名古屋高等教育研究 第 23 号 （2023）

Special Essay

Higher Education and Its Researchin Cambodia: For What and for Whom?
Leang UN*
Received: 7 June 2022 / Accepted: 21 June 2022

＜Abstract＞
Cambodian higher education and its research 1) were developed not
only recently, but also unevenly. The first modern university wasestablished only in 1960, and higher education and its research wereexpanded briefly focusing on Cambodianization within the larger
nation-building project after the independent in 1953. This process
was interrupted by the first civil war (1970-1975), a war that spilledover from Vietnam War and was completely shut down by the Khmer
Rouge regime (1975-1979). Higher education remained underdeveloped
during the second civil war (1979-1991). Thus, only fairly recently has
higher education and its research become an important pillar of
Cambodia’s development strategy, a connection forged under the
influence of the logical correlation between innovative knowledge ofhigher education and its research and the construction of aknowledge-based economy and society. This paper will explore thedevelopment of higher education and its research in Cambodia after
the end of the second civil war, focusing on how that affects theindicator of innovative knowledge and development in term of forwhat and for whom.
This paper will be divided into six sections. 1) briefly presenting thehistorical background of Cambodia, 2) outlining the current situationof Cambodian higher education and its research, 3) exploring theProfessor / Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Royal Universityof Phnom Penh
Visiting Professor, Center for the Studies of Higher Education, Nagoya
University

317

relationship between Cambodian higher education, including its
research, and its development by trying to answer: what and who is
Cambodian higher education and its research for?, 4) attempting
to answer how did Cambodian higher education and its researcharrive at their current status, 5) examining what is the future directionof Cambodian higher education and its research might be, and finally,6) providing personal concluding remarks that suggests an alternative
future direction of Cambodian higher education and its research.

1．Historical BackgroundCambodia experienced the golden age during the Angkor Empire ofwhich the Angkor Wat is a magnificent, albeit mute testimony. Nearby
Ankor Wat are the Ta Prohm (1186) and Preah Khan (1191) temples which
served as the centers of higher learning (Eam et al. 2022). However, as
Altbach (2004) argues, in Asia, these centers were abandoned or destroyed
and replaced with modern higher learning institutions associated with thename University introduced by colonial project. In Cambodia, the case isquite different from other Asian countries, France did very little in termof promoting higher education and research in Cambodia, though some
sorts of higher learning institutions were introduced by French colonial
authority (1863-1953) under the “civilizing mission”. Actually, the first
Cambodian modern university, Royal Khmer University (now Royal
University of Phnom Penh) was established in the 1960s, modeled after the
French and was tasked to promote the Cambodianization project for nationbuilding, 7 years after gaining independence from France. From that point
forward, higher education institutions (hereafter HEIs) were expanded
across the countries.
Unfortunately, this project had a short life as Cambodia underwent a
series of dramatic and painful tragedies since the late 1960s. First, thisdevelopment of higher education and its research was interrupted by the
first civil war (late 1960s-75); a war that was a spill-over from the Americanled Vietnam war. The more recent, and admittedly the most detrimental,
was instigated by Pol Pot’s revolution in April 1975, which came to be318

Title Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia

known as the Khmer Rouge regime. During this autocratic rule, Cambodia
suffered extreme social and political violence. All existing political andsocial institutions, including education, were arbitrarily dismantled andsocial services were dissolved. The Khmer Rouge regime was a massive
experiment in social engineering where the urban population was driven
into the countryside and virtually the entire population was forced into
intensive agricultural activities with a heavy workload, little food, andalmost no medical care. By the time the regime collapsed after Vietnamese
military intervention in early 1979, approximately 1.7 million Cambodians
had died of starvation, overwork, execution, and disease. It is important tonote that the primary target for the Khmer Rouge were the educated class;the more educated, the more threatening. Research suggests that 75% ofteachers, 96% of university students and 67% of all primary and secondary
pupils were killed under the Khmer Rouge regime (Ayres 2000).
Throughout the 1980s, Cambodia continued to suffer from the second civil
war,2) with that war actually continuing until 1998, the year that Cambodia
achieved complete peace. Consequences of decades of civil wars andgenocide resulted in devastated economy and social services, including
education.
With the change in the world political order, due to the fall of the former
USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) and the driving force of the 1989
revolutions in Eastern Europe, the superpower patrons of the Khmer
factions and Khmer fractions themselves agreed to talk on peace. As aresult, the Paris Peace Agreement was signed on 23 October 1991 by thefour factions, ending the civil war and bringing peace to Cambodia. It also
allowed the United Nations to play a decisive role, most notable on politicalaffairs culminating in Cambodian first democratic general election in 1993.
However, United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC
1991-93) did virtually nothing to support higher education and its research,
despite its large operational fund during that time, amounting to over USD
2 billion.
Since then, Cambodia has moved from civil war and insecurity to peace
and political stability, from socialist and communist ideology and one
political party to liberal democracy and multi political party, from planned319

economy to market economy and finally from isolation to international andregional integration. These moves were hastened with foreign assistantand international support, providing new opportunities for Cambodia torebuild the country, including the education system. It is within this context
that this paper attempts to look closely into the development of Cambodian
higher education and its research, focusing on the central question of: forwhat and for whom do they serve?

2．Current Landscape of Cambodian Higher Education and Its
Research
Between 1979 and 1991, higher education was supported by the socialist
bloc states. The ultimate operational goal was to supply limited graduates
to the required public sector planned professionals and planned economy
to rebuild the nation and public services after the genocide. Such ultimate
operational goal was still in place during the operation of UNTAC between
1991-1993. Most of the HEIs at that time worked closely with donors andforeign universities partners, focusing mostly in term of capacity building
programs, especially in foreign languages. Even after the 1993 generalelections which led to the newly established coalition government (led by
two major parties: Cambodia People Party (CPP) and Royalist party(FUNCIPEC)), higher education and its research were not a priority ofeducation reform agenda at the national policy level. But a series of national
workshops were organized to discuss how to reform higher education andits research. Also, several studies were commissioned by donors to study
higher education and its research situation and way forwards.
In 1997, the national higher education taskforce was formed with thesupport from the multiple donors and produced the first comprehensive
higher education reform framework for the first time under the title“Cambodia’s National Action Plan for Higher Education” (Sloper and Moock1999). The event of July 05, 1997, an unfortunate brief military fighting in
the heart of Cambodian capital city, Phnom Penh, between the two politicalparties of the coalition government (CPP and FUNCIPEC) had delayed any
serious intent to systematic reform (Peou 2000, Roberts 2001). Yet, a notable320

Title Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia

development was in 1997, when privatization of the higher education
reform agenda in “Cambodia’s National Action Plan for Higher Education”
gathered momentum. This new initiative, influenced by the intensificationof globalization and the spread of neoliberalism, allowed private sector to
run HEIs and public HEIs to offer fee-paying programs for those students
who could afford to pay.
Since that moment, Cambodian higher education experienced radicaltransformation. It has moved from “limited and elite access” to “mass”
higher education, in terms of number of HEIs and student enrollments. The
number of HEIs skyrocketed from 8 in 1997 to 130 by 2022. During thesame period, the number of public HEIs soared from 8 to 48 while thenumber of private HEIs from 0 to 72. There was a sign of deconcentrating
away from the country’s capital as HEIs exist almost in all provinces andalso the present of international HEIs and satellite campus from overseas.
The gross enrollment rate increased from 1% in the early 1990s to 15% in
2021. In absolute terms, between 1993 and 1997, the number of students inthese 8 public HEIs were roughly about 10,000. The number has soared
quickly, especially since 2005 where the number of students tripled. Thenthe number is mushroomed reaching around 200,000 students in 2021. Outof these, 86% enrolls in bachelor program, the rest is divided into associatedegree program and graduate programs (MoEYS 2022). It is important tonote that the majority of these students enrolled in public HEIs.
In term of enrollment by field of study, there is no significant patternchange according the available data. In bachelor program, most of thestudent enroll in business related subjects, followed by computer science,(IT) and foreign languages. A notable change is the increase of enrollment
in engineering program recently (see Figure 1). This pattern is also
observed at the graduate level. Among students pursuing master anddoctorate degree, 73% and 88% majored in Social Sciences 3), 10% and 5%
majored in Human Studies, 10% and 1% majored in Natural Science, 4% and
1% majored Agricultural Science, 2% and 5% majored in Engineering andTechnology respectively. While there is 1% of student pursuing master’s
degree majored in Medical and Health Sciences, there was no doctoral
enrollments in this field of study (MoEYS 2022).

