យុ ទូរទស្សន៍ និង​នៅ​តាម​សាលារៀន។ នៅ​ពេល​មាន​គ្រោះ​មហន្តរាយ​ដោយ​ទឹក​ជំនន់ ដោយ​ខ្យល់​ព្យុះ គឺ​វត្ត​អារាម​បាន​ជួយ​ជា​ថវិកា ជា​សម្ភារៈ និង​កម្លាំង​កាយ ដើម្បី​ស្ដារ​ហេដ្ឋារចនាសម្ព័ន្ធ​ឡើង​វិញ ក្រោយ​ពី​រង​ការ​ខូច​ខាត៖ «នៅ​ តាម​វត្ត​អារាម ព្រះសង្ឃ​បាន​ជួយ​ការងារ​សង្គម ពិសេស​ជួយ​ដល់​កូន​ចៅ​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​ក្រីក្រ ដែល​អត់​មាន​កន្លែង​ស្នាក់នៅ​រៀន​សូត្រ។ វត្ត​អារាម​បាន​ក្លាយ​ជា​ទីតាំង​យ៉ាង​សំខាន់ សម្រាប់​ជួយ​អោយ​សិស្ស​ស្នាក់​នៅ ដើម្បី​សិក្សា​រៀន​សូត្រ អនាគត​ក្មេង​ក្លាយ​ជា​ធនធាន​មនុស្ស​សម្រាប់​ការ​អភិវឌ្ឍ​សង្គម​ជាតិ​យើង»។

មនុស្ស​ចាស់​ជរា ស្ត្រី​មេម៉ាយ​ក្រីក្រ ព្រះសង្ឃ​បាន​ជួយ​ផ្ដល់​ជា​ម្ហូប​អាហារ ជា​សំលៀកបំពាក់។ ក្រៅពី​នេះ ព្រះសង្ឃ​ជួយ​ដល់​មជ្ឈមណ្ឌល​ផ្ដាច់​គ្រឿង​ញៀន ផ្ដល់​ជា​សម្ភារៈ ម្ហូប​អាហារ និង​ឱវាទ​សម្រាប់​ឲ្យ​អ្នក​ញៀន​ថ្នាំ​ញៀន មាន​ការ​កែប្រែ​តាម​រយៈ​ការ​អប់រំ។ ទន្ទឹម​គ្នា​នេះ ព្រះសង្ឃ​បាន​ចូល​ទៅ​អប់រំ​ទណ្ឌិត​នៅ​តាម​ពន្ធនាគារ។ ទាំង​នេះ សុទ្ធ​តែ​ជា​សកម្មភាព​របស់​ព្រះពុទ្ធសាសនា ដើម្បី​ចូល​រួម​ក្នុង​ការ​អភិវឌ្ឍ​សង្គម។

លោក គឹម ងួន៖ «នៅ​កន្លែង​យើង​នេះ យើង​មាន​មណ្ឌល​វិបស្សនា​នៅ​ទូទាំង​ខេត្ត​បាត់ដំបង មាន​៧​ទីតាំង ជាពិសេស​សកម្មភាព​ខ្លាំង គឺ​នៅ​ខាង​ស្រុក​បាណន់ ទ្រុង​មាន់ ទ្រុង​ទា អា​ហ្នឹង​គឺ​ពុទ្ធបរិស័ទ​ដែល​មាន​វិបត្តិ​ផ្លូវ​ចិត្ត​ចូល​ទៅ​ក្នុង​ហ្នឹង។ យើង​មាន​ឲ្យ​ធ្វើ​វិបស្សនា​កម្មដ្ឋាន​ទៅ​តាម​កម្រិត មាន​កម្រិត​បឋម មធ្យម និង​ឧត្ដម យើង​សិក្សា​រយៈពេល​១០វគ្គ មួយ​វគ្គ​១០​ថ្ងៃ មួយ​វគ្គ​មាន​តាំង​ពី​កុមារ​អី​ក៏​មាន​ដែរ​នៅ​ក្នុង​ហ្នឹង។ យើង​មាន​មណ្ឌល​វិបស្សនា​ដែល​ជា​សកម្មភាព​ជួយ​ខាង​ផ្នែក​ផ្លូវ​ចិត្ត គេ​ហៅ​ថា មណ្ឌល​វិបស្សនា​លទ្ធិកា»។

ក្រៅ​ពី​នេះ ព្រះសង្ឃ​បាន​បើក​អង្គការ​សម្រាប់​ជួយ​កុមារ​កំព្រា។ ព្រះសង្ឃ​បាន​យក​ក្មេងៗ​ទាំង​នោះ ទៅ​ចិញ្ចឹម ដោយ​បាន​បណ្ដុះ​បណ្ដាល​ពួក​គេ​ឲ្យ​រៀន រៀន​អក្សរសាស្ត្រ​ខ្មែរ រៀន​ជំនាញ​កាត់​ដេរ។
ព្រះសង្ឃ​ព្រះនាម ទុយ លីណា គង់​នៅ​វត្ត​ពិភិទ្ធារាម បាន​ថេរ​ដីកា​ថា នៅ​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា មាន​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​ខ្មែរ​៩៤​ទៅ​៩៥% ជា​អ្នក​កាន់​ព្រះពុទ្ធសាសនា ប៉ុន្តែ​មាន​អ្នក​បដិបត្តិ​តាម​ធម៌​ព្រះពុទ្ធ​មាន​តិចតួច​ណាស់។ ក្រុម​យុវជន​នៅ​កម្ពុជា ពុំ​បាន​ខិតខំ​ប្រឹងប្រែង​រៀន​សូត្រ​ទេ បញ្ហា​នេះ​គឺ​ជា​ការងារ​រួម​ទាំង​អស់​គ្នា ទាំង​វិស័យ​ព្រះពុទ្ធសាសនា និង​អាណាចក្រ ដែល​ចូល​រួម​អប់រំ​ទប់ស្កាត់៖ «នៅ​ក្នុង​សង្គម​ខ្មែរ​យើង​ នា​ពេល​បច្ចុប្បន្ន យុវជន​អត់​សូវ​ចំណាប់​អារម្មណ៍​ទៅ​លើ​ការ​សិក្សា​រៀន​សូត្រ​អី​ប៉ុន្មាន​ទេ គ្រាន់​សប្បាយ​ច្រើន គាត់​មិន​ទាន់​មាន​វ័យ​អី​គ្រប់គ្រាន់​ផង គាត់​មាន​ស្នេហា​អ៊ីចឹង​ទៅ ជា​បញ្ហា​មួយ​ដែល​ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​បាត់​បង់​នូវ​ធនធាន​មនុស្ស។ បញ្ហា​ដ៏​សំខាន់​មួយ​ទៀត គឺ​យុវជន​តែង​តែ​ផឹក​នូវ​គ្រឿង​ស្រវឹង​ដែល​បញ្ហា​ហ្នឹង​កើត​ឡើង​ដោយ​សារ​ការ ​ផ្សព្វផ្សាយ​ពាណិជ្ជកម្ម​នៃ​គ្រឿង​ស្រវឹង ហើយ​ជំរុញ​ឲ្យ​យុវជន​ហ្នឹង​អ្ហែង ផឹក​នូវ​គ្រឿង​ស្រវឹង ហើយ​ជាពិសេស​នៅ​ក្នុង​ស្រុក​ខ្មែរ ស្នើ​គ្រប់​ទីកន្លែង​ទាំង​អស់ គ្រប់​ផ្ទាំង​ប៉ាណូ​ទាក់​ទង​ទៅ​នឹង​ផ្លាក​យីហោ​គ្រឿង​ស្រវឹង​មាន​គ្រប់​ ទីកន្លែង​ទាំង​អស់»។

