CERCular: No.1 of 1998

Consultancies



Cost Sharing and Higher Education in Cambodia

In October-November 1997, Zhang Minxuan and Mark Bray worked in Cambodia on a project supported by the World Bank for the Royal Government of Cambodia. The main focus was on the costs of higher education, and on the ways in which mechanisms to share costs with users could be introduced and improved.

The study began with analysis of the size and shape of the higher education system. This included assessment of existing unit costs and the ways in which those costs were met. Although substantial cost-sharing is evident in Cambodia's primary and secondary schools, tertiary students not only gain fee-free education but even receive stipends and allowances of various kinds.

The study made five specific proposals for reform of higher education financing in Cambodia. These were: (a) to increase government investment to help raise the enrolment rate from its very low levels and to provide more support for disadvantaged students, (b) to introduce tuition fees, commencing at a low level but with plans for increase, (c) to establish an efficient mechanism for management of revenues from tuition fees, (d) to create scholarships for the neediest students who have sufficient academic performance, and (e) to embark on a public relations exercise, to explain goals and strategies to the general public.

The report was completed in December 1997, and was well received by both the Royal Government and the World Bank. It is available in both English and Khmer not only from those bodies but also from CERC.

ADB Technical Assistance

Gerard Postiglione worked as Associate Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Technical Assistance (TA) entitled 'Strengthening the Department of Ethnic Education of the State Education Commission of the People's Republic of China'. This project paid particular attention to educational policies in minority regions of Guizhou, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Sichuan Provinces.

For the project, three international consultants, including Professor David Chapman who was Director of the TA, worked with 13 national consultants for nine months in cooperation with the State Education Commission (SEdC). Other partners included provincial and local education authorities and the Academy for Educational Development, as well as the ADB itself. The team produced research reports, a management information system for teachers, a compendium of educational policies on ethnic minority regions, and training materials for presidents of nationality teacher-training colleges. Special research attention focused on bilingual education, teacher training, vocational training, and boarding schools.

Results of the work were presented at a symposium in Beijing in March 1998. The meeting was attended by the Vice Minister of the SEdC, and by representatives of the Foreign Investment & Loan Office and of the Department of Ethnic Minority Education of the SEdC. Also present were representatives of UNDP and UNESCO, CERC's Cheng Kai Ming who is also Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong, and the President of the Academy for Educational Development.

Links between Hong Kong and the US

Hong Kong already has many links with the United States. Some in the area of education are being extended by CERC's Gerard Postiglione. Three activities at the beginning of 1998 deserve particular note.

First, in January 1998 Gerard was appointed as a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations (NCUSCR) for his education-related work. The NCUSCR is a public, non-profit organisation. It focuses on economic development and management, governance and legal affairs, international relations, educational administration, environmental issues, and mass communication.

Second, in February 1998 the American Council on Education (ACE) invited Gerard to San Francisco to address its annual meeting of university presidents in a special session on trends in Asian Higher Education. ACE was founded in 1918, and is the umbrella for all higher organisations in the US. It provides leadership for national policy on higher education.

Third, in March 1998 the Office of the US Secretary of Education invited Gerard to give a briefing on educational reform in China and Hong Kong, in preparation for President Clinton's planned visit.

The Private Costs of Public Education

Mark Bray is continuing his work on household and community financing of basic education in East Asia. This work started in 1995 as a nine-country regional study for UNICEF, and subsequently became a collaborative project with the World Bank.

In July 1997, Mark Bray went again to Cambodia, which was one of the original nine countries, to collect further data on this topic for UNESCO. In conjunction with the Ministry of Education, Youth & Sport and with UNICEF, data were gathered on costs to households and communities in a rural part of Takeo Province and in urban Phnom Penh.

In December 1997 and again in February 1998, Mark Bray returned to Cambodia to extend this project, this time under the UNICEF umbrella. Data were collected from another eight provinces, thereby giving a much more comprehensive picture. In few countries of the world are detailed empirical data of this type available. The final report will thus attract international as well as local attention.

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