321

2011

2021

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Business

Foreign

relatedlanguageITsubject

SocialBasicsciencessciences

Law

HealthAgriculture Engineering Tourism

and Arts

Source: MoEYS 2022

Figure 1

Student Enrollment by Field of Study (Bachelor Program)

In term of number of staff, by 2021, the total number of educational staffs
are 16,438. However, this number needs to be interpretated carefully as
this number include both academic, administrative and management staffs.
Further, though the number of educational staff increases annually (seeFigure 2), the increase does not response proportionally to the soaring
number of students and their qualification remains a critical concern asless than 9% are holding a doctorate degree and a significant proportion,around 24% are still holding bachelor degrees (MoEYS 2022). This raises a
concern over the quality of higher education as well as its relevancy of theeducational program to the need of the society, the point that this paper
will look into closely in the following section.

322

Title Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia

12,00010,000

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0

2016-20172017-20182018-2019

Bachelor

Master2019-2020

2020-2021

Doctor

Source: MoEYS 2022

Figure 2

Number of Staffs at HEIs between 2016-2021

At the system level, higher education in Cambodia is facing various
critical issues both in term of governance and finance. In a nutshell, there
is no overarching legal framework to guide its development. The system isvery fragmented as 130 HEIs are under the supervision of 16
ministries/government agencies and there is a lack of cooperation among
them. At each ministry/government agency, the visible role is to regulate
HEIs rather than steering the helping to develop due to the its immature
supervising capacity and lack of a clear supporting mechanism as well as
the issue of finance. This is also applicable to the case of quality assurance
agency called Accreditation Committee of Cambodia (ACC) established in2003 placed under the Council of Ministers that was seen as ineffective, so
it was subsequently moved in 2013 to be under MoEYS where its
effectiveness remained to be seen.
At the institutional level, public HEIs are governed by a small governing
board in which all members are appointed by government except one
member who represent HEIs staff and for private HEIs, the board isgenerally dominated by the owner or main shareholders. Most of the board
members lack of diversified expertise in academic affairs. At the leadershipand management level of HEIs, usually there is a lack of career path and323

preparation to these positions and some were appointed by circumstances.
In term of accountability and transparency, there is an ongoing reform,
especially for public HEIs towards more autonomy under the status of
Public Administrative Institute (PAIs) while government still plays a lazierfair approach towards private HEIs. However, this autonomy is notoperating in the vacuum: public HEIs are under the supervision of the twoparental ministries. In matters of finance, they will be under the Ministryof Economy and Finance, while in academic matters, they are under
MoEYS. 4)
In term of physical infrastructure, campus and building in general aresmall, especially in Phnom Penh and facilities including classroom, libraryand laboratory and supporting services for students and faculty remain
underdeveloped and very limited as they have not been effectively
developed in response to the growing number of students. Though HEIs
are actively developing their strategic plan to upgrade and improve theseissues, their strategic plan does not response to the financial health of theinstitution, and especially financial plan and management are still trapped
within an annual operational plan where multi-years plan and block grantsthat need to support the strategic plan are virtually absent. Internal quality
assurance not only suffers from this unhealthy financial arrangement, butalso from limited and inexperienced staffs.
Research, especially academic research, is not at the core of university
daily performance, especially in the case of private HEIs. Since 2009, there
have been a few studies attempt to map the research capacities of
Cambodian university. It should be noticed that the root of research culture
and practices at universities is academic in nature. But Cambodian
universities, as noted by Eam (2018), seem to engage in research in an
opposite direction ‒ starting from commissioned and mostly applied kindsof research, or at best in collaboration with foreign researchers before
having its strong academic research culture in place. This is also reflectedin the observation made by Rappleye and Un (2018) in regard to research
proposal done by HEIs under a World Bank led project:324

Title Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia

The proposals were not research, but more ‘classic’ development-style
implementation projects. It seemed the HEIs had misunderstood the
purpose of the programme. Initially, it was posited that perhaps as aresult of so many years being told what to do by foreign development
agencies, researchers were afraid to ‘think for themselves’. Upon followup consultations within universities, however, the problem wasrecognised as far more severe: few HEIs had any idea what researchmeant… The Ministry later informally estimated that some 50% of the
proposals for the DIGs had been written by foreigners working withinor somehow connected to Cambodian universities (in at least three cases
the grant proposal was sent out of the country, written entirely by aforeign friend/associate, then sent back and submitted to the Ministry)(Rappleye and Un 2018: 11).
Consequently, research performance in Cambodia remains low and HEIs
research output still lacks behind non-HEIs such as think tank andgovernment’s affiliated research institutes. It is important to note that inCambodia non-HEIs arestill the leading research institutes, but

unfortunately most of them are carried out by foreign researchers and theissues of spill-over effect need to be further investigated. In this sense,
research performance at HIEs needs to catch up with research
performance at non-HEIs, especially those affiliated with government
institutions. For example, in 2015, HEIs registers only 178 researchers
compared to 233 researchers based at government institutions (Eam et al.
2022: 45). Further, Cambodian researchers at HEIs need to catch up in termof research output with their foreign researcher counterpart that based at
non-HEIs. However, in the last few years, the situation has been improved
as reflected in the growing number of academic research publication inpeer review publishers and there is a positive sign in which four leading
public HEIs remain actively producing research output, and one emerging
private HEIs. These outputs are mostly produced by Cambodian
researchers (see Table 1). Still, scientific and technical journal articles 5)
remain small, increasing from 12 in 2000 to only 148 in 2018 6) and are still
dominated by foreign researchers.

325

Table 1

Research Output by to 13 HEIs in Cambodia in 2019 and 2022

Institution & Researcher
Institut Pasteur du Cambodge (Non-HEIs)(Mostly foreigner)
Ministry of Health Cambodia (Non-HEIs)(Mostly foreigner)

Year
2019
2022
# of document # of author # of document # of author
625

812

238

274

349

414

163

174

219

342

112

159

–

143

–

28

–

100

–

30

–

41

–

16

Institute of Technology of Cambodia(Half-half)

134

–

73

–

National Institute of Public Health(Virtually Cambodian)

–

32

–

24

94

37

69

33

37

–

13

–

Royal University of Phnom Penh
(Majority Cambodian)
University Of Puthisastra(Majority Cambodian)
KHANA (Non-HEIs)(Majority Cambodian)Wildlife Conservation Society (Non-HEIs)(Mostly foreigner)Royal University of Agriculture(Virtually Cambodian)
University of Health Sciences(Mostly foreigner)

Cambodia Development Resource Institute
36
–
25
–
(Non-HEIs) (Majority Cambodian)
Hopital Calmette (Non-HEIs)
34
54
39
60
(Majority Cambodian)Cambodian Agricultural Research and
32
–
23
–
Development Institute(Non-HEIs) (Mostly foreigner)
National Institute of Education
31
31
1
1
(Virtually foreigner)
Centre for Livestock and Agriculture–20–
3Development Cambodia(Non-HEIs) (Mostly foreigner)
National Institute of Statistics (Non-HEIs)
–
16
–
13
(Majority foreigner)
Cambodian Chemical Society–
5–4(Virtually Cambodian)International University
15
–
14
–
(Majority foreigner)
Prekleap National College of Agriculture
6–3–(Half-half)
University of Battambang (UBB)
2–
3–(Virtually Cambodia)
Source: Author’s own investigation into who are the authors of the documents from Scopus data326

