start-cambodia.com

What is START Cambodia?

Strategic Transformations for Wider Access, Stronger Retention and Improved Conditions for More Diverse Students to Thrive – START Cambodia – project is an Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education Strand 3 Project.

START Cambodia project fosters structural reform of the Cambodian higher education sector necessary for ensuring inclusive transition, more equitable access, stronger retention and higher academic success rates for vulnerable groups.

The required structural changes will be accomplished the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) – the highest Higher Education authority in the Kingdom of Cambodia, NIE – national teacher training provider, and four leading Cambodian Higher Education Institutions – RUPP, ITC, SRU and UHST, under coordination of the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, and with the support of three European partners highly experienced in supporting transformation towards inclusivity & student-centeredness: AEET, UPM & METU.

Undergraduate students from RUPP, ITC, SRU and UHST work together with faculty members and other higher education professionals throughout the project.

Sustained dialogue and cooperation with the Upper Secondary School sector is another key feature of the START Cambodia project.

28 dissemination events planned are expected to help reach all the Cambodian Higher Education Sector and Upper Secondary School Sector actors and encourage the two sectors to commit to sustaining the reform promoted by START Cambodia.

The project expects to benefit (1) all future Cambodian students & learners, especially those from vulnerable groups, (2) Cambodian Higher Education Sector, (3) Cambodian Upper Secondary School Sector and (4) Cambodian society at large; while offering resources (Higher) Education systems beyond Cambodia can use to promote sustainable growth and more equitable access to Higher Education and, thus, decent work.

What Do We Want to Achieve?

START Cambodia general objective is to: foster structural reform of the Cambodian higher education sector necessary for ensuring inclusive transition, more equitable access, stronger retention and higher academic success rates for vulnerable groups.

START Cambodia four specific objectives are as follows:

Equip key actors who support future students – especially students from vulnerable groups – in preparing for successful transition to HE during the upper secondary education stage with tailor-made information, didactic and CPD resources
Introduce curriculum innovations aimed at strengthening retention and academic success into first-year courses of STEAM undergraduate programmes
Set up institutional- and programme-level support schemes and structures required to make transition to HE inclusive, in particular for students from vulnerable groups
Create mechanisms for Cambodian HE authorities, institutional policy makers, students from vulnerable groups, and faculty members to engage in a national dialogue and joint actions focused on sustaining and extending the structural reform

Consortium

The START Cambodia project is implemented by the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, five Cambodian universities and four European partner institutions.