IT in Higher Education in Cambodia

IT in Higher Education in Cambodia Men Saravuth 1 and Vatcharaporn Esichaikul 2 1 Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia 2 Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand vatchara@ait.ac.th Abstract In many countries there seems to be a growing recognition that information technology (IT) is important for higher education. IT and other emerging technologies can be used in a wide variety of educational environments. However, the established higher education system in Cambodia has not adapted to the changing needs of using IT at various levels. Most of the developing countries have to implement IT policies in the higher education level, but they need to be supported with necessary technological infrastructures, human resources, and financial resources. Cambodia faces the same condition that other developing countries encounter in implementing IT in the higher education system. A key factor in improvement of the higher education system is the development of an instructional support system that accommodates the responsibility of educators to be constantly updated in subject matter and teaching methodology. The use of IT such as Internet applications, information retrieval, and information publishing provides solutions to the need for fast and relevant information in the higher education system. The study aims to investigate how IT can better support higher education in Cambodia. First, the current status of IT applications in higher education is determined. Second, the problems and limitations of IT usage are identified. Then the study determines the appropriate IT applications in higher education. Finally, the study provides recommendations on IT development in Cambodia, including a national IT education plan. Keywords: IT, Higher Education, Cambodia, Internet 1. Introduction Cambodia has one of the lowest levels of access to information technology (IT) in Southeast Asia. This is partly a reflection of its low level of income, which also affects other factors, such as literacy and education, that have a bearing on IT use. Information technology is no longer seen as a choice, but as a necessary strategy for Cambodia to adopt, and it can help to improve the general knowledge and enhance the higher education. The Cambodian government has initiated a number of efforts to give a direction to IT applications and development in higher education in the country. This includes a plan to establish a national computer-training program, to encourage research activities in software development, to create a national information bank, and to develop a networking system to disseminate and collect data and information. Cambodia is very far behind other countries in terms of information technology and higher education. Even in many state and public agencies, there is a lack of computer knowledge and this has made teaching programs very difficult. For this reason, workers with knowledge of basic computer, Internet, and email systems are very few. Also, the use of the Internet in higher education is inherently limited to few applications. The constraints on Cambodia s development of the IT sector include changing mind sets of the people, lack of IT human resources, and soft and hard IT infrastructure. Changing mind sets of the people require concerted efforts of high-level policy makers and strong internal and external driving forces to overcome internal restraining forces. The next obstacle includes insufficient English language skills. Efforts are underway to rebuild the country in all sectors. Attempts have been made in IT human resource development as well. Providing information technology for higher education in Cambodia is not easy, especially the use of Internet and email systems. Internet service providers are few and because of this monopoly they charge very high prices for their services, in relation to other developing countries in Asia. Cambodia currently has the highest cost in Southeast Asia for Internet services. This is also a reason why many Cambodian students at the colleges and universities have never used the Internet. 2. Current Status of IT in Cambodia 2.1 IT Curriculum Today, information science and technology have an important role in all fields. The continuous dynamic development of the Internet has given a new face to all aspects. Through the Internet and the development of information technology, the world can communicate in a timely and most efficient fashion. However, the pace of development is not even, due to the state of economic and social development of each country. In Cambodia, after a change in the economic policy, the first computer department was set up in 1990 at the Royal Phnom Penh University to provide training in information science. Saravuth, M. and Esichaikul, V. 285