Title Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia

The systematic challenges faced by researchers and HEIs to promoteresearch remain substantially unchanged until recently. The following
points is observed by Eam (2018) and Thun (2021), like other Cambodiansocial phenomenon, its research entities exist in some forms on the surface,
but without a resilient and stable foundation. This is due to several larger
issues:1) issue of academic and research culture in which Cambodian HEIs is ateaching-oriented, not a research-oriented institutions. Consequently,
there is a lack of recognition and promotion for researchers.
2) issue of research competencies which can be manifested in the lackof faculty member holding doctoral degree, and especially lack ofqualified and committed researchers holding doctoral degree at HIEs.
3) issue of public funding where virtually research grant is absence. Thisissue is also manifested in many forms such as lack of incentives forresearchers, lack of necessary supports for researchers at theinstitutional level such as providing materials for experimentation,
laboratories, data analysis software, subscription to journal outlets,
travel costs for researchers.
The lack of public funding not only affects the research performance at
HEIs, but also leads to a high turnover of research staff and significant
difficulties in sustaining the long-term commitment of young and talented
researchers. In their 2016 study, Pou et al. (2016) had also noted that manyof the capacity building program at HEIs had led to loss of staff rather thanthe expected enhancements of performance. In the context of low salaries
and limited funding for faculty members and researchers, there was a brain
drain of qualified Cambodian researchers out of HEIs towards more
profitable foreign organizations or organization funded by external fund or
private companies, though they expressed that they become tired ofrunning after job but this is what they have to do as a way of “trying tosecure their livelihoods” (Bernath 2021: 11).
Further, the remaining research at HIEs generally are not strategic andwell-coordinated. The lack of core funding and long-term funding has
several problematic implications. Researchers are “always running aftermoney” or “go where the money is”, which limits their capabilities to focus327

on setting their own, long-term research strategy and agenda. His interview
with the director of a research institute reveals that this situation: “…does
not leave room for research agendas to emerge, for us to reflect upon what
we, as Cambodian researchers, think the research agenda should be for
Cambodia (Bernath 2021: 11)”.
What is interesting to note about Cambodian research capacities, as
observed by Eam (2018), is a clear tendency that most research works arein the form of donors-funded, commissioned or consultancy projects orpolicy-oriented conducted by government agencies or “local think tank”.
Consequently, he argues advanced mechanisms that transform those
outputs into economic, social and cultural benefits obviously do not exist.
On the one hand, these research outputs are generally not academicallypeer reviewed and so may not reach the quality expected by international
academic community, raising the question of validity of research. On theother hand, these research outputs are not neutral: they follow the agendaof the funders. The research priorities should be determined by the capable
local researchers who have the contextual knowledge that allow them tohave a clear insights and visions for their areas of expertise, but this is not
the case of Cambodia. Virtually, all funding for research at HEIs comingfrom outside and most often having research question and design at thepartner research institutes or foreign consultants and Cambodian
researcher’s role is nominal collaborator at best, but most frequently justassists in data collection and translation of the research tools, raising thequestion of soundness of research. The soundness of the research is also
affected by the research design influenced by political climate as well as
the mission of each research institutes affiliated with government agencies.
The issue of politics is actually the core issue ‒ perhaps not the only one,but the most important as noted by Netra (2014).
In Cambodia, while “lack of resources”, “lack of institutional support” and“lack of infrastructure” may be seen as technical and institutional issues,
access to resources, facilities, infrastructure, and institutional arrangements conducive to research career and capacity development are all the
result of political decisions about who gets what, when and how (Netra
2014: 4).

328

Title Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia

3．Cambodia Higher Education and Its Research: For What andfor Whom?
The role of higher education and its research in both personal, social andnational development has been well documented. For development
practitioners, higher education and its research improvement has become
one prescription for developing countries who would like to improve
themselves or catch up with other developed countries. The current
common vision of catching up in term of development is measured by the
economic prosperity, usually under the narrow indicators such as GPD
growth, GPD per capita growth, income status and poverty reduction.
Looking closely into these indicators, since 1990s, Cambodia has been
performing quite impressively. On average, its GDP growth registers ataround 7%, except during the global pandemic of Covid 19. In term of GDP
per capita, the growth is from US$ 254 in 1993 to US$ 1,643 in 2019. 7) Whatis the most celebrate moment for economist is the year 2015 where
Cambodia graduated from low-income country status to lower middleincome status. It seeks to become upper middle-income country by 2030
and high-income country by 2050. This aspiration is actually going alongwell, according to the assessment made by Asian Development Bank whoargues that though Cambodia is poor but on its way to become one of the
new tiger economies of Asia. 8)
In term of social aspects, physical infrastructures are used to indicate
the level of development. The improvement in these areas is even more
impressive since 1990s, though there is still a need to make them better.
For those who lived in Cambodia in 1980s and are still alive today thechanges are impressive and, indeed, we should celebrate such improvement.
Improvement in physical infrastructures would comprise a long list, but wewill highlight a few key items in the following Table (see Table 2).

329

Table 2

Infrastructure Development Indicator

No.

Infrastructure improvement

1

From a rural and agro-country to a rapid urbanized, industrial and services

2

From earthen road to paved road and concrete roads

3

From poor paved road to good paved roads

4

Highway & national road is extended massively across the country

5

From no bridge across majority rivers to many bridges across the major

6

From no flyover to flyovers

7

From no skyscraper to skyscrapers

8

From quiet streets to heavy traffic full of cars and motor cycles

9

From no ITC to better ITC infrastructure

10

From less safe/improved water sources to safe/improved water sources

11

From no/unreliable electricity to a quite stable electricity

12

From no cell phones and TVs to more cell phones and TVs in one’s hand and house

13

From dilapidated roof materials to hard permanent roof materials

14

From traditional & street food to modern & Western life style

Source: Author

On an individual level, obtaining higher education degree is viewed as the
key towards success, especially for escaping from poverty and social mobility.
In fact, there seems to be a correlation between growth enrollment in
tertiary education and GDP per capita growth. Also, the poverty rate
declined from over 50% in the early 1990s to around 17.7% in 2019 9) and thishappened in the geographical areas, mostly urban, where access to higher
education is increasing substantially (see Table 3). It is important to note that
90% of the remaining poor are living in rural areas.
Table 3

Persons Aged 25 Years and over by Educational Attainment
and Geographical Domain

Percent

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Cambodia

1.8

2.2

2

2.2

2.6

2.9

3.5

Phnom Penh

11.8

15

12.7

14.1

15

11.4

14.8

Other urban

2.4

2

2.8

2.8

3.9

7

6.2

Other rural

0.3

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.5

0.8

1

Source: https://nis.gov.kh/index.php/en/2-uncategorised/11-cambodia-socio-economic-survey-tables

330

Title Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia

However, there is a problem. While poverty is declining, inequality is
widening reaching the value of 30.8 in 2012.10) Using the uneven economic
development indicator,11) Cambodia performance is very uneven comparing
to other ASEAN countries (see Figure 3).
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Cambodia

Laos

Malaysia

Thailand

Vietnam

Source: https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/compare-countries/

Figure 3 Uneven Economic Developmentin Selected ASEAN Countries, 0 (high) - 10 (low)Anecdotal evidence and media also indicate that the gap between thepoor and the rich is continuing to widen both between urban and rural, andwithin rural and urban communities themselves:
Cambodia is urbanising fast… but the gulf between rich and poor iswidening. Not everyone can share these opportunities. “The urban poor
are the most pressured by the rapid real estate development.”. Although
the city appears modernised, “you can see inequality appearing
everywhere in Phnom Penh now.” More than 25,000 families live in 277
impoverished settlements around Phnom Penh: most own no land andcould be forced out by development (Wengkiat 2019).
Further, Cambodian rapid growth still continues to occur within thecontext of the institutional constrains measured in term of state capacity
to provide public services 12) (see Figure 4). Furthermore, other indicators
paint a different story. For example, the number of prisoners continues

