Monday, 11 June 2012

Letter to editor: Sam Rany, Phnom Penh Post

Dear LIFT,

I had great pleasure in reading Mr Lim Sovannarith’s feedback, position and valued comments about my letter on May 30, 2012. I highly appreciate his fascinating insight into academic research activities, and I recognise some crucial problems that could impact Cambodia’s academic freedom. I support the development of research in the social sciences in our universities. However, I still believe that there are many obstacles facing students conducting this research in particular. The main problems could be impacted on the validity and quality of research findings including human resources, lecturers or academicians’ research capacity, facilities, library resources and financial support. I’ve observed that most universities select only outstanding students to write their thesis in accordance with institutional capacity, while some universities have required all students to write their thesis without thinking about the ratio between students and supervisors as well as their institutional capacity.

Ultimately, I would like to ask some questions: What are the consequences of this academic\ crisis? How many lecturers hold PhD degree in each university? What facilities can offer resources to research students? How many academic papers and textbooks do lecturers publish per year? Why do most universities select so few students to write a thesis?

Sam Rany

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