ព្រះអង្គ​បន្ត​ថា កម្ពុជា​មាន​យុវជន​៣០% ក្នុង​ចំណោម​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​ប្រហែល​១៥​លាន​នាក់។ កម្ពុជា ជា​ប្រទេស​មួយ​ដែល​សម្បូរ​ទៅ​ដោយ​កម្លាំង​ពលកម្ម ដែល​ពួក​អ្នក​វិនិយោគទុន​ក្រៅ​ប្រទេស​សម្លឹង​ឃើញ​ថា អាច​ដាក់​ទុន​ទៅ​បាន ព្រោះ​មាន​កម្លាំង​ពលកម្ម ប៉ុន្តែ​ផ្ទុយ​ទៅ​វិញ គេ​មាន​ការ​បារម្ភ​ពី​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា ដោយ​គេ​យល់​ថា កម្ពុជា​ទៅ​អនាគត​ពុំ​មាន​ធនធាន​មនុស្ស ដោយ​សារ​យុវជន​ខ្មែរ​ពុល​ទៅ​នឹង​គ្រឿង​ស្រវឹង៕

អ្នក​វិភាគ៖ វិស័យ​ការទូត​កម្ពុជា​កំពុង​ធ្លាក់​ចុះ​យ៉ាង​ខ្លាំង

ដោយ តាំង សារ៉ាដា

2012-09-08

ក្រុម​អ្នក​វិភាគ​ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា ក្នុង​រយៈពេល​ចុង​ក្រោយ​នេះ វិស័យ​ការទូត​របស់​កម្ពុជា កំពុង​ធ្លាក់​ចុះ​យ៉ាង​ខ្លាំង ដោយ​ការ​ប្រើ​ពាក្យ​សម្ដី​មិន​សូវ​សមរម្យ​ក្នុង​កិច្ចការ​តស៊ូ​ផ្នែក​ការទូត ជាមួយ​បណ្ដា​ប្រទេស​ផ្សេងៗ។

លោក​បណ្ឌិត ឡៅ ម៉ុងហៃ អ្នក​វិភាគ​ឯករាជ្យ​បាន​វាយ​តម្លៃ​ថា មន្ត្រី​ការទូត​របស់​ខ្មែរ​ភាគ​ច្រើន មិន​សូវ​មាន​វិជ្ជាជីវៈ​ខ្ពស់​សម្រាប់​ការ​តស៊ូ​ផ្នែក​កិច្ចការ​បរទេស​ទេ។ លោក​ថា ប្រសិន​បើ​កម្ពុជា​មិន​មាន​ភាព​ចាស់​ទុំ​ក្នុង​ការ​ធ្វើ​នយោបាយ​ការ​បរទេស​ ជាមួយ​បណ្ដា​ប្រទេស​ផ្សេងៗ​ទេ នោះ​កម្ពុជា​អាច​ខាត​បង់​ការ​គាំទ្រ​ដ៏​សម្បើម​ពី​ឆាក​អន្តរជាតិ។

កាល​ពី​ដើម​ខែ​សីហា កន្លង​ទៅ ឯកអគ្គ​រាជទូត​ខ្មែរ​ប្រចាំ​ប្រទេស​ហ្វីលីពីន លោក ហើស សេរីធន បាន​ប្រើ​ពាក្យ​ថា ប្រទេស​ហ្វីលីពីន និង​វៀតណាម បាន​ប្រើ​នយោបាយ​កខ្វក់​ក្នុង​ការ​ជំរុញ​ឲ្យ​កម្ពុជា​ប្រឈម​មុខ​ក្នុង​ ជម្លោះ​សមុទ្រ​ចិន​ខាង​ត្បូង។

ការ​ចេញ​លិខិត​ការទូត​របស់​តំណាង​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​កម្ពុជា នៅ​ក្រៅ​ប្រទេស តិះ​ដៀល​ក្រុម​អ្នក​រិះគន់ ឬ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​នៃ​ប្រទេស​ផ្សេងៗ​នេះ មិន​មែន​ជា​លើក​ទីមួយ​នោះ​ទេ។ កាល​ពី​ថ្ងៃ​ទី​៣០ ខែ​មេសា កន្លង​ទៅ លោក ហោ ណាំបូរ៉ា ឯកអគ្គ​រាជទូត​ខ្មែរ​ប្រចាំ​ប្រទេស​អង់គ្លេស បាន​ប្រតិកម្ម​ទៅ​នឹង​អង្គការ​ឃ្លាំ​មើល​ពិភពលោក (Global Witness) ថា ប្រើ​ល្បិច​អន់​ថយ​បែប​វិកលចរិត ក្នុង​ការ​សរសេរ​របាយការណ៍​ថោកទាប​ដូច​សំរាម ចោទ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​កម្ពុជា ថា​បាន​ទទួល​សំណូក​ចំនួន​២៨​លាន​ដុល្លារ​សហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក ពី​ក្រុមហ៊ុន​ប្រេង​របស់​បារាំង​មួយ​ឈ្មោះ​តូតាល់ (Total) ជា​ថ្នូរ​ទៅ​នឹង​ការ​ទទួល​បាន​អាជ្ញាប័ណ្ណ​រុករក​ប្រេង​នៅ​កម្ពុជា។