331increasing (see Figure 5). There is also a long list of missing other socialand moral aspects such as incidence of violence, food poisoning, safety andsecurity, respect for human dignity and lack of cultural conservation
program both tangible and intangible repeatedly reported in media. Thereis also social fragmentation measured in term of factionalized elites (seeFigure 6) that still experienced power struggles, political competition andpolitical transitions. These may, in the long run, threaten peace and politicalstability as well as weaking people’s potentiality which is the foundation ofnational development.
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Cambodia

Laos

Malaysia

Thailand

Vietnam

Source: https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/compare-countries/

Figure 4

Cambodia: Public services index, 0 (high) - 10 (low)

250
200
150
100
50
0
2004

2005

2007

2010

2012

2014

2017

Source: https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Cambodia/prisoners/

Figure 5332

Cambodia: Number of prisoners per 100,000 people, 2004-2017

Title Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia

8.6
8.4
8.2
8.0
7.8
7.6
7.4
7.2

2007

2009

2011

2013

2015

2017

2019

2021

Source: https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Cambodia/factionalized̲elites̲index/

Figure 6

Cambodia: Factionalized elites index, 0 (low) - 10 (high)All of these problems point to the fact that within the dominant discourseof higher education and its research for economic growth and for social
mobility, there is no attention paid to the question of who benefit from
economic growth and what is the meaning of social mobility in Cambodian
context. Research conducted by Sen (2020) though with limited number ofparticipants can be generalized across Cambodia. This research finding
plus anecdotal evidence reveal that no matter what background they are“the financial security of their own family and their personal wellbeing,material comfort lifestyle and the enrichment themselves 13) was where thepurpose of their social mobility journey ended (sen 2020: 269)”. Majority of
the highly educated person hardly think about and engage in activities tocontribute to the broader collective good of the community and the society
at large. A good example of this is seen in the case of medical care andtreatment. For Cambodians who can afford high class medical care andtreatment, they choose to fly to Europe, US or Singapore. Middle-income
family will fly or take a bus to either Thailand or Vietnam. For those who
cannot afford anything means they have no choice, but be treated locally,
most often with the unsatisfactory services.14)333

4．How and Why Did We Arrive Here?
4.1

Higher Education and Its Research Policy: Public Expenditure

The discussion on who and what higher education is for invites us to go
back to the old long debate about public good and private good of higher
education. Ahren and Vincent (2013), who have both resided in Cambodian
for the long-term, note that Cambodia’s response to the public-private goodquestion seems to fall in the private good arena. In other words, there is aview held by the government that higher education is a private good, andthus not primarily the responsibility of government. This seems to be theunstated but real policy. This is reflected in the absence or no specifichigher education policy formulated by MoEYS before 2006, leading Luise
Ahren claims that higher education in Cambodia had a life of its own. Also,
Neth Barom, the former vice-rector of Royal University of Phnom Penh,argues that higher education went through a silent revolution, i.e., it haschanged but not as the result of explicit policy (Un and Sok, 2022). Uponcloser inspection, however, there were two factors driving this “silent
revolution” the tension between on the one hand the influence of neoliberal
agenda (privatization) and, on the other hand, capacity building programs
supported by various bilateral donors and academia (though in small scale)to particular faculty members and institutions.
Since 2006, higher education has been asked to reform in response toreality of intensified neoliberalism through globalization/regionalization,
especially to improve country’s competitiveness both in term of products
and productivity and internet of things since Cambodia became themember of the Association of South East Asian Nations and World Trade
Organization. That is, higher education is seen as the most important
response to immediate and long term need for economic growth anddevelopment, focusing on the employability and growing labour market
demand. All of these are addressed through the nearly 20 years of thecontinuous three policy objectives in the Education Strategic Plan (ESP)
2006-10, an update ESP 2009-13 and ESP 2014-18. The three policy
objectives in these documents are 1) expanding access and improve
equitable access through supply-side expansion and target disadvantaged334

Title Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia

group, 2) addressing the issues of quality and relevance of the higher
educational program with the focusing regional/international mobility andprivate sector, 3) improving governance and finance in an attempt to makethe system more effectiveness and efficiency, especially in terms of more
and more privatization, the focus has become more towards corporate styleof governance of the university, creating the so-called entrepreneurial
university.
Since 2010, MoEYS has been attempting to promote research which canbe seen in the introduction of policy on Research Development in Education
Sector (2010) and Action Plan for Research Development in Education
Sector in 2011-2015 and the establishment of Education Research Council
in 2014 based at MoEYS.
The three higher education objectives and research promotion schemes
continue until today under the current ESP 2019-2023, but were framedalong the Sustainable Development Goals framework; 1). ensure inclusive
and equitable education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
and 2) ensure effective leadership and management of education staff at alllevel through developing regulation on full-time academic staffs, interministerial regulation on the establishment of research fund and its
implementing guideline and inter-ministerial regulation on human resource
development plan and on financial planning and management. However, theeffectiveness and efficiency of these policies has upon higher education andits research is rather limited due to two reasons; 1) MoEYS has limited
capacity to implement the policy 15) and 2) the most critical issue is limited
public budget to support the policy implementation.16)
In term of government expenditure on education and expenditure on
research & development measured in term of percentage of GDP, though
there is slightly improve from 0.5 and 1.7 in 2002 to 0.12 and 1.9 in 2015
respectively, this spending is much lower comparing to other ASEAN
countries (see Figure 7). Further, out of the government expenditure on
education, the allocation to higher education is very low, never reaching
above 7% between 2008 to 2012 (Sok et al. 2019). Comparing to otherneighboring countries, Cambodia spends much lesser per tertiary student
measured in term of percentage of GDP per capita. The most important335

thing that is totally absent is the discussion about the efficacy of thesepolicies and budget allocation in term of for what and for who it will serve.

6.00
5.00
4.00
3.00
2.00
1.00
0.00

Brunei

Cambodia Indonesia

Laos

Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Viet Nam

Government Expenditure on Education as a Percentage of GDP
Government Expenditure on Tertiary Education as a Percentage of GDP

Source: Eam et al. (2022)

Figure 7

4.2

Government Expenditure on Education and Tertiary Educationin Selected ASEAN Countries

Higher Education and Its Research: Donor-led Project Intervention

Within this context, one wonders how did Cambodian higher educationand its research arrive at their current status? As mentioned, higher
education and its research before 2006 had a “life of its own”. There was
not much project intervention by the government at the system level toimprove or promote them due to limited funding and capacity. What
happened at the institutional level is mainly driven by the bilateral
cooperation between HEIs and their overseas partners and varies acrossinstitutions. This cooperation was mainly driven by individual faculty who
graduated from overseas through their networks or were ‘discovered’ and‘picked up’ by overseas partners to implement their projects.
In fact, despite the impressive economic growth during the last decades,
Cambodia remains an aid dependent country. Since the early 1990s,
Cambodia has received $20.68 billion in foreign aid 17) of which about 1.5
billion has gone to supporting education related projects.18) Donors, usuallycalls Development Partners within Cambodian policy-making circle, wereclassified into five clusters according to different types and terms of336

