Henri Locard
Royal University of Phnom Phenh, henrilocard@gmail.com
Tha Leang Ang
Royal University of Phnom Phenh, invite@tubely.com
AbstractIn the past few years, Cambodia has seen an explosion in the growth of Higher Education
that has been, to a large extent, absorbed by the dramatic rise in the number of private
Universities. There are now some 106 campuses across the country.
In the academic year, 2007-8, there were 110,090 bachelor degree students enrolled,
among which 46,395 were in public Universities and 63,695 in private ones, according to
Ministry of Education figures. There were also 15,802 Associate Degree students and
11,209 post –graduate students (over twice the number of the previous year).The vast
majority of students - even in state universities - pay fees of about $400 a year. More than
half of the 5,184 postgraduate students in Cambodian Higher Education Institutions
2006-2007 took an MBA or a related financial management course.
Enrolments are now over 12 times the number in 1996. Scholarships do not exist - only a
few of the best students are exonerated from paying those fees.
Unlike all other Departments of the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), the
History Department has not been renovated and is not connected to any other in the
region or in the West. Recruitment is low: there are only cohorts of about 30 students for
each of the 4 years. The Department is supposed to train upper secondary school teachers
for the entire country. It has 11 lecturers, 5 of whom have a Master. None have a PhD.
This subject is not very popular in Cambodia among students these days, as teachers are
poorly paid.
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