The road to promote research at Higher Education Institutions remains bumpy and there are some reasons why Cambodian universities cannot undertake major and multi-disciplinary research studies.
The first and most important cause lies in the lack in number of experienced and qualified researchers.
Secondly, doing researches generates less income compared with teaching, which discourage competent faculty members to get involved largely in doing them.
Thirdly, a shortage of facilities and limited access to relevant documents also significantly impede quality, quantity and variety of researches carried out.
Fourthly, there is no or little grant from the government to support research plan and activities. Donors’ interests rather than the government intentions drive the majority of researches, which have been conducted previously. Worse than that, researchers have not been viewed as problems shooters. Conversely, they have been considered as troublemakers, who always severely and publicly criticize any efforts launched by the government.
Finally, it is very common that most Cambodian researchers are usually socially collaborative, but typically become financially competitive. This makes it tough and complicated for them to formulate and work as a very strong team.
The road to promote research at HEIs