Title Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia

assistance; 1) UN related agencies like UNESCO, UNICEF, UNFPA, WFP,UNDP and ILO were engrossed in education rehabilitation and inpromoting child-friendly approaches and education for all, 2) International
financial institutions such as the World Bank and ADB played vital roles
in tertiary education and its research mostly with concessional loans andgrants, 3) EU works to implement financial management reform, and it also
made grants available to support various educational activities throughnon-governmental organization (NGOs), 4) bilateral partnerships with thebiggest and most active being Japan and Sweden, other small countries
includes Spain, Switzerland, UK, USA, Australia, Canada, Czech republic,
Finland, Ireland and Netherlands. They also made grants available tosupport various NGOs working on education, and 5) emerging donors/nonDAC countries also played a significant role in Cambodia, including China
and South Korea which are the two biggest, followed by Singapore,
Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. These clusters are an addition to thediscussion made by Kaewkumkong (2020).
Zooming into donors’ support to education policy related projects,
according to the Cambodia ODA database, there are only four donors (ADB,
France, UNICEF and UNESCO). Yet these donors focus inclusively on
general education with only UNESCO focuses on higher education andresearch, but dealing with it marginally. Between 2006 and 2022, there are
19 donors supporting higher education and research, amounting to nearly
US$ 320 million. Of that, the World Bank accounted for nearly US$ 120
million along with other three big donors, Sweden (US$ 10 million), Korea(US$ US$ 7.9 million) 19) and Japan to established two Teacher Education
Institutes, one is in Phnom Penh and other is in Battambang. Among thesedonors, it is only the World Bank who tackles the higher education and its
research at the system level and nation-wide.
Despite the promise to promote aid effectiveness by donors during theParis Declaration on Aid Effectiveness in 2005, the research finding by(Sam 2016) reveals that:
Though the government and development partners have become close
partners, forming a synergy to push the wheel of the sector forward interms of policy, despite the conflicting views ‒ in practice, donors remain337

more influential in decision making e.g. to select which aspects are to beinvested first (authors’ addition) due to their greater technical and financial

support capacity (authors’ emphasis in italics) (159).
Most studies about aid dependent countries indicate that donors are more
powerful in proposing or even forcing poor developing countries to adopt theneoliberal reform agenda, especially at the point of deciding whether or not
to lend aid with conditionality or at the time that there are no local
capacity/strong institutions (Bräutigam 2000). Within this context, it ismainly the neoliberal higher education agenda items that get funded.
In the case of Cambodia, one study found out that since 1993, mostprojects are donor-driven in their identification, design and implementation,
to the detriment of capacity development (Godfrey et al. 2002). Take forexample, the World Bank negligence of the many aspects in the National
Action Plan for Higher Education, a project that funded by AusAID, Franceand USAID and the World Bank between (1996-1999). Th World Bank
picked up and funded only what its consultant reported in that Action Plan;
that is to introduce the privatization and reform to address the ‘labour
market’ demand and ‘mismatch’ between higher education and market.
This focus led to the call for a tracer study to inform curriculum designand development as well as pedagogy to deliver the curriculum.20) The issueof this narrowness as observed by Cambodian scholar, Chet Chealy, is thatsome professions (which are) needed for social and national development
are neglected in order to serve what are often short-lived global market
forces (Chet 2006).
After more than two decades, the World Bank’s attitude is largely
unchanged. Take, for example, The World Bank negligence of its support
to the production of Cambodian Higher Education Roadmap 2030 and
Beyond (MoEYS 2018). The Roadmap is not only focusing on economic
growth, but also broader societal issues. It was the first attempt to go
forwards through learning to contextualize the intervention and changing
the development discourse. In what one of the Cambodian top higher
education technocrats calls “a move away from Cheese to Prahok”.21) The
majority of team members who composed the report are Cambodian (onlyone foreigner worked on this Roadmap). However, it turns out that this338

Title Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia

Roadmap laid out a course that no one travelled upon.
The World Bank not only fails to buy-in the Cambodian higher education
roadmap, a product of its own sponsorship, but it even tries to close thedoor, when it designs higher education project intervention. Other donors
such as European, Scandinavian countries and even France or Japan having
difficulty to work alongside the World Bank.22) As a result, these donors
are working bilaterally with each institution, for example, France (Inalco)
with Royal University of Fine Arts, Sweden (Sida) and Korea (KOICA) with
Royal University of Phnom Penh and Japan (JICA) with Institute ofTeacher Education (Phnom Penh and Battambang).23)
The reason why the World Bank can play a dominant role is due to its
ability to self-proclamation as the “Knowledge Bank”. As noted by Wade
(1996).
The World Bank enjoys a unique position as a generator of idea about
economic development. The Bank’s ability to frame the debate rests on, 1)
its ability to influence the terms on which low-income countries gain accessto international capital markets, 2) a research and policy budget far larger
than that of any other development organization, and 3) its ability to attract
global media coverage of its major report (Wade 1996:3).
In the case of Cambodia, the Bank drives the narrative that “Cambodia’s
future prosperity will depend on diversifying its economy, rising higher on
global value chains”.24) The underlying cause of this poor economic
diversification and low productivity is the mismatch between higher
education supply and market demand. The following is evidence of that, as
taken from the World Bank’s seminal work on higher education entitled“Putting higher education to work: Skills and research for growth in East
Asia”.
Poor diversification in Cambodian higher education
Nearly 60 percent of all tertiary students study business, social
sciences, or law, but fewer than 25 percent are in agriculture, education,engineering, health, or the hard sciences, even though many of theselatter sectors provide ‒ and will continue to provide ‒ the most jobs.
For example, fewer than 4 percent of students enroll in agriculture,339

even though the sector accounts for 29 percent of the country’s grossdomestic product (GDP) and supports the livelihood of 59 percent of the
population. What accounts for this extreme polarization?
Recent evidence suggests that most students select their subject
based on the advice and wishes ‒ and, to a lesser extent, interest ‒ oftheir family rather than on their own future labor market prospects,
opportunities, and outcomes. A 2008 survey on youth employment
reported that only one in five graduating secondary students based theirdecision on what to study on the job market; 7 of 10 followed theirparents’ advice. In the same survey, only one of three university andvocational training students chose their field of study because of marker
need. (Among university and vocational student respondents, 59 percent
chose their field because of an interest in the subject.) Lack of
information seems to be one reason for these decisions, and students
know little about demand for higher-level skills. No labor market
information systems survey labor market demand, and estimates ofcurrent or future demand for university graduates are lacking. In
addition, there is no reliable tracking of the employment outcomes ofrecent university graduates.
The mismatch between graduate supply and demand has serious
economic and social implications for Cambodia, such as high structural
unemployment, with a pool of university graduates seeking jobs but
without the skills demanded by employers. The mismatch can also
constrain productivity and economic growth because employers fillpositions with poorly qualified (and less productive) workers or scaleback their growth ambitions. It can also stifle a country's attempts todiversify its sources of growth.
Cambodia can take some immediate steps in filling the information
gaps. The government and universities could undertake tracer studies
of university graduates and follow their employment experience. The
results would provide information on the demand for skills for all jobs
and those requiring higher skills and then signal overall graduate
unemployment levels and supply-demand mismatches in particularfields. Additionally, universities could review their course curricula and340

Title Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia

teaching practices to better equip students with the types of skills
employers demand. (World Bank 2014: 68)
In its World Development report 2020, the World Bank emphasis the roleof global value chains (GVCs) that “…powered the surge of international
trade after 1990 and now account for almost half of all trade. This shiftenabled an unprecedented economic convergence: poor countries grew
rapidly and began to catch up with richer countries.”25) It is through thisframing that the World Bank is able to launch its higher educationintervention in Cambodia. At the level of overall system intervention, since
2000, only the World Bank has taken the lead. First, it started with a small
project trying to put all HEIs under one coordinated mechanism, throughsponsorship of the establishment of ACC between 2000-2003. This led to afull-scale system intervention through its ever first large project in thehistory of Cambodian higher education and its research call “Higher
Education Quality and Capacity Improvement Project” (HEQCIP) with theamount of USD23 million (half grant, half loan) originally designed to be
implemented between 2010-2015. There were four components of the
project; 1) Fellowship and Capacity building, 2). Research (Development andInnovation Grant), 3) higher education management and information system
for monitoring and evaluation purposes, and 4) governance, management
andfinancinghighereducation

reform.

However,duringtheimplementation, due to a highly flawed design, the project implementation
faced a host of challenges. In fact, the project had to extend well into 2017
to finally get some closure.
In fact, despite closure, it was undoubtedly a failed project. As Rappleye
and Un (2018) make it is clear that the project failed because the Bank soglaringly misunderstood the Cambodian context.26) Nonetheless, from theWorld Bank perspective, the project was successfully implemented.27) With
self-proclamation, the World Bank without even a bit of self-reflection,
introduced a second bigger intervention project Higher Education
Improvement Project (HEIP) designed to be implemented between 20182024 (USD90 million loan and $2.5 million government counter fund). The
project design is aiming to consolidate its neoliberal agenda,28) focusing on

341

promoting STEM + Agriculture, consisted of three components; 1)
improving teaching and learning (measured in terms of updated curriculumthat links to labour market in partnership, most preferably with overseas
universities), 2) improving research (measured in term of number of
research outputs, both basic and applied and linking to industries and policy
measured in term of number of patent registration and proto-type or
product produced), 3) improving institutional capacity (measured in term of
its entrepreneurial capability).
Our colleagues also concur that the current style of running HEIs in
Cambodia with its inheritance from the colonial style of management isbeing invaded by cooperate managerialism, and its goal is completely
shifting away from nation-building towards economic determinism of therole of higher education and its research (Eam et al. 2022). What is lost is
the dimension of value transformation and social purposes.

