Cambodia - Higher Education Project

Report No. PID10582 Project Name Cambodia-Higher Education Region East Asia and Pacific Region Sector Tertiary Education Project ID KHPE70666 Borrower(s) CAMBODIA Implementing Agency Address MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, YOUTH, AND SPORT Department of Higher Education Address: #169 Norodom Blvd, Phnom Penh, Cambodia Contact Person: Mr. Mak Ngoy Tel: (855-23) 217 937 / 819 338 Fax: (855-23) 884 276 Email: higheredu@bigpond.com.kh Environment Category C Date PID Prepared July 16, 2001 Projected Appraisal Date May 1, 2002 Projected Board Date July 25, 2002 1. Country and Sector Background The higher education system comprises five public universities, three semi-independent specialized institutes or faculties, and six private higher education institutions. All institutions have immediate concerns about budgets, facilities, staffing, management, and student admissions and support, and they all share the following more fundamental concerns:The current higher education system is too small to meet the development needs of the country. The social demand for higher education is also much higher than the current intake. The financing of higher education is inadequate to produce the desired outcomes. The quality and relevance of many current higher education courses of study are in question. Governance arrangements in higher education are underdeveloped and result in inefficiencies. There is insufficient attention to equity in the current system. The Government is addressing these issues by putting in place a new legal framework to guide the growth and development of HEIs. Key features of the framework include:Institutional accreditation. The definition of new categories of higher education institutions, including universities, university institutes, and technical institutesImproved processes for student admissions and transfersImproved governance arrangements for higher education institutionsMore efficient and effective funding arrangementsA greater focus on equity in access 2. Objectives The development objective of the project is to produce more highly skilled university graduates by improving the quality and market relevance of higher education in Cambodia. This will improve Cambodia's capacity to deal with major development issues, including education, health, environment, governance, economic management, and private sector development.  3. Rationale for Bank's Involvement Other donors in the sector tend to provide support for specific institutions or courses of study. The Bank's program will address the underlying systemic issues that affect the sector - governance, management, financing and quality. 4. Description The proposed project contains four components. The first, "Capacity Building and Upgrading of HEIs," will strengthen the management of HEIs throughout the system and provide selective upgrading of staff and facilities. Institutions will receive management training to help prepare them for autonomy under the new law. This will include: (i) development of strategic plans based on quality audits of the institution, tracer studies of graduates and development needs assessments; and (ii) development of financial management capacities to meet standards set out in the new law for recording income and expenditures, public disclosure of financial statements, and financial planning. Institutions will also be eligible for limited support for infrastructure and staff upgrading. Support will be mainly in the form of library acquisitions, internet connectivity, and staff development needs not currently covered by other donors. The latter will be limited in scale and provided on a competitive basis.The second component promotes a broad based and higher-quality education by strengthening the foundation year of higher education. Although this will be targeted to only one or two institutions that have the immediate potential to become multi-disciplinary universities, the benefits should be widespread, as it is expected that students from all universities that participate in a credit transfer scheme will be able to avail themselves of the improved courses in the multidisciplinary institution. The component will support intensive staff development to improve the instructors' qualifications, the curriculum and the syllabi for foundation courses. Staff development will primarily take place on site, with visiting professors simultaneously assisting to teach courses for students and run staff upgrading programs for professors. Initial training will be reinforced through distance education links to partner universities abroad. The component will also support development of a libraries, information technology, and laboratories used to improve the quality of instruction in foundation courses. Limited support may be provided for classroom construction or renovation if current space proves inadequate to accommodate increased enrollment in the multidisciplinary institutions.The third component will support the development of core support services for universities. This component will be implemented primarily by the MoEYS' Department of Higher Education. The activities are designed to reorient the MoEYS to the regulatory and support functions assigned to it under the new law. It will support: (i) the introduction of a streamlined and transparent university admissions process based on the grade 12 leaving exam; (ii) development of quality assurance and accreditation processes based on ASEAN standards; (iii) development of a credit transfer system; (iv) guidelines for award of need based scholarships; and (v) proposals for new model contracts for university staff that will allow autonomous universities to create pay scales which are not constrained by current civil service regulations, while rewarding professional development and performance.The fourth and final component will provide for the operating costs of a project implementation unit and technical assistance required to implement the project. -2-  5. Financing Total ( US$m) BORROWER IDA 30.5 Total Project Cost 6. Implementation Arrangements will be determined during the project appraisal process. 7. Sustainability The project contributes to sustainable growth and development of HEIs by supporting the implementation of a coherent legal framework for higher education. The projected rapid increase in university enrollments will not be sustainable in the long-term without a well-financed and well-managed higher education system to accommodate the increase. The new education law will contain provisions that allow universities to charge fees. Components 1 and 3 of the project will help build capacity in all HEIs and in MoEYS in the areas of financial and personnel management, strategic planning, quality assurance and accreditation, design of well-targeted scholarship schemes, etc. Improved institutional and human resource capacity in these areas will ensure that a better-managed higher education system will exist well beyond the life of the project. Similarly, the upgrading of academic qualifications of professional staff through staff development and training programs provided under Component 2 will ensure long-term improvements in the quality and relevance of education provided by universities. 8. Lessons learned from past operations in the country/sector The project supports "key directions for reform" outlined in Higher Education: The Lessons of Experience (World Bank, 1994). These include:encouraging greater differentiation of institutions, including the development of private institutions and development of non-university institutionsproviding incentives for public institutions to diversify sources of funding, including cost-sharing with students, and linking government funding closely to performanceredefining the role of government in higher education, including development of a well defined legal framework and consistent policies, greater reliance on incentive instruments to implement policies, and increased autonomy for public institutions, andintroducing policies explicitly designed to give priority to quality and equity objectives.The project is also consistent with the general themes outlined in Higher Education in Developing Countries Peril and Promise, by the Task Force on Higher Education and Society (World Bank, 2000). These include:promoting a mixed funding model to maximize the financial input of the private sector, philanthropic individuals and institutions, and students; and more consistent and productive public funding mechanismsmaking more effective use of physical and human capital, including new technologies needed to connect developing countries to the global intellectual mainstreamadvocating principles of good governance (acknowledged by many as the central problem facing higher education in developing countries) and providing tools that promote their implementation, anddeveloping curriculum, especially in science and technology and general education. The rationale for this is that in the knowledge economy, highly trained specialists and broadly educated generalists will be at a premium, and both will need to be educated more flexibly so that they continue to learn as their environment develops. - 3 -  9. Program of Targeted Intervention (PTI) N 10. Environment Aspects (including any public consultation) Issues There are no significant environmental issues associated with this project. 11. Contact Point: Task Manager Christopher J. Thomas The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington D.C. 20433 12. For information on other project related documents contact: The InfoShop The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 458-5454 Fax: (202) 522-1500 Web: http:// www.worldbank.org/infoshop Note: This is information on an evolving project. Certain components may not be necessarily included in the final project. This PID was processed by the InfoShop during the week ending August 3, 2001. - 4 -