Cambodia Country Education Profiles

1. Overview

2. Education System in Cambodia

3. Qualification Equivalences

Overview

• The Cambodian Education System consists of 12 years of general schooling, which is similar to Australian system. However, students in Australia can do year 12 in two years in order to reduce the workload.

• Cambodia’s level of literacy has remained at 68% for many years.

• Recently, the demand for higher education increases rapidly, particularly in private sector.

• The number of students enrolled in the higher education increased more than doubled within 3 years period. Many students in Cambodia enroll full time in 2 or 3 institutions at the same time.

Overview

• The language of instruction in most of the institutions is Khmer. Some universitites use English.

• Some institutions that provide specialist education are administered by parent ministries on the basis of the subjects taught.

• Cambodia relies heavily on aids from donors to fund education.

• International aid contributes $US55 mil per anum.

• Royal Government of Cambodia aids $US2 mil per anum.

Education System

• There are many paths that students can choose when they get to the higher education.

• They can choose to obtain the Bachelor Degree from universities, or other types of degree such as Associate Degree, License in particular professional fields, and Diploma.

• The length of the study depends on the Degree taken:

• Associate Degree takes 2 years

• Bachelor Degree takes 4 years

• Post Graduate Degree takes 2 years

• Professional Degree can take up to 8 years.

Qualification Equivalences

• The length of study in higher education institutions in Cambodia is similar to many other countries, but is slightly different from Australian education system.

• Bachelor Degree in Australia takes 3 to 5 years depends on the courses.

• Even though it takes slightly longer to study in Cambodia, but the degrees in Cambodia institutions are at lower standard compared to the Australian degrees.

• The qualification standards in Cambodia can be divided based on 4 sections.

Qualification Equivalences

• Section 1: Leading Institutions

• Consists of 5 institutions: 2 publics, 3 privates

• Bachelor Degrees are equivalent to Australian Bachelor Degrees or lower.

• Master Degrees are equivalent to Australian Bachelor Degrees.

• Section 2: Specialist Institutions

• Consists of 9 institutions: 5 publics, 3 privates

• Bachelor Degrees are equivalent to only Australian Associate Degrees

• Master Degrees are equivalent to Australian Bachelor Degrees.

Qualification Equivalences

• Section 3: Evolving Institutions

• Consists of 21 institutions: 7 publics, 14 privates

• Bachelor Degrees are equivalent to Australian Diploma Degrees or lower.

• There is no details provided on Master Degrees.

• Section 4: Other Institutions

• Consists of 56 institutions: 22 publics, 34 privates

• All degrees are qualified based on a case-by-case basis.

Cambodian Higher Education Market

• Cambodia is a potential market for 3 reasons:

• The demand for higher education increases recently. It can be pointed out of the fact that there are young institutions in Cambodia. Locally, numerous of new institutions were established in less than 10 years until now.

• The qualification standard in Cambodia is low and the length of study is relatively long, by which students must seek for internationally recognised degrees in other countries with higher standard.

• Several Cambodian ministries are in charge of different institutions, it will be opportunities for them to have better quality employments by sending students to study overseas.