CAMBODIA’S UNIVERSITY STUDENTS HOPES AND DREAMS FOR THE FUTURE Interviews conducted by Socheat Cheng University graduates are often regarded as embodying the future hope and dreams of society, especially by families, in developing countries like Cambodia but one of the great ironies here is that graduates make up the largest group of unemployed young people in the Kingdom. Employers complain of a mismatch between skills acquired at university and those needed by industry, such as the common desire by too many students for a nice safe job at a bank or similar institution when the country needs middle managers in the garment industry, for instance. Recently I decided to question a number of my fellow students to gauge their attitudes both to their studies and their hopes for the futures once they completed their studies. The six students I talked to study at four tertiary institutions in Phnom Penh: Build Bright University (BBU), The National University of Management (NUM), Pannasastra University (PUC), and the Human Resources University (HRU). Phalla is from Phnom Penh and is in the second year of degree in English Literature at BBU. Srey Da is a nineteen-year-old from Kompong Thom in her second year of studying Banking at NUM. Sara, from Kandal, is in the third year of Accounting at HRU. Twenty-year-old Phally is from Kandal and is in the second year of learning about Banking also at HRU. Chamreoun is a twenty-five old Business Information & Technology Systems student from the capital in his third year at PUC. Finally, Nette, in her second year studying Business Management at BBU, is also from Phnom Penh. 1. How confident are you that your studies will help you find a job once you complete them? Phalla, Phally and Chamreoun were all pretty confident of finding a job after graduation. Phalla says “I’m very confidence as I’ve worked hard at school and knowing English makes it easier to find a job.” Chamereous said as he is working already while studying at the same time, and his school’s reputation was also an advantage. Phally also felt she had a good chance because she had worked hard at school and agreed the prestige of your alma mater was very important for finding a job. Srey Da’s was a little less confident, saying that it could take her gain the necessary experience, but even if she couldn’t find work related to her degree, she felt her school’s reputation would help her a great deal finding another sort of job. Sara meanwhile answered that as he lacked computer and English language skills as well as any experience, he felt tit would be much more difficult for him to him a good job. “My school’s reputation may help me get onto the shortlist of candidates, but succeeding in the interview is something else.” Nette said that if she wasn’t able to find a job by the time she graduated, she’d be too old at around forty, for any private sector employer to be interested in hiring her. 2. What will you do if you are unable to find a job? All the students said they would just keep looking and never give up. Srey Da said “I’ll keep trying because I just couldn’t return to my home province without finding a job first. I’d feel so embarrassed in front of my family, who have supported me financially, as well as my friends in the village and particularly, with myself. I’d never ever go back home if I didn’t have a job.” Sara also would try to work in other fields outside with chosen field at any salary – big or small – while waiting for a better opportunity to arrive. Phally said that she would keep hunting and learning more English as she felt this was an extremely important skill to have these days. Phalla said that first she would seek a job, but if this failed, she would run a grocery with her mother, while Nette said she’d run a local food stall if necessary. Chamreoun meanwhile exuded confidence. “There is a very small chance that I won’t find a good job given my experience and higher skill set.” 3. Do you think your course of study can contribute to building Cambodia’s economy? Nette says “Yes, as more and more investors flow into Cambodia, this means Cambodia will need better human resources to answer this demand, especially in the business service sector. Chamreoun also felt degrees and qualifications in all areas made a contribution to economic growth while his IT skills would even more helpful as they helped the nation to improve its communications in this technological age. Phalla expressed the opinion “English language is a very important skill in almost every sector of the economy. Private companies need English, NGOs need English, particularly tourism needs English.” Both Srey Da and Phally, who are studying Banking said their education would help the country because banks helped people to get assess to credit to grow their businesses or create new ones, as well as establish a savings culture. Sara said “My skills are important as they are based on money management, which means we know how to use money to make money properly, particularly for investment.” 4. Once you have your qualification, are you confident it will be equal to similar qualifications offered by universities in other countries? Phalla says “I doubt it. I’m not confident my qualification will be equal to that of other nations as our education system is less advanced, and Cambodia is still recovering from decades of chronic war and instability. Srey Da, Phally and Nette said it was similar, but not equal to those from other countries as their qualifications were better. Chamreoun says “No, because Cambodia is a developing country, so our education system can’t be compared with the developed world and some nations are many steps ahead before us. For instance, some students can be teachers here, while ordinary staff can act as managers.” However, Phally was very confident since she felt her school produced comparable qualifications and some students had already successfully transferred to schools overseas. 5. Do you think you are getting value for money from your studies? Chamreoun says “Yes. The work I’m doing now is based on my major so it’s paying off already. What I enjoy the most is I’m not only learning about design but also about business plans and advertising, and such. Those are all very important skills as if we design a product without an end user in mind, what’s the use? Learning about advertising, for instance, is fantastic. Phalla said she thought she was getting some value but only a little bit. Meanwhile, Phally and Sara said what they got in terms of the quality of the teaching and the work ethic their university was teaching them was acceptable. Srey Da said “No, I don’t think I’m getting value for money yet but I’m confident that after I’ve graduated, then it will pay off, whereas Nette said that although she might not be getting much value from her studies now, once she was successful in business, it would all prove worthwhile.
Posted on: Fri, 30 Aug 2013 01:55:19 +0000
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