លោក​បណ្ឌិត ឡៅ ម៉ុងហៃ បាន​អំពាវនាវ​ឲ្យ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​កម្ពុជា បើក​វគ្គ​បណ្ដុះ​បណ្ដាល​វិជ្ជាជីវៈ​កិច្ចការ​បរទេស​បន្ថែម​ដល់​គ្រប់​ឯកអគ្គ ​រាជទូត ដើម្បី​ឲ្យ​ពួក​គេ​មាន​លទ្ធភាព​ធ្វើ​កិច្ចការ​ទំនាក់​ទំនង​កាន់​តែ​ប្រសើរ​ សម្រាប់​កម្ពុជា។

ជាមួយ​គ្នា​នេះ​ផង​ដែរ លោក​បណ្ឌិត ឡៅ ម៉ុងហៃ ក៏​បាន​កោត​សរសើរ​ដល់​កិច្ចការ​ការទូត​របស់​ខ្មែរ​ប្រចាំ​ក្រុង​វ៉ាស៊ីនតោន (Washington) និង​ក្រុង​ប៉ារីស (Paris) ថា​មាន​ភាព​ចាស់​ទុំ​ច្រើន និង​មាន​ប្រជាប្រិយភាព​ក្នុង​សហគមន៍​ខ្មែរ។

ក្រុម​អ្នក​ឃ្លាំ​មើល​ខ្លះ​បាន​ប្រៀបធៀប​សីលធម៌ ក្នុង​ការ​និយាយ​ស្តី​របស់​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​ទៅ​នឹង​សីលធម៌​នៃ​សង្គម​គ្រួសារ​តូច​ មួយ។ ជា​ធម្មតា កាល​ណា​អាណាព្យាបាល​តែង​ប្រើ​ពាក្យ​មិន​គប្បី​ទៅ​លើ​កូន​ចៅ ឬ​ឲ្យ​ពួក​គេ​ឮ​ពាក្យ​ទាំង​នោះ វា​អាច​នាំ​ឲ្យ​ពួក​គេ​ចេះ​ប្រើ​ពាក្យ​មិន​គប្បី​ដូច​គ្នា ពេល​គេ​ធំ​ដឹង​ក្តី។ យ៉ាង​ណា​វិញ រដ្ឋាភិបាល​ក៏​ដូច​គ្នា​អ៊ីចឹង​ដែរ។ ក្រុម​អ្នក​រិះគន់​និយាយ​ថា ប្រសិន​បើ​ប្រមុខ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​ចូល​ចិត្ត​ប្រើ​ពាក្យ​មិន​ល្អ​នោះ ក្រុម​មន្ត្រី​ថ្នាក់​តូច ក៏​ចូល​ចិត្ត​ប្រើ​ពាក្យ​ទាំង​នោះ​ដែរ។

ចំណែក​លោក កែម ឡី អ្នក​វិភាគ​អំពី​ស្ថានការណ៍​សង្គម​វិញ បាន​វាយ​តម្លៃ​ថា ក្រុម​អ្នក​ការទូត អ្នក​បច្ចេកទេស និង​អ្នក​នយោបាយ​ខ្លះ ហាក់​ប្រើ​ពាក្យពេចន៍​តែ​មួយ ឲ្យ​តែ​ចំណេញ​នយោបាយ​ក្នុង​ប្រទេស ជា​ជាង​នយោបាយ​ក្រៅ​ប្រទេស។ លោក​បញ្ជាក់​ថា មន្ត្រី​ការទូត​ខ្មែរ​ភាគ​ច្រើន ខ្វះ​ការ​វិភាគ​លើ​ពាក្យពេចន៍​ដែល​ត្រូវ​ប្រើ ឬ​មិន​ត្រូវ​ប្រើ។

លោក កែម ឡី សង្កេត​ឃើញ​ថា ប្រទេស​ថៃ​កន្លង​មក​បាន​ប្រើ​ភាសា​ការទូត​ប្រកប​ដោយ​វិជ្ជាជីវៈ​ច្រើន​ជាង​ កម្ពុជា បើ​ទោះ​បី​ថៃ​ស្ថិត​ក្នុង​កាលៈទេសៈ​សង្គ្រាម​ជាមួយ​កម្ពុជា​ក៏ដោយ។ រហូត​មក​ទល់​ពេល​នេះ គេ​នៅ​មិន​ទាន់​ឃើញ​មាន​មន្ត្រី​ការទូត​ខ្មែរ​ណា​មួយ អាច​ឆ្លើយ​តប​ទៅ​នឹង​ការ​រិះគន់​របស់​ក្រុម​អ្នក​វិភាគ​ទាំង​នេះ​នៅ​ឡើយ។

ប៉ុន្តែ លោក ផៃ ស៊ីផាន អ្នក​នាំ​ពាក្យ​នៃ​ទីស្ដីការ​គណៈរដ្ឋមន្ត្រី បាន​ទទួល​ស្គាល់​ថា ពាក្យ​ការទូត​របស់​ខ្មែរ​ពិត​ជា​មាន​លក្ខណៈ​គ្រោតគ្រាត​បន្តិច​មែន ប៉ុន្តែ​កម្ពុជា​ក៏​បាន​ទទួល​រង​ការ​ប្រមាថ និង​វាយ​ប្រហារ​យ៉ាង​ខ្លាំង​ខុស​ពី​ការ​ពិត។ លោក​បន្ត​ថា ប្រធានាធិបតី​សហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក​កន្លង​មក ធ្លាប់​ប្រើ​ពាក្យ​មិន​គប្បី​ជាង​កម្ពុជា​ទៅ​ទៀត។

លោក គុជ ចាន់លី អ្នក​តាម​ដាន​នយោបាយ​របស់​ខ្មែរ​ប្រចាំ​រដ្ឋ​ម៉ារីឡេន (Maryland) សហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក និយាយ​ថា ភាសា​របស់​អ្នក​ការទូត ត្រូវ​មាន​លក្ខណៈ​ខុស​គ្នា​ពី​ភាសា​អ្នក​នយោបាយ​ក្នុង​ស្រុក។ ភាសា​របស់​អ្នក​ការទូត គឺ​ជា​ភាសា​ដែល​តំណាង​ឲ្យ​មុខ​មាត់​របស់​ប្រជាជាតិ​ទាំង​មូល រីឯ​ភាសា​អ្នក​នយោបាយ​ក្នុង​ស្រុក គឺ​ជា​ភាសា​ដែល​និយាយ ដើម្បី​កេង​យក​ប្រជាប្រិយភាព​របស់​ខ្លួន​ប៉ុណ្ណោះ៕

Party over for Cambodia's daytime discos

Thursday, 06 September 2012

Mom Kunthear

 

 

The Ministry of Tourism has issued a nationwide directive to stop clubs and discos from operating in daylight hours because of the huge number of social problems associated with irregular partying hours.

