Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today I am honored and very pleased to join you all in this ceremony to had-over Bachelor and Associate degrees at the Vanda Institute.
Taking this great opportunity, let me express my cordial appreciation to board of directors, managements, professors and all staff of the Vanda Institute for their efforts in achieving this impressive results.
At the same time, I would like to congratulate and highly value the hard work of all graduates for your efforts in successfully overcoming the challenges during your long tenure, and finally receiving the Bachelor and Associate degrees now in this ceremony. Clearly, receiving a degree today is one of the major achievements in your life and the evidence for your parents and families. I believe that they are very proud of your success today. Furthermore, today’s accomplishment means that all of you have attained a profession to sustain your livelihood.
Indeed, what you have succeeded today is not only your own achievement but an accomplishment of a whole country in general because what you have attained will contribute quantitatively and qualitatively to the pool of human resources which is one of key factors in the development of our nation. The development of human capital is one of the four significant rectangles of the government’s “Rectangular Strategy” in the third mandate of national assembly.
In general, we have seen universities, faculties, institutes and the higher education centers, both public and private, are competing each other in providing intellectual knowledge which are the pillars and crucial foundations for supporting the development of Cambodia’s economy and society either in the present or the future. However, the current escalating of high education centers has not yet responded to our needs and assured the competitiveness in the context of globalization, because quality of education provided by most of those institution are not at satisfactory level. Therefore, I would like to request the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, the Cambodia Education Qualification Accredited Committee and especially all higher-education institutions to pay attention on their duties and responsibilities. At the same time, it is needed to be closely cooperated in the preparation and monitoring education curriculum, teaching facilities, teaching materials and qualified lecturers—who have experiences, talent and pedagogic expertise.
Indeed, the Royal Government has, so far, given top priority to the development of education sector to accumulate human resource and to be a strategy for reducing poverty of our people. The education focuses on acquiring knowledgeable human capital which is the key factors for social development. In this sense, the Royal Government undoubtedly acknowledges and fully commits to build and strengthen human resource through a long-term development strategy, which is ”human resource development is a root of poverty reduction”, since the outcome would assure sustainable development and equitable distribution of economic growth. Human resource development is our top priority and international experiences have clearly shown that “the development starts and ends with the human.” In this framework, the Royal Government has made efforts to develop human resource and physical infrastructure as well as to firmly commit to reform in all sectors, especially, the reforms on public finance management, soldier demobilization, law and justice, raising revenue for rural development spending, agriculture and health, and the restoration and development of irrigation system via the cooperation with national and international communities.
Regarding to these issues, I frequently mention the two important points, which are required joint consideration and to determine a specific direction and a common vision for current and future implementation. These are “quality of education and job creation”. To resolve both issues, I think that we have to start from study curriculum and its substances that are responsive to the requirements of labor market and progresses of economic development in current context and to ensure the quality of education in line with regional and global standard. Moreover, the morality, savoir vivre, disciplines and professional ethics that have to offer to all students are the urgent needs and to be jointly worked out.
Meanwhile, it should be remarked that strengthening of education as well as training qualification depend on and is directly affected by various key factors including study curriculum; lecturer, student, school and management factors. More importantly, parent, social environment and economic factors also influence quality of education. Those factors are inevitable for educational institutions. Furthermore, the implementation of study curriculum and education are the key factors, which require seriously and constantly controlling and monitoring by connecting theories to the applications, linking the education to study curriculum and real works via internship in state and private enterprises, factories, and service-providing organizations. With adequate internship, we might be able to strengthen the quality of education and enhance the students’ capacities after their graduation. Through this, we can resolve an employment issue for new graduates and those of truly capable, talented and young professionals.
In this sense, the source of job creation in Cambodia and the distribution of economic growth with equity is agriculture sector that employed around 80% of population, especially in rural area and need an economic reform. Therefore, the transforming from the nature-relying agriculture to the modernized agriculture, intensive agriculture, agro-industry and agricultural processing as well as to promote domestic and internally trade and business in agricultural products and agro-industry products would create more jobs for Cambodian people, especially for student who just graduate.
The aforementioned points are my remarks on two issues on strengthening quality of education and jobs creation for students who are graduated as well as for all Cambodian. In this regard, I would like to call for all higher-education institutions to take into consideration of the above conception as a basis for preparing planning and setting direction for improving its education system and for the successful strengthening the quality of education for its organizations. With this, human resources, who were educated, must be the strong pillars ready to contribute to the development of Cambodia in the future.
For all students, please remember that knowledge and skills that obtained here are not enough to compete for job, so you have to make more strenuous efforts to learn by yourself, especially to organize yourself to be good in behavior, morality, characteristics, and work discipline, and to be talent in communication and information relation, which might assist you to gain opportunities in getting a job for making your family’s life as well as the whole society. Furthermore, you have to remember that there are many works that you need to do after your study finished. It means that study is routine work. The difference is place of study that once in school and afterward you will study in the field-work.
Lacking of attention on studying would always make us to run after circumstances, this means that you would loose your job eventually. This is because of the world is in the period of globalization that is moving forwards rapidly and demands us to always prepare to be in part of society and economic movement in national, regional and global context. Thus, high knowledge and great experiences are necessary for making a successful life and a good future. This is the best asset that you must have in your life in order to develop our country to gain progress, prosperity and wealthy that is the desire of our people as well as the royal government.
Before closing, I would like to thank Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, all development partners and donor communities as well as national and international organizations that have worked cooperatively in making some successes for development of education in Cambodia. Besides this, I would like to highly evaluate and thank managements, lecturers, professors and students of Vanda Institute who have fulfilled the respective duties and obtain success continuously. Finally, I would like to wish you all with five gems of Buddhist blessing.
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