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Recovering from Runaway Privatization in Cambodian Higher Education: The Regulatory Pressure of ASEAN Integration

July 2016
Sojourn Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 31(2):648-683

Authors:

Kyoto University

Since opening to the international community following the Paris Peace Accords in 1991, Cambodia has incrementally adopted a stance of political liberalization. Whether because of the exigencies of reconstruction and development or by intention, large tracts of the institutional domain have been delivered into the hands of development agencies, corporations, non-governmental organizations and other private entities. Higher education was no exception, witnessing runaway growth in private-sector capacity in a lax regulatory environment since the mid-1990s. Despite more recent regulatory assertiveness reflecting the government's enhanced capacity, the imminent processes of regional integration in ASEAN are again diminishing the Cambodian state’s autonomy and room to maneuver.

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SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia Vol. 31, No. 2 (2016), pp. 648–83 DOI: 10.1355/sj31-2o

Notes & Comment

Recovering from Runaway Privatization in

Cambodian Higher Education: The Regulatory

Pressure of ASEAN Integration

Hart Nadav Feuer

Since opening to the international community following the Paris

Peace Accords in 1991, Cambodia has incrementally adopted a

stance of political liberalization. Whether because of the exigencies

of reconstruction and development or by intention, large tracts of the

institutional domain have been delivered into the hands of development

agencies, corporations, non-governmental organizations and other

private entities. Higher education was no exception, witnessing runaway

growth in private-sector capacity in a lax regulatory environment since

WKHPLGV'HVSLWHPRUHUHFHQWUHJXODWRU\DVVHUWLYHQHVVUHÀHFWLQJ

the government’s enhanced capacity, the imminent processes of regional

integration in ASEAN are again diminishing the Cambodian state’s

autonomy and room to maneuver.

Keywords: higher education, tertiary education, privatization, Cambodia, ASEAN, regional

integration, political liberalization, university standards.

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member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations

(ASEAN) in Siem Reap, Cambodia,1GHOHJDWHVFRQ¿GHQWO\VSRNHRI

the impending transformation of higher education in the region. The

tone was upbeat as participants chronicled across-the-board growth

in educational capacity, numbers of institutions, student exchange

programmes and access to higher education in their respective

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