In Search of a Good Career
Wednesday, March 05, 2008 - by seiha
A foreign student at the Photo: Phen Raksmey Seng Xoing
"I am in my final year of Khmer Literature at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Now I speak Khmer well. In the beginning it was difficult because I was in an all Cambodian class," says Seng Xoing from Laos, a former radio staff. He has only one complaint about his time in Phnom Penh: "100 US Dollars a month with free accommodation and one trip home per year isnot not enough."
Lang Xiufen
Lang Xiufen is a student of Khmer literature at Quangsi University in China and studying here for one year. The best out of twelve students in her class, Lang Xiufen says “I want to study Khmer literature and culture because Cambodia is an ancient civilization.” Lang was surprised that the Royal University of Phnom Penh has no accommodation for Chinese students. After graduation Lang Xiufen hopes to be a lecturer at Yunan University.
Le Thanh Hoang
25-year old Vietnamese student, Le Thanh Hoang comes from a small town in Thanh Hoa province, Northern Vietnam. Studying Khmer literature at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Le Thanh Hoang comes from a middle class family and wants to be a diplomat in the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh, or an official in Vietnam.
Sitting behind a big wooden desk, a middle-aged lecturer is carefully reading a threepage article to the students. Occasionally he asks them: “Do you understand?” Then, he writes the key vocabulary and explanations on the white board to ensure his twelve students understand.
This is in a class of foreign students of Khmer literature on the third floor
of the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Since 1984, Cambodia has allowed foreign students to study Khmer literature and culture. At that time, there were only Vietnamese and German students who came to study. Now many students from different countries are studying for a bachelor's degree in Khmer literature.
There are 118 foreign students studying in Cambodia, according to the 2006-2007 academic-year report of Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. They are 72 from Vietnam, 35 from Laos, nine from Korea and three from China with 112 at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, and six at the Institute of Technology.
Pen Ranny, director of the Foreign Students Office, Ministry of Education Youth and Sport, said the number of foreign students as both scholarship and private increases annually. They are at three different levels – bachelor degree, associate degree and short
course. “Because Cambodia has many exchange programs with the international community.”
He says that there are two requirements for foreign students to study here: if they are a scholarship student, they first have to contact the Ministry of Education, the ministry will then send them to the university they applied for. In the case of private students, they have to have a recommendation from their embassy and then they have to contact the Ministry of Education. The student will then be sent to the university of their choice.
Mr. Pon Chhay, the head of the Study Office at the Royal University of Phnom Penh says they accept most foreign students who wish to study Khmer literature. There are students from China, Vietnam, Korea, Laos, Japan and the United States at the university. In 2004, an agreement with Quangsi University for Chinese nationals was signed to allow students who study Khmer in China to study at the RUPP for one year.
The same report shows that there are many more foreign students studying Khmer literature compared to other subjects. Pon Chhay explains that this is because the countries having relations with Cambodia have less people who know Khmer, so they send their students to study Khmer literature, as the Royal University is the only state run university to offer a bachelor's degree in Khmer literature.
Pon Chhay says, “many students attend this university because the
RUPP is a member of the ASEAN University Network, and its quality has been recognized since 1999.”
Of all the foreign scholarship students in Cambodia, only Laotian and Vietnamese students receive a monthly stipend and accommodation while other countries’ students have to support themselves.
Le Thanh Dong, a third year Vietnamese scholarship student of Khmer literature says he receives a monthly stipend of 100 Dollars, accommodation and a holiday trip once a year. He wants to learn Khmer because Cambodia is Vietnam’s neighbouring country, and he hopes to use the knowledge for the development process of both countries.
Because the state will assign him a place to work, Le Thanh Dong doesn‘t have to worry about a job when he returns to Vietnam. Pon Chhay says most of the students are given jobs by their government after graduation, and others already have jobs in Cambodia. The Author: Phen Raksmey