During a Phnom Penh Municipal Hall meeting on Monday, Governor Kep Chuktema issued his own enforcement directive that any clubs or discos opening during the day will be immediately shut down by City Hall.

Phnom Penh Municipal Hall spokesman Long Dymang said that Chuktema was responding to the Ministry of Tourism directive on Monday when he ordered police, military police and other officials in all districts to ensure that clubs and discos open no earlier than 6pm.

“Most people who go to nightclubs or discos in the daytime are secondary and high school students, and some also are university students,” Dymang pointed out.

The venues’ practice of opening during the day caused students to cut class and encouraged general social disorder, he said.

“I don’t know which district has the most discos, but Daun Penh has many discos open during the day,” he added.

Tourism industry department director Prak Chandara confirmed yesterday that his ministry had recently issued a directive calling for the daytime closure of clubs and discos across the country.

“The directive is in the process of nationwide implementation. There are a lot of problems involved with this case,” he said, declining to comment further.

Ministry of Tourism officials told the Post in June that there were 376 karaoke parlours, 79 discos, 187 massage parlours and 97 beer gardens in the country.

ឱកាស​បន្ត​ការ​សិក្សា​នៅ​ក្រៅ​ប្រទេស

ដោយ អាន ស៊ីថាវ

2012-09-05

គុណភាព​អប់រំ​នៅ​តាម​សកលវិទ្យាល័យ​មួយ​ចំនួន​នៅ​មាន​កម្រិត ភាព​មាន​ការងារ​ធ្វើ​ក៏​មាន​តិច​តួច រួម​ទាំង​អាហារូបករណ៍​ទៅ​បរទេស​ក៏​នៅ​មាន​កម្រិត​នៅ​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា បាន​បង្ខំ​ឲ្យ​សិស្សានុសិស្ស ជាពិសេស ក្រុម​គ្រួសារ​មាន​ជីវភាព​ធូរធារ ចាប់​យក​ការ​សិក្សា​នៅ​សកលវិទ្យាល័យ​ឯកជន​នៅ​ក្រៅ​ប្រទេស។

បច្ចុប្បន្ន មាន​ចំនួន​យុវជន​ជា​ច្រើន បាន​រក​ឱកាស​សិក្សា​នៅ​ក្រៅ​ប្រទេស ដែល​មាន​ភាព​ប្រកួត​ប្រជែង​ខ្ពស់ ដើម្បី​ធានា​ភាព​មាន​ការងារ​ធ្វើ​ពេល​បញ្ចប់​ការ​សិក្សា។

អ្នក​វិភាគ​សេដ្ឋកិច្ច បាន​អះអាង​ថា ការ​បង្កើត​ការងារ​រៀងរាល់​ឆ្នាំ​មាន​ចន្លោះ​ពី​៤ម៉ឺន​ទៅ​៥ម៉ឺន​នាក់ ប៉ុន្តែ អ្នក​ដែល​ត្រូវ​ការ​ការងារ​ធ្វើ ឬ​តម្រូវ​ការ​ទីផ្សារ​ការងារ​វិញ មាន​ចំនួន​ប្រមាណ​ពី​២០ម៉ឺន​ទៅ​៣០ម៉ឺន​នាក់។ មូលហេតុ​នេះ ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​មាន​ភាព​គ្មាន​ការងារ​ធ្វើ​កើន​ឡើង ដែល​ជា​ក្ដី​កង្វល់​របស់​យុវជន ជាពិសេស យុវជន​ដែល​ទើប​ចប់​ថ្នាក់​ទី​១២ ឬ​មធ្យម​សិក្សា​ទុតិយភូមិ។

ទោះ​ជា​យ៉ាង​ណា​ក៏​ដោយ កត្តា​សេដ្ឋកិច្ច ភាព​ខ្វះខាត​ការងារ​បច្ចុប្បន្ន និង​ភាព​មិន​ស៊ី​សង្វាក់​គ្នា​ក្នុង​ទីផ្សារ​ការងារ អាច​ជះ​ឥទ្ធិពល​ដល់​ការ​អប់រំ​នៅ​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា កាន់​តែ​អន់​ថយ ហើយ​ជះ​ឥទ្ធិពល​ដល់​ភាព​អត់​ការងារ​កាន់​តែ​កើន​ឡើង​ដែរ ក្នុង​ចំណោម​យុវជន​ដែល​ពេញ​កម្លាំង​ធ្វើ​ការ។
សិស្សានុសិស្ស​ជា​ច្រើន កំពុង​ប្រឹងប្រែង​រក​ឱកាស​បន្ត​ការ​សិក្សា​នៅ​សកលវិទ្យាល័យ​មួយ​ចំនួន ទាំង​ក្នុង និង​ក្រៅ​ប្រទេស។ យ៉ាង​ណា​ក៏​ដោយ ការ​ចាប់​យក​ឱកាស​សិក្សា​នៅ​ក្រៅ​ប្រទេស ជា​កត្តា​សំខាន់​សម្រាប់​ធានា ឬ​មាន​ភាព​ប្រកួត​ប្រជែង ដែល​ក្រុម​យុវជន​ភាគ​ច្រើន​បាន​ឲ្យ​តម្លៃ​ការ​សិក្សា​នៅ​បរទេស​មាន​គុណភាព​ ល្អ​ជាង​នៅ​ក្នុង​ប្រទេស។