Teachers trained in the initial courses have taken part in setting up successive short training courses for government officials, staff of various organizations, factories, companies, and ministries/offices. Apart from that, in 1996, a number of private colleges and classes started to offer training in various disciplines, including computer science. To date, thousands of people have taken certificate courses in computer. In the years 2000-2001, thousands of computer engineers took exit examinations from higher educational institutions both public and private. What should be noted and focused on now is that computer science has been developing, but has yet to meet our desired target, both in terms of quality and quantity. Therefore, in order to keep the development of Cambodia's IT in step with the situation of the world, the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport (MoEYS) plans to introduce information science into the curriculum and equip computers for each level of education. The educational institutions have been innovating some of their study programs to keep up with the international standards in computer study and have included programming language (Pascal, C/C ++ ) and Management Information System (MIS) into their curriculum. The Ministry plans to install 40 to 60 additional computers for each higher educational institution. 2.2 Infrastructure In the telecommunications sector, the entire country of 11.7 million people has approximately 140,000 telephones only, 75 percent of which are cellular mobile phones. Hence, the telephone density is only about 0.3 per 100 people for fixed PSTN (Public Switch Telephone Network) and it is merely about 1.2 telephones per 100 people, including cellular phones. The telephone service is concentrated mainly in the capital and provincial cities, and almost non-existent in the outlying rural areas. The fixed PSTN in Phnom Penh is provided by the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication of Cambodia (MPTC). The fixed PSTN in the provincial cities is provided by CamNet, a joint venture between the MPTC and Indosat of Indonesia. The wireless local loop is provided by Shinawatra from Thailand and cellular mobiles are provided by four private companies: Casacom, Mobitel, Camtel, and Shinawatra. The Internet infrastructure services based on optical fiber have also been started to introduce their service to the country. Under this project, the service will cover the area from the Vietnam border to the Thailand border. This project is funded by the German government. From south to north of Cambodia, the transmission of microwaves are being arranged by using local satellite system covering the area from Phnom Penh to those provinces (IT Forum, Phnom Penh, April 2002). 2.3 Internet Service in Cambodia The Internet was introduced to Cambodia in 1997 with the assistance of the International Development Research Center (IDRC) of Canada. It is now run fully by MPTC under the name CamNet. The current Internet penetration is still very low and the prices are high compared to prices in the neighboring countries (above $2 per hour). The problems being faced include the lack of a vibrant academic community that could help nurture and sustain networking; the non-availability of a Unicode for the Khmer language, which hinders local application development, and the severe shortage of dial-up telephone lines needed to access the Internet. In the field of Internet, currently there are five ISPs in Cambodia. CamNet is the biggest provider, which started its operations in May 1997. Bigpond (a subsidiary of Telstra, Australia) started its operation in June 1997 to provide Internet service. Camintel and Mobitel commenced their operations in the year 2001. TFI is expected to provide the Internet services soon. The total number of Internet users at present is estimated to be about 10,000. In the local Internet connection, all ISPs and Internet users are using the telecommunication infrastructure of Ministry of Post and Telecommunications of Cambodia, such as fixed telephone line with PSTN and analog leased line copper wire. Some applications were provided by ISPs in Cambodia. So far, customers have been using the dial-up email, Internet web browsers, web hosting with FTP service, and the leased Internet service and the Internet prepaid service. 2.4 Internet Applications in Higher Education The importance of IT has been well recognized in higher education. However, the recently created Ministry of Information Technology has yet to put forward a strategic plan. Widespread use of IT is especially apparent in Phnom Penh, which is relatively developed economically and educationally. It was revealed that IT has not yet been penetrated deeper into other parts of the country, even in higher education institutes. Educational technology has the potential to transform the learning environment for both educators and students. As Internet services are relatively new in the higher education system in Cambodia, now the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport has been continuously discussing with the government regarding an IT policy for the national education system. There are currently no policies governing access to IT, particularly to Internet applications in the higher education system. At present, many universities and many institutions in Cambodia neither have nor use Internet applications. Furthermore, some universities and institutions use only email as an Internet application. It is obvious that IT or Internet applications in higher education in Cambodia are very poor on the ground since almost none of the universities or institutions have Internet facilities. Even 286 Saravuth, M. and Esichaikul, V.

