Cambodia’s Higher Education Development in Historical Perspectives (1863-2012)

Abstract

Similar to other Southeast Asian countries in the world, Cambodia has established her higher education institutions to develop human capitals with high knowledge and professional ethics for serving the country in the longstanding contemporary history. Remarkably, colonization, political ideologies, and global economic development tendencies have directly influenced on Cambodian public higher education institutions within her various political regimes and social transformation. The purpose of this study is to examine the Cambodian higher education development in the seven different regimes of historical perspectives from the French colony to the present. This paper mainly uses predominantly descriptive approach with secondary sources such as academic papers, textbooks, government documents, non government organization documents, and development partner reports. Therefore, this research could be significant for researchers, academicians, and policymakers to deeper understand about Cambodian higher educational history in order to reform its system for the profits of education quality and student academic success.

Keywords: Cambodia, higher education institutions, development, historical perspectives, public university, education system, tertiary education