អ្នក​វិភាគ​វិស័យ​អប់រំ លោក​សាស្ត្រាចារ្យ សាត ដារ៉ា មាន​ប្រសាសន៍​បង្ហាញ​អំពី​បទ​ពិសោធន៍ នៃ​ការ​សិក្សា​នៅ​សកលវិទ្យាល័យ​បរទេស​មួយ​ចំនួន​ថា ការ​អប់រំ​នៅ​បរទេស តម្រូវ​ការ​ទីផ្សារ​ការងារ​គឺ​បាន​បង្ហាញ​ជា​សាធារណៈ ឬ​ចំពោះ​សកលវិទ្យាល័យ អំពី​ចំនួន​តម្រូវ​ការ និង​ការ​ផ្គត់ផ្គង់​នៅ​ពេល​បច្ចុប្បន្ន ប៉ុន្តែ នៅ​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា ចំនួន​អ្នក​ដែល​សិក្សា​លើ​ជំនាញ​គ្រប់គ្រង មាន​បរិមាណ​ច្រើន​ជាង​តម្រូវ​ការ​ទីផ្សារ​ការងារ។

លោក​មាន​ប្រសាសន៍​បន្ត​ថា កត្តា​នេះ​គឺ​ទាមទារ​ឲ្យ​គ្រឹះស្ថាន​អប់រំ សហការ​គ្នា​ជាមួយ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល ក្នុង​ការ​ផ្សារភ្ជាប់​ទីផ្សារ​ពលកម្ម និង​ទីផ្សារ​ការងារ។ លោក​អង្កេត​ឃើញ​ថា ក្នុង​ចំណោម​យុវជន​ដែល​បញ្ចប់​ពី​សកលវិទ្យាល័យ មិន​បាន​ធានា​ថា ខ្លួន​មាន​ជំនាញ​ពិត​ប្រាកដ​នៅ​ឡើយ។
លោក​សាស្ត្រាចារ្យ សាត ដារ៉ា៖ «នៅ​ពេល​ដែល​គាត់​រៀន​ជំនាញ​គ្រប់គ្រង​ ទៅ​ចុះ ហើយ​នៅ​ស្រុក​ខ្មែរ​យើង អ្នក​ដែល​ចប់​ជំនាញ​គ្រប់គ្រង​ខ្សត់​ការងារ​ជាង​គេ។ ក៏ប៉ុន្តែ ពាក្យ​ថា​ខ្សត់​ការងារ​ហ្នឹង គឺ​ដោយ​សារ​តែ​គាត់​ចេះ​តែ​គ្រប់គ្រង តែ​គាត់​អត់​ចេះ​ធ្វើ​ការ​គ្រប់គ្រង។ ខ្ញុំ​មាន​ហាង​មួយ​អ៊ីចឹង នៅ​ពេល​ដែល​គាត់​ចូល​មក​ធ្វើ​ការ ខ្ញុំ​ចង់​ឲ្យ​គាត់​ធ្វើ​ការ​ជំនាញ​គ្រប់គ្រង តែ​គាត់​ឆ្លើយ​ថា គាត់​អត់​ដឹង​ធ្វើ​ម៉េច​ផង ព្រោះ​អី​គាត់​អត់​ទាន់​មាន​បទ​ពិសោធន៍ ទាល់​តែ​ប្រើ​គាត់​សិន។ ពី​ព្រោះ​អី​យើង​ត្រូវ​ចំណាយ​ពេល​យូរ​ប្រើ​គាត់ ហើយ​ប្រាក់​បៀវត្ស​របស់​គាត់​ចំណាយ​ច្រើន ហើយ​ជួន​កាល​គេ​អត់​ប្រើ​ទៀត​ផង»។

ទោះ​ជា​យ៉ាង​ណា​ក៏​ដោយ យុវជន​ជាច្រើន​បាន​បង្ហាញ​ពី​ភាព​ជឿជាក់​លើ​គុណភាព​អប់រំ​នៅ​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា ថា នៅ​មាន​កម្រិត​តិច​តួច​នៅ​ឡើយ ដែល​អាច​ទទួល​បាន​ការងារ​ច្បាស់លាស់​នៅ​ពេល​បញ្ចប់​ការ​សិក្សា។

បញ្ហា​ប្រឈម​ដទៃ​ទៀត នៃ​ការ​ជំរុញ​ឲ្យ​យុវជន​ស្វែង​រក​ការ​សិក្សា​នៅ​បរទេស មាន​ដូច​ជា គុណភាព​អន់​នៃ​ការ​អប់រំ សមត្ថភាព​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​មាន​កម្រិត​ទាប​នៅ​ថ្នាក់​ឧត្ដម​សិក្សា ភាព​មិន​ស៊ី​គ្នា​រវាង​ការ​ផ្គត់ផ្គង់ និង​កម្លាំង​ពលកម្ម​ផលិតភាព​ទាប នៃ​កម្លាំង​ពលកម្ម និង​កង្វះ​ទាំង​ជំនាញ​ផ្នែក​បច្ចេកទេស និង​ខាង​វិទ្យាសាស្ត្រ​សង្គម​ជា​ដើម។

មូលហេតុ​នេះ យុវជន​ជាច្រើន​បាន​ប្រឹង​រក​អាហារូបករណ៍​សិក្សា​នៅ​ក្រៅ​ប្រទេស ប៉ុន្តែ​ចំនួន​នេះ​មាន​តិច​តួច​នៅ​ឡើយ ដែល​មិន​អាច​ស្រូប​យក​ចំនួន​សិស្ស​ដែល​មាន​តម្រូវ​ការ។ ដូច​ច្នេះ យុវជន​ប្រឹង​ស្វែង​រក​ការ​សិក្សា​នៅ​តាម​សកលវិទ្យាល័យ​ឯកជន​នានា នៅ​តំបន់​អាស៊ី និង​អឺរ៉ុប។

