[The establishment of five private
universities here is helping to transform the work force in this part of
Cambodia, one of Asia’s poorest countries and a society still living in the
shadow of the genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge. Employers say that English
proficiency is rising and that workers who attend universities stand out for
their ability to express themselves and make decisions. A generation of
students who would otherwise have had little hope to study beyond high school
are enduring grueling schedules to get a degree and pursue their dreams.]
By Thomas Fuller
 |
Adam Ferguson for The International Herald Tribune
Students at Build Bright University in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
|
SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA — Millions of tourists come here every year to visit the ancient
ruins of Angkor Wat, an influx that has helped transform what once resembled a
small, laid-back village into a thriving and cosmopolitan town with thumping
nightlife and more than 10,000 hotel rooms.
But the explosion of the
tourism industry here has also done something less predictable. Siem Reap,
which had no universities a decade ago, is now Cambodia’s second-largest hub
for higher education, after the capital, Phnom Penh.
The sons and daughters
of impoverished rice farmers flock here to work as tour guides, receptionists,
bartenders and waitresses. When their shifts are over, they study finance,
English and accounting.
“I never imagined that I
could go to university,” said Hem Sophoan, a 31-year-old tour guide who is now
studying for his second master’s degree. “There’s been so much change and
opportunities for young people.”
The establishment of
five private universities here is helping to transform the work force in this
part of Cambodia, one of Asia’s poorest countries and a society still living in
the shadow of the genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge. Employers say that English
proficiency is rising and that workers who attend universities stand out for
their ability to express themselves and make decisions. A generation of
students who would otherwise have had little hope to study beyond high school
are enduring grueling schedules to get a degree and pursue their dreams.
Khim Borin, a
26-year-old tour guide by day and law student by night, says he wants to become
a lawyer. But he sometimes has trouble staying awake in class during the high
tourist season, when he spends hours scaling vertiginous temple steps and
baking in the tropical sun.
“I tell my friends, ‘Hit
me if you see me falling asleep,”’ he said.
The son of a broken and
impoverished household, Mr. Khim Borin worked as a bartender and a masseur and
installed air-conditioners at hotels before becoming a tour guide. He
summarizes his life as “hard but happy.”
The five universities in
Siem Reap currently enroll more than 10,000 students. Most of the campuses,
which are scattered around the town, are quiet during the day but come to life
with the buzz of students’ motorcycles as soon as the sun sets.
The United Nations and
foreign aid organizations have had an oversize role in helping steer the
country since the Khmer Rouge were driven from power more than three decades
ago. But the symbiosis of work and study here came together without any master
plan.
It was driven largely by
supply and demand: universities opened to cater to the dreams of Cambodia’s
youth — and offered flexible hours in sync with the rhythms of the tourist
industry. University administrators say 80 to 90 percent of the students hold
full-time jobs.
“They come here, find a
job first, and then they start their bachelor degree,” said Rous Bunthy, vice
president for administrative affairs at the University of South-East Asia,
which opened here in 2006 and has an enrollment of 2,300.
Most students pay the
annual tuition of $400 themselves, Mr. Rous Bunthy said. “Some of their parents
can help a little — maybe $10 a month,” he said.
Although the fees are a
small fraction of what private universities in more developed countries charge,
students often struggle to pay, administrators say.
“The main problem is
financial support,” said That Bunsay, vice president of administrative affairs
at the Siem Reap branch of Build Bright University, the largest in Siem Reap
with about 5,000 enrolled.
“They need to find money
first and then go to school — money is the first priority,” Mr. That Bunsay
said.
Luckier students get
sponsorship from foreigners. On a recent evening, an Argentine insurance
saleswoman on vacation here, Maria Theresa Landoni, waited outside Mr. That
Bunsay’s office. She had come to the university to pay the tuition of a young
woman who wanted to study tourism.
Ms. Landoni recounted
how she struck up a friendship with the driver of her tuk-tuk, the open-air
motorized rickshaws popular here, and met his daughter during a visit to the
family’s house. “They were very, very, very poor,” Ms. Landoni said. “This is a
country that has suffered a lot.”
Ms. Landoni said she
agreed to pay one semester’s worth of fees for the daughter: $180. “I don’t
have a lot of money,” Ms. Landoni said. “But I have enough for that.”
All five of the
universities in Siem Reap are privately owned, and some are for-profit
institutions. But administrators say it will be years before the owners of the
universities make money. The wealthy Cambodians who back the schools seem to
see them largely as philanthropic ventures.
“The shareholders say
they are wasting their money compared with other investments,” said Mr. Rous
Bunthy of the University of South-East Asia. “But they are happy because they
are helping people.” Among his university’s shareholders are the owner of a
clothing wholesale business, a beer magnate, the owner of a supermarket chain
and the founder of a successful English-teaching school.
The quality of the
universities in Siem Reap is uneven, says Mr. Hem Sophoan, the tour guide, who
is studying for a master’s in public administration.
“They are thinking about
quantity first — to support their business. They are happy if they have many
students. They want market share,” he said of the universities.
Many graduates seem to
have stayed with their employers and moved up, their degrees having made them
better prospects for managerial roles. But it is too early to draw conclusions
about whether the degrees are leading to better jobs. The six-year-old
University of South-East Asia, for example, has had only two graduating
classes, and they were small.
Still, Mr. Hem Sophoan
and other students say that despite any shortcomings at the universities, the
experience of attending classes and obtaining a degree is transformative.
Chan Sreyroth, a
29-year-old manager at a company that owns restaurants in Siem Reap, says she
sees a big difference in her employees who attend universities.
“The difference is that
they have a dream,” said Ms. Chan Sreyroth, who oversees around 250 employees,
many of them students. “After they study, they are not scared anymore. They
want to be something.”
After graduation,
students who work and study at the same time often have an edge over fresh
graduates who have never worked before, for whom starting a career can be
difficult, Ms. Chan Sreyroth and others say. University students are “more
communicative,” she said. “If they don’t like something, they speak out.”
Ms. Chan Sreyroth and
others say they are lucky that Angkor’s temples have proved so popular with
tourists. If it were not for the sandstone structures nestled in the jungles,
Siem Reap would probably have remained a backwater. Last year, 3.3 million
tourists visited Siem Reap, half of them foreigners, according to the Cambodian
Ministry of Tourism.
Kong Soeun, the deputy
director of the local tourism office, is trying to convince others in the
tourism industry that Siem Reap should declare an annual day of remembrance for
the people who built the temples.
He says the tourist
industry helped resurrect his life. His early years were shattered by the Khmer
Rouge. Of 11 brothers and sisters, 6 disappeared. But he put himself through
university with income earned as a tour guide, earned a law degree and dreams
of becoming a crusading lawyer.
“We should remember
their souls,” Mr. Kong Soeun said of his forebears who built Angkor Wat. “These
temples are a very great thing.”