5．What Future for Cambodian Higher Education and Its Rsearch?
5.1

Pursing Unfinished Project by the World Bank

The neoliberal higher education agenda is concerned with not only how
the growth can be sustained, but also with how to increase the growth rate.
Under such a logic, any alternative discourse is pushed aside. For theseneoliberalists, current economic growth is not yet derived from a wellconceived economic development strategy. It seems that economic growthand development and physical infrastructure improvement resulted fromexogenous factors; 1) the return to normal economic activities when peaceand security were reinstalled, 2) the inflow of foreign aid, and 3) the
introduction of economic reform programmes ‒ macroeconomic stability
and economic liberalization (massively supported by donors). Looking
closely into the foundation of the economic growth during the last decades,
one can see its narrowness; based on few economic sub-sectors such as thegarment industry, services related to tourism, construction (especiallyresidential projects) and, more recently, agriculture exports and assemblingindustry. It is important to note that the productivities of Cambodian
workers are still low comparing to its neighboring countries such as342

Title Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia

Vietnam and Thailand (Asian Productivity Organization, 2020). The
underlying cause is, according the business association, the skill shortage
and skill gap. That is, there is a widespread belief that there is a bottle
neck to transform Cambodia from agro-county into a trade-oriented
economy with prosperous industrial and service sectors during the past
decades: gap and lack of skilled labor.
This skill shortage and skill gap are usually measured in terms ofenrollment in higher education and its research in the field of STEM related
subject and measured by its ranking in different global indexes. For
example, in term of Global Knowledge Index, Cambodia ranked 90 out of
the 138 countries with a score of 41.7 well below the average and a modest
performer in term of its knowledge infrastructure (UNDP, 2020, p. 41). The
Global Innovation Index 2020 also reveals that Cambodia ranks low at 110thout of 131 economies and the performance in the area of Human Capital &Research ranks 122 out of 131 economies. In terms of Innovation Inputs,
Cambodia continues to be behind other economies as reflected in thedecrease of Cambodia rank from 103th in 2018 to 117th in 2020.
Consequently, relative to GDP, Cambodia is performing below expectations
for its level of development.29) Solving this issue is only through education.
As Piketty (2014: 306-7) argues “In the long run, the best way to reduce
inequalities with respect to labor as well as to increase the average
productivity of the labor force and the overall growth of the economy issurely to invest in education.” This is the dominant argument. In Cambodia,
the major proponent of this logic is the World Bank; i.e. “Education raises
human capital, productivity, incomes, employability and economic growth(World Bank 2018: 38)”.
5.2

Is there Any Consequence?

If such logic is fully operationalized and realized, Cambodia is perhaps aperfect example of what Klein (2007) described as an attempt by capitalists
to create an ideal free-market economy through development aid provided.
She argued that in the context of this economic shock therapy the winners
are narrow groups that will often do very well by moving into luxurious
gated communities. At the same time, the losers are the large section of343

the population who are left with underfunded and therefore decaying public
services.
Other critic also points out that the World Bank’s approach to education
development

cooperationindeveloping

countries

that

based

on

neoliberalism as well as the STEM focus oriented education program have
had an adverse impact on society as a whole as well as on the education
systems in particular (Yoo 2019). Actually, there are multiple consequences
derives from the adaptation of neoliberalism as well as the STEM focus
oriented education program. The following set of consequences has been
observed.30) The first set of consequences is environmental:

despite United

Nation warnings as early as 1972 about an impending environmental crisis,
there has been little action taken and now the world stands on the brinkof irreparable loss of life and nature due to the belief in utilitarian systempromotes the cult of endless consumption (consumerism) and thus endlessproduction backed by tech-science advancement. At the core of this logic
is the growth-oriented development, where strong competitive strategies,
supported by socio-economic system and institution, either amongindividuals or nations, is the operating principle (from liberal capitalist
economy). This principle is taught and learned from early ages through theexisting systems of education and schooling, and these systems are being
progressively tightened to focus only on business and entrepreneurship and
STEM to produce more marketable products and services. A second set ofconsequences might be deemed cultural: indigenous philosophical-cultural
systems to organizing society and life have been nearly wiped out and cut
short in their development due to the STEM and tech-scientism focus
oriented of education system. Around the globe, not only Cambodia, there
is an intensive cutting back of any social or cultural education programs
not directly linked to tech-science and business entrepreneurship,programs which ultimately take markets and consumption or practicalvalue as the referent point. A third set of consequences are structural:
growing inequality in term socio-economic conditions between Western
who promote these ideologies and non-Western countries who follow theseideologies and within the country due to the adaptation of the intrinsic
value of the Self in both Western and non-Western countries. This is where344

Title Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia

individual issues are concerned as social issues to be addressed. Yoo (2019)’s
analysis on the Bank’s educational policies and activities also reveals thatthey have not had a substantial impact on poverty eradication, even thoughpoverty eradication is one of the two goals the World Bank aims to achieve.
The pro-growth policy, pursued by the Bank’s perception that poverty willautomatically decrease as a result of the economic growth, is considered tohave intensified inequality (Yoo 2019: iii-iv).
Finally, a common phenomenon is observed worldwide, ‘a growing
priority on the Self, but one destined to live a life of loneliness (or to use aJapanese word “hikikomori”, a ‘modern hermit’). 31)
Another misguiding global development agenda, international quality andstandard and patent, promoted by the World Bank through pushing HEIs
to be partnership with overseas institutions. Reaching or not, the idea ofcatching up and become international status and quality and having its
research output registers for patent is now become the core of Cambodia
universities vision and mission as witnessed by joint degree programmes
andinternational

exchanges,

programmes

usingforeignlanguages(especially English) as a medium of instruction, increasing foreign experts
and expats holding positions in HEIs, regional quality assurance
engagement and above all curriculum and textbooks imported fromoverseas. But forget to ask a deeper question: what does internationalization mean for Cambodia? Is the brain drain as we see it (seeFigure 8) is the aim of Cambodia’s attempt to internationalize its higher
education and research? Also, using the yardstick of whether there is any
new contribution to knowledge by patents because a key social benefit
from private invention is the spillovers from new knowledge. The study byHazel Moir (2008) found out that the large majority of currently granted
patents produce no benefit to society. Such a question and lesson are
virtually absence in Cambodia.

345

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Cambodia

Laos

Malaysia

Thailand

Vietnam

Source: https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/compare-countries/

Figure 8

Human Flight and Brain Drain

in Selected ASEAN Countries, 0 (high) - 10 (low)5.3

Is there Any Alternative Development Discourse?