នាយក​ក្រុមហ៊ុន​បញ្ជូន​សិស្ស​ទៅ​សិក្សា​នៅ​បរទេស លោក គឹម ឡាយ បាន​ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា រហូត​ដល់​ពេល​នេះ មាន​ការ​សហការ​គ្នា​រវាង​គ្រឹះស្ថាន​អប់រំ​បរទេស​ជាមួយ​ក្រុមហ៊ុន​ក្នុង​ ស្រុក ក្នុង​ការ​ស្វែង​រក​សិស្ស​បន្ត​ការ​សិក្សា​នៅ​បរទេស​ដោយ​បង់​ថ្លៃ មាន​និន្នាការ​កើន​ឡើង។ ប៉ុន្តែ បរិមាណ​សិស្ស​ដែល​ទៅ​សិក្សា​ក៏​នៅ​មាន​ចំនួន​តិច​តួច​នៅ​ឡើយ។
លោក​មាន​ប្រសាសន៍​បន្ត​ថា នៅ​អាស៊ី​មាន​ប្រទេស​វៀតណាម និង​ម៉ាឡេស៊ី ដែល​យុវជន​កម្ពុជា​ជាច្រើន បន្ត​ការ​សិក្សា​ដោយ​បង់​ថ្លៃ​នៅ​ទី​នោះ។

លោក គឹម ឡាយ៖ «ម៉ាឡេស៊ី ច្រើន តម្លៃ​វា​ថោក ហើយ​វៀតណាម សាលា​គេ​មក​ទាក់​ទង​យើង​តែ​ម្ដង និង​សាលា​ស្រួល​រក។ យើង​មាន​វែបសាយ គេ​ឃើញ​ហើយ​គេ​ថា ឲ្យ​បញ្ជូន​មក​គេ​មក»។
លោក គឹម ឡាយ បន្ថែម​ថា បើ​ទោះ​ជា​ការ​បង់​ថ្លៃ ប៉ុន្តែ​យុវជន​ដែល​មាន​បំណង​បន្ត​ការ​សិក្សា ត្រូវ​មាន​កម្រិត​យល់​ដឹង​ភាសា​អង់គ្លេស​ទៅ​តាម​ការ​ចង់​បាន​របស់​ គ្រឹះស្ថាន​អប់រំ​ណា​មួយ​នោះ ដោយ​លោក​បញ្ជាក់​ទៀត​ថា ការ​បន្ត​ការ​សិក្សា​នៅ​បរទេស​ដោយ​បង់​ថ្លៃ មាន​យុវជន​ជាច្រើន​បាន​ដាក់​ពាក្យ​ស្នើ​សុំ​ដោយ​ខ្លួន​ផ្ទាល់ ព្រោះ​ថា​យុវជន​ទាំង​នោះ​មាន​ការ​យល់​ដឹង​ខ្ពស់​អំពី​បែប​បទ នៃ​ការ​ដាក់​ស្នើ​សុំ​ទាំង​នោះ ដែល​តាម​ការ​ប៉ាន់ស្មាន​មាន​ប្រមាណ​ជាង​៤០%។

លោក គឹម ឡាយ៖ «សិស្ស​ឥឡូវ គេ​យល់​ដឹង​ច្រើន ទី​មួយ គេ​ដឹង​តាម​ឯកសារ តាម​ស្ថានទូត ហើយ​គ្រួសារ​គេ​មាន​លទ្ធភាព​ទៅ គេ​ដាក់​ពាក្យ​ដោយ​ខ្លួន​គេ ប្រហែល​ជា​៤០% ហើយ​គេ​ពឹង​ការិយាល័យ​នោះ​៦០%»។

លោក​បន្ថែម​ទៀត​ថា តម្លៃ​ការ​សិក្សា​នៅ​ថ្នាក់​ឧត្ដម​សិក្សា​នៅ​ប្រទេស​សិង្ហបុរី មាន​ចំនួន​ជា​មធ្យម ១ម៉ឺន​៧ពាន់​ដុល្លារ ក្នុង​មួយ​ឆ្នាំ និង​ការ​សិក្សា​នៅ​ប្រទេស​ម៉ាឡេស៊ី មាន​ចន្លោះ​ពី​៣ពាន់​ទៅ​៤ពាន់​ដុល្លារ​អាមេរិក ក្នុង​មួយ​ឆ្នាំ។

ទោះ​ជា​យ៉ាង​ណា​ក៏​ដោយ យុវជន​អាច​ស្វែង​យល់​អំពី​ការ​សុំ​សំណុំ​បែបបទ​នៃ​ការ​ចូល​រៀន​នៅ​ សកលវិទ្យាល័យ​បរទេស​មួយ​ចំនួន និង​អំពី​លក្ខខ័ណ្ឌ​ទាំង​ឡាយ​ដែល​តម្រូវ​ឲ្យ​បេក្ខជន​ត្រូវ​បំពេញ​តាម​រយៈ​ គេហទំព័រ​របស់​សកលវិទ្យាល័យ​នោះ​ដោយ​ផ្ទាល់​ផង​ដែរ៕

Government Report $25M From Rents in Six Months

Villagers Told Eviction Is for Obama's Safety

The world is running out of water

02 September 2012 Issue No:237

Humans may have to switch almost completely to a vegetarian diet over the next 40 years to avoid catastrophic shortages of water, according to a report by the Stockholm International Water Institute.

''There will not be enough water available on current croplands to produce food for the expected nine billion population in 2050 if we follow current trends and changes towards diets common in Western nations,'' the report says.

Prepared by Malin Falkenmark and colleagues at the institute, the report says there will be just enough water if the proportion of animal-based foods is limited to 5% of total calories. It says considerable regional water deficits could be met by a reliable system of food trade between countries with surpluses and deficits.

The report says adopting a vegetarian diet is one option to increase the amount of water available to grow more food in a climate-erratic world. Animal protein-rich food consumes five to 10 times more water than a vegetarian diet, yet a third of the world's arable land is used to grow crops to feed animals.

''Nine hundred million people already go hungry and 2 billion people are malnourished in spite of the fact that per capita food production continues to increase. With 70% of all available water being in agriculture, growing more food to feed an additional 2 billion people by 2050 will place greater pressure on available water and land.''

The report was released to coincide with the start of the annual world water conference in Stockholm, where 2,500 politicians, UN bodies, non-governmental organisations and researchers from 120 countries were meeting to tackle water supply problems.

Competition for water between food production and other uses will intensify pressure on essential resources, the institute report states. ''The UN predicts that we must increase food production by 70% by mid-century. This will place additional pressure on our already stressed water resources.''

The institute also notes that research into water is growing faster than the average 4% annual growth rate for all research disciplines. In a report, The Water and Food Nexus: Trends and development of the research landscape, institute staff analysed the major trends in water- and food-related article output at international, national and institutional levels.

