Stakeholder involvement in the higher education sector in Cambodia

Abstract

This article examines how stakeholders involve themselves in the higher education (HE) sector in donor-dependent Cambodia and to what extent and with what result these stakeholders succeed to collaborate, or fail to do so. This study is based on qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 46 key research participants from relevant institutions representing the major stakeholders in the sector. The triple helix model, advocating a close government-university-industry collaboration, is employed as a guiding tool for data analysis. The study identifies four categories of stakeholders in the sector, namely government, development partners, HE institutions, and the industries. The stakeholders contribute to the sector in diverging ways and at different levels. Despite their involvement, collaboration among stakeholders has remained very limited, impeding the advancement of the sector. Thus, stakeholder collaboration, as postulated in the triple helix model, has yet to emerge in the Cambodian context.

Keywords:

• higher education
• knowledge-based economy
• stakeholder
• triple helix model
• collaboration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. HEIs in Cambodia are supervised by 14 government institutions, 57% of which are under the supervision of the MoEYS (You 2012).

2. It shall be led by the Prime Minister. It shall function to propose policies and long-term strategies for the social and economic development, evaluate the education sector, and mobilize resources needed for the sector.