So, the question is beyond economic and material prosperity and private
good, is there any alternative development discourse? If the answer is yes,
what are they? And, if so, why are these alternative development
discourses absent in Cambodia?
This critical stance towards the current higher education development
discourse by no means implies that economic prosperity should not be oneof the outcomes of higher education and its research. A flourishing higher
education sector is one in which students receive a quality education withwhich they are well-equipped to realize their personal and professional
ambitions. However, the role of higher education within society is muchgreater than simply churning out qualified graduates for this economic
logic. Rather than defining the ‘what for’ of a university education withinever more fine-tuned parameters and key performance indicators, wewould like to stress the university’s central role as a place for personal
growth, creativity and freedom. Instead of just enabling students to realize
their ambitions or sometimes dream about an illusive vision, the university
should also pro-actively help define what meaningful ambitions and vision
could look like (Un and Boomsma 2019: 17-8). We wholeheartedly concur

346

Title Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia

with Mackler when she writes that;“Ideals of the university have to be articulated and rearticulated
because the university, even as it is often stridently defined as distinct
from them, exists within societies and cultures that change”. (Mackler
2010: 177)
In order to appreciate the value of higher education within society, weneed to treat it as an integral part of the latter, not just as a diploma mill.
Universities should not simply ‘produce’ graduates for society but are partof an intricate texture of changing socio-economic circumstances andcultural horizons of this society. Especially in a country like Cambodia,
where there is barely a university as public sphere of note in Habermas’
terminology (Habermas, 1991), it is paramount to think of higher educationin this holistic sense.
Within this holistic sense, on the global level, we have countries such as
Bhutan who rather actively promotes Gross Domestic Happiness (GDH),
instead of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In Scandinavian countries, they try
to promote new development discourse beyond Human Development Index
and GDP such as the Social Progress Index, Youth Progress Index 32) andGood Country Index. Rather than emphasizing traditional measurements ofsuccess like income and investment, the Social Progress and Youth
Progress Index use the same set of 53 social and environmental indicators,33)
but measure different targets, to create a clearer picture of what life andsociety is really like for everyday people. The index doesn’t measure people’s
happiness or life satisfaction, focusing instead on actual life outcomes in areasfrom shelter and nutrition to rights and education. 34) The Good Country
Index simply reports on each country’s external impacts, positive andnegative, outside its own borders to measure what each country on earth
contributes to the common good of humanity.35) Though it does not measure
what happening in one particular country, that country must have within
its border the capacity to do so, thus an indication of a good country forpeople within its border to live. The Good Country Index uses 35 indicators. 36)

347

6．Concluding Remarks
6.1

Why Little Change in Development Discourse?

The emergence of Cambodia from civil war in the 1990s is coincided withthe rise of neoliberalism and rise of Asia and its influence from outsiders
with same global agenda/ ideologies. This discourse brought about throughthe hiring of foreign and local consultants/advisors who buy into neoliberal
ideologies and practices when the influx of aid flooded into Cambodia. The
Cambodian policy makers through capacity building programs, overseas
study tours for “Best Practices” and overseas degree programs sponsoredby donors also request, accommodate and assimilate the donors’ agenda
very well. This is because they do not have other academic resources to
consult with beyond this neoliberal agenda/ ideologies.37) So, when
discussing policy, the dominant discussion has only focused on “HOW” toimplement the policy. It has not focused on “FOR WHAT” and “FORWHOM”, i.e., what goals the education policy and research aim to achieve
and whom it is intended to serve. Perhaps there’s a strong belief that theultimate development goal is right ‒ what needs to be debated is theprocess (for more detail see Un and Sok 2022).
From a cultural translation perspective, the result is a one-side view ofrealities in Cambodia: overly economic blind to social, moral, and existential
dimensions, always constrained within a set of assumptions about theWorld originating in the Neoliberal West. This is also noted by Eam (2018)
who questions the socio-cultural impacts of the research in Cambodia.
Observation made by Boud and Lee (2005) also applies to the case of
Cambodia. The intensified pressure from government, in the Cambodiancase from the World Bank’s projects, to improve performance in researcheducation has made itself increasingly felt within university structures andinternal policy imperatives in recent year, but there remains a clear lackof public discourse on pedagogy of research education.
Reform has, to date, only focused on form (governance and accountability)
for effectiveness and efficiency. What is missing is the crucial discussion
around content, the efficacy, i.e., the necessary normative discussion about
who and what goals development is designed to serve.

348

Reform needs toTitle Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia

be understood in terms of content, efficacy. Instead of re-form, we need re-contenting.
6.2

How Can Development Discourses Be Re-contented in Cambodia?

As long as the Cambodian higher education sector does not educate its
students to be able to critically reflect on major societal issues from a local
perspective, the Cambodian society will remain under the influenced of theneoliberal agenda. Can Cambodia stand up by herself to philosophize andre-content the development discourse? The answer to this question isdefinitely NO. In the age of interdependent and interconnectedness and in
the age where ideas flow freely and easy, especially through internet
revolution, Cambodia cannot survive, philosophize and re-content throughisolation. The social and political engineering experimentation of this kindof isolation during Khmer Rouge period led to an ultra-nationalism in which
millions of lives were lost. Also given Cambodian current capability (bothfinance and human), Cambodia still needs support from foreign friends,
especially among intellectual circle. But who are the real friends in term of
mutual interest through sincere support and dialogue?
Though a real friend is hardly to find, we also notice it is not impossible.38)
A friend of mine once wrote “As you both know, I quit the job [at amultilateral institution]… I don’t want to work for the [institution] andmake money and have privilege when it is not the best for Cambodia”. For
such as a real friend to come to Cambodia, it depends whether Cambodia
has such a like-minded thinker, so that he can consider as his real friend
too. Such a like-minded think is also hardly to find in Cambodia. Beside, thecritical critique on the “HOW” development projects are implemented,
mostly focusing on corruption and nepotism, there is virtually no
Cambodian intellectuals who is exercing

the capability to look upon thecurrent social, economic and political transformations critically. The
absence of public funding, the absence of public universities as a publicsphere and the running after donors’ money limit the systematic
engagement in and feedback to policy formulation and debate throughacademic research intensive and critical perspectives is one issue faced by
Cambodian intellectuals, but the most critical issue is that majority of349

Cambodian population, including scholars were brutally cut off from theirown history and ‘traditional’ intellectual resources during the Khmer Rouge.
As such, Cambodian citizens and scholars today fail to see the inevitableconsequences of neoliberal agenda, and instead imbrace this agenda
wholeheartly.
There seems to be a vicious cycle in Cambodia like an egg and chickenin this situation. Where to move on from here, though? This concluding
remark is not ended in the negative and pessimistic opinion. There must
be a need to re-think and re-engage to break this vicious cycle. I propose aworkable proposal for re-content higher education and its research in
Cambodia, but keep in mind that any process of re-contenting will
inevitably be on-going and open-ended, but within the immediate context
of the present Cambodian situation:
At the national level, the re-content process should address a wider
range of graduate attributes and its research agenda. These attributes
would include:1) between economic growth and development on the one hand and nationbuilding (addressing social fragility), social justice and democratization(having a sense of fair share of benefit and fair share of burden), andrevitalization of tradition on the other hand,2) between private good on the one hand and public good on the other hand,3) between private fund on the one hand and public fund and endowment
fund from philanthropists on the other hand.
This wider range of higher learning will lay the foundation for future recontenting cycles of Cambodian higher education and its research.
At the institutional level, the process of re-contenting its governance andmanagement should also address a wider range of management andacademic issues:1) between corporatized leadership and management style on one hand andpublic sphere and academic community culture on the other hand,2) between treating faculty members as taxi cap (part-time teaching) and350

Title Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia

teaching oriented on one hand VS professional/educators as change
agents and critical research oriented on the other hand,3) between curriculum that focuses on skills and employability on one handand disposition toward public good, social justice and deepening the
democratization process and revitalization of tradition on the other hand,4) between utilizing pedagogy and research as tools to masteringknowledge and skill on one hand and critical thinking and reflection on
the other hand.
Finally, at the personal level, addressing the issue of quality and meaningof life in the context of impossibility of fully eliminating the self-interest.
What the re-contenting process needs to address is only through answering
question such as to what extent that the self-interest principle ofneoliberalism can contribute to a more equal and harmonious society?