when they have the Internet access, very often they use it only for email and not for browsing the Internet for other purposes such as finding information or other educational uses. The very nature of the Internet offers many venues for improvement of students knowledge. However, it is important to have access to priority needs of students if they are to be accurately addressed. Some Cambodian students are likely to have PCs and an Internet connection. They are willing to use this new technology and to get some new knowledge. However, the education system does not provide required opportunity for students. This is further evidenced by the fact that many educational institutions have not yet set up the Internet applications for the use of students. Therefore, students have to use private Internet facilities like Internet café, even by paying a higher price ($1/hours) for that. So it is necessary to review this situation and to make plans as to how these problems existing in the education system may be overcome in order to help students in meeting their information needs. 3. Problems of IT Use for Education and Training in Higher Education Discussions are continuing with regard to the need for reform the university system in Cambodia. The debate goes on to as to how the educational system and universities in Cambodia could be restructured in such a manner that would fit the national economic interest of the country. The initial step in that regard has been identified as the need for an action plan that could be implemented smoothly in Cambodia. In that regard, the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport is working now and has come out with a draft form of such a plan. However, the Ministry has not yet defined any framework of policy for IT development in higher education institutions. 3.1 Lack of Human Resource in IT Cambodia has not only one of the youngest populations in the world (with 55 percent below 20 years of age in 1998) but also is a country with a very low number of educated people. This was a result of the Khmer Rouge period, when an estimated 90 percent of Cambodians with a secondary or higher educations were either killed or fled the country (Fedora, 2000). This indicates that the educational sector faces major challenges. However, it is obvious that there is a great opportunity to expose a large proportion of the population to the benefits of IT. However, The Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport has no-large scale plan to place computers or telephones in schools, or universities. The primary goals of the Ministry are very basic, such as universal basic education and enhancing literacy, improving the quality of education, and complementing education with job opportunities. The Ministry only possesses mediumquality human resource in such fields. So it is urgent to improve the skills of human resources, especially at high academic levels. The majority of public institutions do not have enough money for telephones, computers and Internet facilitates. CamNet has offered free Internet to institution but most of them cannot afford the telephone lines, nor do they have electricity or the skill to use the Internet. Internet connectivity is not considered a high priority. Out of nine tertiary educational institutions, only four have Internet at least in one of the departments. However, they continue to face problems even if they have a computer and connectivity. For example, Hun Sen Library at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) was provided with twenty computers connectivity via a local area network (LAN) and all computers are connected with wireless broadband 64Kbps Internet connection. At the time when the university was provided with a technician it could not access a US-based site to pay for the software to operate LAN. By the time link was restored, the technician had returned to his country of region. After five months later, the university still had only one computer connected and three awaiting the availability of a LAN technician. Another problem is the lack of coordination amongst the various assistance efforts. For example, the University of Technology Sydney has set up a student registration database for RUPP, while the University of Malina is working on personnel database. There is no plan to link these two related projects or to set up a database for finance, administration, etc. Maryknoll, a non-governmental organization (NGO), is providing staff training for these databases. Unfortunately, some offers for assistance are not acted upon rapidly enough and Cisco s efforts to establish a computer training facility at the RUPP are still on hold. Many students in the field of computer science are graduated with Bachelor of Science degree from Royal University of Phnom Penh and Norton University. These two universities are completed with small pit of human resource, but it is not sufficient for IT development. However, we still need professionals, IT experts from overseas and some help from international funds. If we achieve all National Information Communication Technology Development Authority IT goals, Cambodia will plug into the global network economy. 3.2 Lack of Budget to Fund IT Development in Higher Education Although the Royal Government of Cambodia has not launched a strategy or even implemented a definite policy to develop IT in Cambodian higher education, higher education institutions themselves have made efforts to develop IT within their own institutions. The government s budget for IT development in higher education is very limited, but the government s Saravuth, M. and Esichaikul, V. 287

initiatives in that regard has encouraged international assistance and cooperation on IT development. The World Bank is interested in higher education reform, and IT development in higher education institutions is one of its strategies to enhance quality assurance in Cambodia s higher education system. Because providers are not providing enough Internet resource to subscribers and some prices of Internet providers are very high, universities or institutions cannot afford such a large amount of money to establish the required connection. 3.3 Limitation of Internet Applications in Higher Education Public Internet access facilities in Cambodia are limited. There are not many higher education institutions that can access Internet facilities. For example, RUPP has provided 330 computers and four servers but students can access the Internet only one day per week and not more than two hours. Cisco organization has set up about 30 computers, particularly with ISP TeleSurf, so teachers and scholarship students in the Information Department (Computer Science) can access the Internet for research information but not full time (two or three day per week). At Hun Sen Library, students can have access to the Internet with sixteen computers for research documents, whereas NU has 450 computers but only eleven computers on which students can access the Internet every day, but not more than two or three hours per day. Normally, most higher education institutions have limited Internet use. Some education institutions use Internet only for email service. Some education institutions use Internet for both email and research documents for one day per week, and some other education institutions, which are supported by sponsors or in cooperation with NGOs can access the Internet every day. 4. Guidelines for Cambodia With reference to the analysis done on the situation in Cambodia, and considering the higher education system that exists in developing counties and developed countries, guidelines were developed to increase the use of IT for higher education in Cambodia. 