Global publisher Elsevier and the institute collaborated in preparing the report, which is based on the analysis of Scopus citation data by Elsevier’s SciVal Analytics team. It says the growing discrepancy between supply and demand for water is becoming more challenging each year but developments in water research have the potential to help solve the issue.

The report examines the dynamics of global water research between 2007 and 2011, focusing on two strands of research: water resources research, referring to natural and social science studies on water use, and food and water research focusing on the study of water consumption and recycling to produce food.

Water research has expanded rapidly, with both strands growing above the 4% average for all other disciplines. Water resources research is growing at a rate of 9.2% per year while research into food and water is growing by 4.7% each year.

Research is also becoming more collaborative and interdisciplinary, with a dramatic rise in publications from the fields of computer science and mathematics in water resource research; research from fields within the social sciences have become the fastest growing fields in the food and water research strand, the report states.

Research output is the highest in the United States in both water resources and food and water research, but growth between 2007 and 2011 was low.

On the other hand, China is experiencing ongoing growth in water research output and, if its trajectory continues, it could be the leading producer of water research within the next few years. Other countries experiencing high growth rates in both water resources and food and water research include Malaysia and Iran.

Increasing internationalisation in PhD education

Jan Petter Myklebust and Jacquie Withers02 September 2012 Issue No:237

 

 A recent survey suggests that Norway boost its efforts to internationalise PhD education and includes the recommendation that for PhD dissertation evaluation, at least one member of the three-member committee should be drawn from outside Norway.

A June report, PhD Education in a Knowledge Society: An evaluation of PhD education in Norway, maintains that Norway’s PhD education system is of a high quality, being well funded and well organised and offering “very good working and learning conditions for PhD candidates, as well as good career prospects”.

The report was published by the Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU) and commissioned by the Research Council of Norway on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Research.

It argues that since the previous similar evaluation in 2002, “Norway has taken a definitive step towards becoming a standardised PhD education system with a strong focus on monitoring quality and efficiency”.

Among the report’s key recommendations is “improving practices in international recruitment at the PhD level, and finding ways of reducing the administrative burden of international recruitment of PhD candidates”.

The report continues: “Norway needs to be thinking more broadly about how the internationalisation of PhD education is occurring and how it should be promoted – with a focus that goes beyond concerns for outward mobility and longer stays abroad.”

More foreign input into PhD evaluation

At the same time, the country is pushing to include more foreign academics on its PhD evaluation committees.

The NIFU report details how the researchers sent out a survey questionnaire to the members of PhD evaluation committees who are from outside Norway. The objective was to map how highly these ‘external members’ judge the quality of the country’s PhDs.

In the survey, which had a response rate of 79%, members were asked their opinion of the quality of PhD dissertations recently assessed.

Those surveyed were asked to rate quality in terms of a number of different factors: originality; depth and coverage; theoretical level; methodological level and skills in written presentation; contribution to the advancement of the field; and external (applied, societal, cultural or industrial) relevance. There were five response options, ranging from 'excellent' to 'poor'.

Overall, 20% of the respondents rated the survey elements ‘excellent’, with a further 40% rating them ‘very good’ and 25% to 60% evaluating them as ‘good’.

The quality aspect that was ranked highest was skills in written presentation, as either ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ by two-third of the evaluators, followed by depth and coverage listed by 65% and originality by 60% in the excellent-very good category.

When broken down according to PhD dissertation evaluators from different regions, interesting patterns emerged from the survey responses: North American evaluators gave the Norwegian PhD theses better ratings than their European colleagues, who in turn were more positive in their responses than members from the other Nordic countries.

On how the thesis evaluated contributed to the advancement of the field, 48% of the Nordic evaluators said ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’, compared to 64% of those coming from the rest of Europe and 68% of those from North America.

When broken down according to academic field, PhD dissertations in the natural sciences and the humanities got the strongest ratings, while those in the social sciences, and agriculture or veterinary medicine, were ranked beyond average. Theses in engineering or technology and medicine or health received very high scores among the North American examiners.

The majority of the survey respondents said the assessment procedures were rigorous and fair to the candidate, but also more time-consuming than in other countries. In Norway a joint examiners’ evaluation report is required before the doctoral defence, which is not the case in most other countries.

Need for internationalisation in PhD education

In arguing the need for internationalisation in PhD education to be reconsidered, the NIFU report points out that “the world of science and academic labour markets are increasingly global”.

The report states that in Norway currently about 33% of PhD graduates are not Norwegian citizens, and in the areas of natural sciences and technology 73% of PhD programme units report having a majority of international PhD applicants, reflecting “increased opportunities for internationalisation in PhD education”.

The report concurs that the increasing international recruitment that is being seen in Norway at the PhD level is positive “but poses short and long term challenges for the higher education institutions”.

The report specifies: “Recruitment procedures and quality control of PhD applicants is important, as is the integration of international PhD candidates and finding efficient ways to promote international experiences for all Norwegian PhD candidates.”

One of the concerns raised by the NIFU report is the issue of “critical time” for the research training part of the PhD, and “the risk that too many and too diverse a set of demands are being placed on the PhD period, in a way that has negative long-term consequences for the development of science”.

The report concludes in this regard that: “Better integration between the master and PhD levels and further training in the post-doc period are international trends which might help to address such challenges in Norwegian PhD training.”

Higher education participation rate to rise to 40% by 2020 – PM (SINGAPORE)

Adele Yung28 August 2012 Issue No:237

 

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has announced that the proportion of young people attending higher education will rise to 40% by 2020 compared to 27% now, with two new publicly backed universities planned for the city-state.

Education is “Singapore’s most important long-term investment in its people and it is a key response to the changing world”, Lee said during his annual National Day Rally policy speech, delivered at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) on 26 August.

Lee said that SIT and the Singapore Institute of Management University (UniSIM) would be upgraded to become Singapore’s fifth and sixth universities, offering applied as well as part-time degrees.

This would open up an additional 3,000 full-time university places, offering 16,000 university places by 2020 against the current 13,000.

The Ministry of Education, in a statement on 28 August, described the expansion as “carefully calibrated”.

The figures include planned increases in enrolment at Singapore’s main existing universities, including the National University of Singapore in collaboration with Yale University in the US; Nanyang Technological University; Singapore Management University; the new Singapore University of Technology and Design in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and two arts education institutions.