Notes1）Here we will focus mainly on public higher education as a system and its
research and not research conducted by private company or think tank orother government’s affiliated institutions, though sometimes there is no clear
cut between them in reality. For private higher education, virtually research
activity is absent as it is a teaching-based institution only.
2) Between the Phnom Penh government backed by an occupied Vietnamesearmy and former USSR aid with the Khmer Rouge and the other noncommunist resistance factions funded by China, the United States and theother Western counties along the Cambodia-Thailand border.
3) At the graduate level, mainly in education, administration and management,
and business-related programs as they are classified under the social sciences
category.
4) For more detail of governance and finance both at the system andinstitutional level see: Un and Sok 2018, Un et al. 2018, Sok et al. 2019a, Sok
et al. 2019b, Sok et al. 2009c.
5) Scientific and technical journal articles refer to the number of scientific andengineering articles published in the following fields: physics, biology,351

chemistry, mathematics, clinical medicine, biomedical research, engineeringand technology, and earth and space sciences.
6) (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IP.JRN.ARTC.SC?locations=KH, 2022.5.20)
7) (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?view=chart&locat
ions=KH, 2022.5.19)8) (https://www.adb.org/news/features/here-comes-cambodia-asia-s-new-tiger-economy, 2022.5.19)
9) (https://www.adb.org/countries/cambodia/poverty, 2022.5.19)
10) (https://www.worldeconomics.com/Inequality/Gini-Year/Cambodia.aspx,
2022.5.19)
11) The Uneven economic development indicator considers inequality within
the economy, irrespective of the actual performance of an economy. The
higher the value of the index, the higher the inequality in the country’s
economy.
12) The public services indicator refers to the presence of basic state functions
that serve the people. This may include the provision of essential services,such as health, education, water and sanitation, transport infrastructure,electricity and power, and internet and connectivity. On the other hand, it
may include the state’s ability to protect its citizens, such as from terrorism
and violence, through perceived effective policing. The higher the value ofthe indicator, the worse the public services in the country.
13) The italic is the author’s addition and emphasis.
14) (https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/health-care-feud-finally-laid-rest, 2022.5.19)
15) By the time of this writing, General Directorate of Higher Education, MoEYS,
still employed and looking for Technical Advisors to support its project
implementation. Actually in 2021, there were 15 technical advisors in MoEYS(MoEYS 2022).
16) Recently, MoEYS is trying to introduce a research grant to improveresearch, but it limits only to write and produce textbooks for university
students in Khmer language. It is too early to say anything about this ongoing project and its future direction. Government just established a National
Council of Science and Technology, and Ministry of Industry, Science,
Technology and Innovation, it is also too early to see how they can move
forwards giving the limited public funding for these newly establishedagencies.
17) (https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Hun-Sen-s-Cambodia/Aid-to-Cambodia-t
ops-20bn-but-democratic-society-still-far-off, 2022.5.19)

352

Title Higher Education and Its Research in Cambodia18) Cambodia official development assistance database. (http://odacambodia.com/OwnReport/make̲own̲report.asp#none, 2022.5.19)
19) Cambodia official development assistance database. (http://odacambodi
a.com/OwnReport/make̲own̲report.asp#none, 2022.5.19)
20) For more detail see Un and Sok (2022).
21) Prahok is Cambodian traditional salted and fermented fish paste, usually of
mudfish. This metaphor is used to indicate that finally Cambodia is able totake ownership on the development discourse.
22) Similar observation is also made by Euld et al. (2019).
23) At the time of this writing, a personal conversation with people working
closely with donors’ circle indicate that Asian Development Bank, whose
previous work focusing on technical and vocational training, is considering toenter into higher education. With this new actor, there is a hope that the ruleof game would change.
24) (https://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2019/10/30/cambodia-reducing-p
overty-and-sharing-prosperity, 2022.6.1)
25) (https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2020, 2022.6.21)
26) Though limited only to the component 2, “Development & Innovation Grant”
of the project, the anecdotal evidence indicates that it is actually failed in allcomponents, except the ability to spend all project budget (for more detailsee Rappleye and Un (2018)).
27) This is measured solely on disbursement rate, and there are no otheralternative criteria for the successfully evaluation.
28) In the mid of project implementation, it is important to note that there is acall for to include social sciences and humanities by both Ministry of
Economic and Finance and Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport leading
to the marginal reallocation of fund to reform three social sciences andhumanities programs at Royal University of Phnom Penh, but with the aim
to support and make STEM graduate more effectively and efficiently;
addressing what the private sectors call the lack of soft skills including teamwork, critical thinking, work ethics.
29) (https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo̲pub̲gii̲2020/kh.pdf, 2022.6.2)30) (https://grant-fellowship-db.jfac.jp/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/fs1904̲ul̲
fr̲en.pdf, 2022.6.2)
31) (https://grant-fellowship-db.jfac.jp/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/fs1904̲ul̲
fr̲en.pdf, 2022.6.2)
32) Progress is defined as the capacity of a society to meet the basic humanneeds of its citizens, establish the building blocks that allow citizens and353

communities to enhance and sustain the quality of their lives, and create theconditions for all individuals to reach their full potential.
33) These indicators are classified under the three broad dimensions: Basic
Human Needs, Foundations of Wellbeing, and Opportunity. Within eachdimension, there are four components that further divide into thematic
categories.
34) For more information, (https://www.socialprogress.org/index/global)
35) For more information, (https://www.goodcountry.org/index/about-the-index/)36) These indicators are classified under seven broad dimensions: Science &Technology, Culture, International Peace & Security, World Order, Planet &Climate, Prosperity & Equality and Health & Wellbeing.
37) Nearly all of the historical scholarly work on Cambodia focuses on two
subjects: Ankor Wat and the rise/fall of the Khmer Rouge (1975-1979).
Contemporary research also focuses almost exclusively on two subjects:
democratization or development policy (human rights, rule of law, corruption
and nepotism). Whether historical or contemporary, virtually all studies areunderpinned by one common, yet banal assumption: if everyone plays theirappropriate role the prescribed policies will lead Cambodia society todevelopment ‒ science, industrialization, and a consumption-based market
economy. The naïve hope that the final stage of human progress is justaround the corner is unproblematized. Also, in Cambodia’s schools andcolleges today, conversations amongst diverse ideological or ethicalperspectives are sidelined by the narrow pursuit of “human capital”. This
human capital actually serve the limited population around the urban andformal economy and do not often serve the national development needs andthe larger population. Under the new neoliberal economic focus, higher
education reform gears its graduates for economic growth and the global
development agenda.
38) There is a promising project which is supported by Swedish government’s
bilateral program with RUPP as it potentially gives the freedom for recontenting. However, it remains to be seen whether or not the Cambodianside can see the opportunity to re-content.

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カンボジアにおける高等教育−誰のための、何のためのものか−
リアン・ウン*＜要旨＞

カンボジアの高等教育およびその研究は、最近になって発展したものでも、昔から恒常的に発展してきたものでもない。1953 年の独立後、高等教育とその研究は、カンボジア近代化という一大国家プロジェク
トの中で一時的に広がり、1960 年に最初の近代的な大学が設立された。
しかしこの機運は 20 年以上にわたる内戦によって中断され、さらにク
メール・ルージュ政権（1975-1979）の発足により完全に停止した。第二次内戦（1979-1991）の間も高等教育は発展することはなかった。高等
教育とその研究がカンボジアの発展戦略の重要な柱となったのはごく最近のことである。高等教育とその研究による革新的な知識が、知識基
盤型経済社会の構築と論理的な相関関係にあるとされ、このような状況が築かれたのである。
本稿では、「何のために」「誰のために」という観点から、第二次内戦終結後のカンボジアにおける高等教育とその研究の発展が、革新的知識の指標にどのような影響を与えてきたかを検討する。本稿は 6 節から構成される。第 1 節では、カンボジアの歴史的背景を簡潔に紹介し、続く第 2 節ではカンボジアの高等教育とその研究の現状を概観する。
第 3 節では、カンボジアの高等教育（研究）とその発展の歴史との関係を明らかにし、「何のため、誰のためのカンボジアの高等教育とその研究なのか」という問いへの解を探る。第 4 節では、カンボジアの高等教
育およびその研究はどのようにして現在の状況に至ったのかを、第 5 節
ではカンボジアの高等教育およびその研究の将来の方向性はどうあるべきかを検討し、最後に第 6 節はカンボジアの高等教育およびその研究の将来の方向性への示唆で結ぶ。

カンボジア王立プノンペン大学人文社会学部・学部長
名古屋大学高等教育研究センター・客員教授

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