Cambodian students increasingly drawn to Vietnam

More than 1,100 Cambodian students have been received by Vietnamese educational institutions since 2006, according to a conference held in Hanoi on December 17 to review training cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia from 2006 to 2010.

About 600 Cambodian students are present in Vietnam each year. Most of them take courses in medicine, pharmacy, agriculture, economics, architecture, and technology.

Addressing the conference, the Cambodian Ambassador to Vietnam, Hul Phany, said the Vietnamese State also undertakes many programmes to assist Cambodia in training its human resources.

Mr Phany said the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training helped his country build a college, a hostel accommodating 150 students, and six classrooms for a high school. He added that the ministry is going to build another college and a 150-student dormitory in Mondulkiri province.

Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Education and Training Bui Van Ga said the knowledge that Cambodian students acquired in Vietnam has proved highly effective in boosting Cambodia’s socio-economic growth.

Mr Ga added that in the time to come, Vietnam will encourage Cambodian students to come to Vietnam for self-funded study or to receive training on contracts.

Meanwhile, under a bilateral agreement, each year the Cambodian Government provides 10-15 tertiary education scholarships and about 20 two-year Khmer-language courses for Vietnamese cadres and students to study in Cambodia.