4.1 National Level Management Aspect. A national education IT committee should be appointed under the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. The national IT committee should represent the following institutions: Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport National Institute of Education Council of Information Technology From these institutes, IT specialists, teacher educators, education administrators, policy makers, and other government representatives can be selected for this committee. Infrastructure: Developing the National Educational IT Units. Current IT units in the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport should be upgraded to a national educational IT unit. It should have a well-equipped computer laboratory with local area network and Internet facilities. An Intranet should be developed, integrating selected schools and national colleges of education under the national educational IT unit in order to share information. An Internet service provider (ISP) should be established for Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport, under the national educational IT unit. The same ISP will be asked to provide Internet facilities via dedicated links to the proposed regional IT resource centers. 4.2 Regional Level Management Aspect. A regional educational IT committee should be appointed for the regional IT resource centers under the purview of the national educational IT committee. This committee should comprise an IT specialist, and one or two science teachers. Infrastructure: Developing Regional Resource Centers: Throughout the country, IT resource centers are expected be established in all regions. These centers are further expected to develop computer laboratory and local area network (LAN). Internet connectivity should be provided to these centers via dedicated lines from the ISP, which is established in the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport. 4.3 School and Higher Education Institute Level Management Aspect. A school/institute IT committee shall be appointed for each selected secondary school, high school, and higher education institute. This committee shall comprise the principal, network administrator, and science teachers with IT skills. Infrastructure. Computer laboratories in secondary schools, high schools, and higher education institutes shall be established. Providing IT laboratory facilities for selected secondary schools, high schools, and higher education institutes. Establishing LANs in above-secondary schools, high schools, and higher education institutes, and Internet connectivity will be via dial-up connection through the national educational IT unit. 4.4 Internet Application Integration Plan Considering the present situation of the higher education system in Cambodia, it would not be wise to implement an advanced scheme for integrating full Internet application as instructional support. The best 288 Saravuth, M. and Esichaikul, V.

way is to introduce in phases a scheme that is customized according to the current university capabilities in terms of infrastructure, personnel skills, and financial constraints. Implementing a scheme that the local environment does not have the capacity to use, maintain, and administer will put unfair pressure on users and will result in a waste of valuable resources. Based on the data collected, the following strategies are deemed suitable for consideration when implementing any Internet application in the higher education system in Cambodia. Utilization of Intranet/LAN Servers. Since accessing the Internet on-line is very expensive in Cambodia, storing information from the World Wide Web (WWW) into the university intranet or LAN servers is a good alternative to support higher education instruction. Although the real on-line accessing of Internet is sacrificed, the scheme is cost-effective and still gives the teachers and students exposure to the Internet environment. In this scheme, the teachers may provide the list of information that they need to support their teaching to the personnel who will do the on-line searching on WWW and then download the information to the intranet server. The teachers will then upload the information from the intranet/lan server. WWW-based Course Support. If a particular on-line Internet-based courseware has to be developed for teachers and students, it should be simple and easy to use. As much as possible, the users should be able to access all the information (including training materials) they need from the course site through simple Web browsers and without using any other separate software and plug-ins. Ease of access is essential for any organization or individual seeking to learn new technology and to obtain information. The WWW environments must be usable by the teachers without having to have a special training course. This course support should also be flexible when used by different faculties in the same university. Networking among Experts. In designing and developing Internet-based instructional support for the country, networking and collaboration among subject experts, and technical and educational technology specialists has to happen. This networking has to be conducted in stages: by experts within the university, collaboration among universities in the country, and among experts from outside the country. Assistance in terms of expertise from other countries and donor agencies should also be tapped. 4.5 Framework for Network Infrastructure In most higher education institutes in Cambodia, IT infrastructure is still based on stand-alone PCs, or a small local area network operated by the university computer center or the university s Faculty of Information Technology. Not only is a centralized curriculum, pedagogy of teaching and information server model appropriate to the university environment, but it should also be well implemented in future when university-wide intranet infrastructure becomes available. LAN and intranet framework is the primary need for an Internet application-based higher education system. LAN is normally an Ethernet-based network connecting computers and other terminals/peripherals in an office, department, or small organizations. An intranet is an internal network of a large corporation, organization, or university connecting various LANs and other terminals, based on the Internet protocol, and which makes use of other Internet technologies such as WWW server and client technology, search engines, e-mail, etc. The infrastructure must have a well-designed information system that is user-friendly and can be easily updated and maintained. LAN and Intranet increase ready availability of information, staff knowledge, resource management, and internal knowledge bases. The university Intranet helps in the distribution of the WWW-based support materials, e- mails and e-mail distribution lists to the teachers as well as to the students. A good Internet connection and connection with national network is very much needed for the successful and fruitful establishment of an Internet application-based higher education institute. 