Panel review of university education

The prime minister’s announcement comes a year after he initiated a wide ranging review of university education, to investigate how to increase the number of university places available for Singaporeans.

Lee said the review panel led by Senior Minister of State for Education Lawrence Wong “concluded that we should create more university places”, but that “we should focus on applied practice-oriented degrees, for example, engineers, physiotherapists, social workers – skills that are in demand and which will help get graduates jobs, and we should not just churn out graduates regardless of the quality or employment opportunities”.

Pointing to some other countries, including Britain, the United States and China, with unemployment or underemployment of graduates, he added: "Singapore must avoid leading people up the wrong path, misleading them that if you spend three years of your life doing this, at the end you will have a happy outcome.”

"We must make sure that if we encourage people to go that way, that at the end the prospects are good."

UniSIM, a private college that is part of the Singapore Institute of Management, currently offers only part-time programmes but will add full-time programmes.

Meanwhile, part-time undergraduate students, including working adults at UniSIM, could become eligible for government grants and loans to enable them to “get the same support” as students at the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, Lee said – although UniSIM would remain a private university.

Providing more details, the Ministry of Education said UniSIM had a strong track record in providing part-time degree programmes in close collaboration with industry, and provided “a good balance of theoretical and real-world education”.

The review panel noted in its final report published this month: “UniSIM remains the only private institution to date that the Ministry of Education has assessed as being of sufficient quality to be accorded university status and degree-awarding powers.”

SIT, a multi-campus institution designed to allow polytechnic students to upgrade their qualifications, would begin to award its own degrees, the ministry said.

Instructive experience of other countries

The decision to increase university enrolment without expanding Singapore’s research-intensive universities further, or opening new research universities, was based on an examination by the review panel of higher education in the UK, Hong Kong, Germany, France, Canada and Finland.

The panel said problems with the UK university system had been “particularly instructive”.

In 1992 the UK government granted university status to polytechnics, which had been mainly teaching institutions

“This proved to be a double loss for the wider higher education sector – the vast majority of these post-1992 new universities still struggle with their new mission and are unable to rise in quality and standing; and the UK tertiary system is now devoid of a tier of institutions that was previously instrumental in producing a technically skilled workforce,” the panel said.

“Therefore, it would be prudent for us to avoid this path while there are other more viable options.”

Singapore also has around 70 registered private higher education institutions offering external degree programmes of overseas university partners. They enrolled some 47,500 Singaporean students full-time and part-time in 2011. 

Call for improved access to HE in the Commonwealth

Maina Waruru02 September 2012 Issue No:237

 

The 18th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers held in Mauritius last week saw the launch of a pan-Commonwealth student body and a call for governments to tackle lack of access to higher education, which is entrenching inequalities in society.

Students from around the 54-country Commonwealth formed the Pan-Commonwealth Students Association following a four-day Youth Forum alongside the ministers’ conference, or 18CCEM, which was held from 27-30 August on the Indian Ocean island.

The theme of the ministers’ gathering was “Education in the Commonwealth: Bridging the gap as we accelerate towards internationally agreed goals”.

Among four meetings held parallel to 18CCEM was the Post-secondary and Higher Education Leaders' Forum convened by the 500-member Association of Commonwealth Universities, or ACU, in partnership with the Mauritius government and the University of Mauritius.

It called on post-secondary education to “feature prominently in any international development objectives established to succeed the Millennium Development Goals”. Education ministers agreed to set up a working group to advise on new goals to follow the MDGs after 2015.

According to a statement, ACU Deputy Secretary General Dr John Kirkland told the ministers that including post-secondary education in post-MDG goals was a “natural step in the process that was started 15 years ago.

“It would be a tragedy if governments, after setting out to improve access for all at primary level, then decided that their aspirations for disadvantaged groups only extended to the ages of seven or 11.”

Noting that many Commonwealth countries had made huge strides in ensuring access to primary and secondary education, the ACU forum agreed that the translation rate to higher education remained low. Some countries cited lack of funds and facilities as major obstacles.

In some countries, post-secondary systems were stretched far beyond capacity despite efforts made by institutions to expand. Growing further would require governments to invest more in the sector.

Nigeria was cited as an example, where despite massive expansion of facilities, only one in five of some 1.5 million qualified applications secures a place in higher education each year.

What message would it convey to the generation of children who have entered formal education, that after school “we are happy to tolerate exclusion?” asked Dorothy Garland, director of professional networks at the the ACU.

The forum, attended by 130 delegates from 25 Commonwealth countries, asked member states to adopt targets for increased participation in post-secondary education and to table a progress report at the next ministers' meeting for debate.

“Member governments should actively identify priority groups, and publish strategies to increase participation, where necessary providing institutions with the appropriate resources – both financial and human – to enhance access,” said Garland.

One way to achieve increased participation, the forum pointed out, was to diversity from traditional learning methods and expand open and distance education as part of a “blended portfolio of opportunities, which students can match to their own skill and employment needs,” said the ACU statement.

At the same time, quality must not be compromised and career guidance and efforts to produce employable graduates must be enhanced.

The ACU also called for “designated funds to develop staff working in the sector, and more progress towards access for excluded groups.

“Recognising that governments alone cannot meet expanding demand for post-secondary education, delegates proposed a range of approaches, including working more collaboratively with the private sector,” said the ACU statement.

The Pan-Commonwealth Student Associations' aim is to enable student leaders from across the Commonwealth to shape post-secondary education thinking and decisions. Its launch was the culmination of years of consultation following a decision to form a student body taken at the previous Youth Forum in Malaysia in 2009.

Student participation in shaping higher education in member countries ranked high on the 18CCEM agenda.

Commonwealth Deputy Secretary General Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba said an organised youth voice would facilitate student access to deliberations and policy outcomes in education.

“We in the Commonwealth are taking bold steps to embrace the vast potential in our young people. We have sought to listen to them and are working together to implement the priorities they have emphasised.”

A steering committee of student representatives from all four Commonwealth regions was elected last week and will take forward a mandate to set the association agenda.

The chair is Stanley Njoroge from Kenya, who saluted his fellow students for their hard work in making the Pan-Commonwealth Students Association a reality. “You have made your flags proud,” he said.