Blurred identities: the hybridisation of post-secondary education and training in Cambodia

ABSTRACT

This study intends to identify existing permeability pathways between post-secondary education and training in Cambodia and to highlight hindrances that hamper the smooth permeability between the two systems. Adopting a hybrid process, the study combines both inductive and deductive thematic analysis approaches in coding transcribed interviews at 15 sampled training institutions and universities. The study finds that the most common route to higher education and training is through the higher qualification programmes under the same track. Although a transfer mechanism between education and training is in place thanks to the establishment of the national qualifications framework and credit transfer system, it is still a much complicated and less utilised pathway. Challenges that thwart the mobility of students include the lack of inter-ministerial collaboration and coordination, issues related to the assessment of students’ prior qualifications, and differences in quality assurance mechanisms between the two tracks. Be it more or less, these barriers have contributed to the academisation of technical training and the vocationalisation of higher education in the country.

KEYWORDS:

• Permeability
• post-secondary education and training
• credit transfer
• recognition of prior learning
• Cambodia

Acknowledgments

This study is part of Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI)’s 3.5-year research project on TVET in Cambodia. The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) for funding this project. The views expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of CDRI or SDC.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)’s Grant Number [81048561].

Notes on contributors

Phal Chea

Phal Chea is a research fellow at the Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI), Cambodia. Previously, he worked as a consultant for the World Bank and as an adjunct researcher at Kobe University, Japan. His research interests include post-secondary education, economics of education, education finance, learning assessment, and impact evaluation.

Seyhakunthy Hun

Seyhakunthy Hun is a Research Assistant at Cambodia Development Resource Institute in the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation. Currently, he is on study leave to pursuing his Master’s degree in International Development at Nagoya University, Japan. His main interest include higher education development, mainly focusing on skill gaps/mismatch, TVET, and economics of education.

Sopheak Song

Sopheak Song is Director of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation of Cambodia Development Resource Institute. His research focuses on teaching and learning, workforce development, vocational and professional education, and university-industry linkages. He holds a PhD in Educational science and Humanities from Hiroshima University, Japan.