4.6 Internet Applications and Web Facilities The following applications and Web facilities must be included in the Internet-based instructional support in higher education: E-mail Exchange. This will facilitate communication between teachers and students as well as between and/or amongst students. This non-real time facility could be designed in such a way that e-mail will be directly saved into off-line folders for later retrieval. Digital Archive. This is where the reference materials, answer to assignments, etc. are to be uploaded and retrieved. This should be designed in such a way that users do not need technical support. Search Engine. This should be designed to allow users to search easily the information they need from the same courseware site. Course Website. The Website where the courseware is linked must be designed in such a way that it can be accessed easily in terms of loading speed and be easily maintained. The use of Internet applications must be tested and should improve the quality of education in the country. The data gathered from the study is a very useful input to further explore the applicability of the Internet application as an instructional support for the higher education system. 4.7 Plan for IT Human Resource Development Human resource development is imperative for local IT education. Under the HR action plan, a large pool of Saravuth, M. and Esichaikul, V. 289

academically, as well as technically, skilled IT manpower, would be developed to meet the local and foreign needs. The policy accordingly envisages the establishment of a free trade zone institute that focuses on a mid- to advanced-level information technology curriculum. A national testing and certification center should be established. Facilities to conduct distance learning should be created. A detailed plan to introduce information technology to primary and secondary schools should be implemented. Students in the high schools should graduate with working knowledge of at least one software engineering language. IT development will be encouraged to play a significant role in IT education, for which several steps will be taken with regard to IT human resource development. Both IT education and training, in formal as well as non-formal sectors, will be treated as a service in the education institutes. For this purpose the government as well as the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport should be concerned with IT and must consider finding the best strategy and establish an appropriate policy. 5. Conclusion The information age presents developing countries with profound opportunities and challenges for information technology. Cambodia is one of the countries that have a low level of IT in the Asian region, so Cambodia must change its approach to planning, providing, and using information technology, particularly Internet applications in higher education institutes, in order to respond effectively to the changes. Cambodia should implement a sustainable, customer-focused strategic plan and governance processes with regard to IT development. These processes would create a shared vision on the strategic role that information technology in higher education can play to secure our future. The strategic integration of information technology and higher education is fundamental to the mission and the achievement of the goals. It is necessary to train students and teachers to face the challenges of the world in which they will live and work. It is necessary for universities to empower their faculty and employees to be successful and effective in the work they do. It is necessary to update the information technology of country all the time and be alert to current changes happening in the rest of world. Internet applications can be a foundation for progress of information technology in a country - attracting high-quality students, faculty, and staff, responding to the opportunities and challenges of the information age, and creating an environment for excellence in higher education. Information technology must be able to maintain the good will and realistic expectations of a wide audience of information consumers and providers. Then all participants in the educational enterprise will be, at minimum, cautiously receptive when the next IT application of great potential comes along and when the first great cross-border tool arrives. These are important issues for Cambodian higher education system. Advocates and evangelists must make promises carefully, managing both expectations and limited financial resources with great care. They must be honest with themselves, their sponsors, and their clientele about the applications and limits of information technology. The academic enterprise can do great things with information technology and will experience significant benefits from it. But the transition will not be cheap, and therefore may not be affordable. The IT investment, however, will make a qualitative difference in the way they teach, the materials we teach with, the structure of the college curriculum, the learning experience for students, and how we exchange information - both as colleagues and also as faculty interacting with students. References Baltzer-Sutton. 1998. Higher education and Information Technology Trends and Issues. http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/edu/admin/ janeu2.pdf> Chakrya. 2002. Cambodia-Korea IT Forum, Phnom Penh. Darrell. 2001. NIDA Awareness Seminar, Phnom Penh David Sloper. 1999. Higher education in Cambodia: The Social and Educational Context for Reconstruction, UNESCO. IRDC. 2001. Assessment of Internet Technology for Integration into the Higher Education Teachers Instructional Support System in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. MoEYS. 2002. Quality and Efficiency of Education http://www.moeys.gov.kh/profile/edu_in_cambodia/qua lity_efficiency.htm> NIDA. 2001. Information Technology Awareness Seminar: ITU Internet Case Study in Cambodia. UNESCO. 2002. Trends in the use of ICT in education ICT for Education in Asia-Pacific Bureau for Education. http://www.unesco.org/bangkok/education/ict/teaching_ learning/trends/main.htm> 290 Saravuth, M. and Esichaikul, V.