Internationalisation is known to contribute to higher
\neducation development, particularly through the integration of international,
\ninter-cultural or global dimensions into the purpose, functions, or delivery of
\nhigher education institutions (Knight 2004). Within this inter-connected world,
\nhigher education institutions are pressured to produce quality human resources
\nwith global citizenship characteristics. Students have benefited greatly from
\nthis process as they can have access to international\/regional standards of
\neducation services and the opportunity to be exposed to other countries,
\npeople, and cultures. Academics likewise benefit as they are able to exchange
\nknowledge and experience with their peers in other countries and have chances
\nto collaborate with them on research projects. At the institutional level, four
\nrationales lead higher education institutions to internationalise themselves.
\nThey are: academic (to improve education service delivery), socio-cultural (to
\ndiscuss local cultural identity, intercultural understanding, and global
\ncitizenship), political (to support foreign policies and international
\ntechnical assistance) and economic (to generate extra revenue and to compete
\nglobally). With these stated benefits, it is crucial to have active participation
\nfrom all relevant stakeholders, especially the faculty members, whom Childress
\n(2018, 37) recognises as the \u201csteward[s]\u201d of the teaching, research, and
\nservices of the institutions of higher education. Therefore, it is the purpose
\nof this study to explore the engagement of Cambodian faculty members in higher
\neducation internationalisation. The specific objectives of the study are to
\nexamine faculty members\u2019 attitudes toward internationalisation, to identify
\ninternationalisation activities that they have been engaged in, and to explore
\nfactors influencing their participation in those internationalisation
\nactivities. This study employed a two-stage purposive sampling technique
\nto recruit the participants. First, the research team identified target higher
\neducation institutions using reputational sampling and information on the
\ninstitutions\u2019 websites and social media pages. Then, the team requested the
\nparticipating HEIs to nominate their faculty members and administrators for the
\nstudy. The participants should have international experience and have at least
\ntwo years of working experience at the current institution. Between May and
\nJuly 2021, interviews were conducted virtually with 26 faculty members and 23
\nuniversity administrators in eight HEIs in Phnom Penh, Battambang, and Svay
\nRieng. The interviews were recorded and transformed into text data using the
\nedited transcription technique. Data were then imported into NVivo 12 for
\nreflective thematic analysis. The study finds that faculty members have a positive
\nattitude towards higher education internationalisation as they perceive it as
\nbringing benefits to the institution, particularly to teaching, learning, and
\nresearch. However, their understanding of higher education internationalisation
\nis limited to their roles and experience engaging in internationalisation
\nactivities and mostly focused on outbound mobility. Not many mentioned
\non-campus or inbound activities. A variety of faculty international engagements
\nwere reported throughout the study, and they have been categorised into three
\ndistinct types: capacity development programs, internationalising curriculum
\nand teaching, and international research collaboration. Although there are
\nvarious types of activities, the most visible is the capacity development
\nprogram, particularly through short-course training or scholarships for
\npost-graduate studies. The internationalisation of curricula has also been
\nraised by the respondents, with a limited scope related to the use of foreign
\nlanguages and the integration of international context into teaching and
\nlearning. Although research collaboration with foreign partners exists in
\nCambodia\u2019s higher education, it is still scarce, considering that it is mainly
\nconcentrated in public higher education institutions. Further, this study
\ngrouped factors that determine faculty engagement in
\ninternationalisation-related activities into individual factors, institutional
\nfactors, and Covid- 19-related factors. The individual factors consist of
\nintrinsic motivation, faculty employment nature (full-time or part-time),
\ncompetencies, and demographic characteristics (gender and age). The
\ninstitutional factors found in the study include leadership, institutional
\npolicies, human resources, and the type of institution (public or private).
\nLast, the Covid-19 pandemic strongly affected internationalisation, as it
\ncaused a majority of activities to be cancelled or postponed, affecting
\nfaculty\u2019s internationalisation activities. However, respondents also noted that
\nCovid-19 helps reduce the time and costs required to implement
\ninternationalisation. <\/p>\n
Faculty engagements in
\ninternationalisation are still limited in Cambodia. It is vital that both the
\ngovernment and HEIs put more effort into promoting internationalisation if the internationalisation
\ngoal and targets set in the Higher Education Roadmap are to be realised. MoEYS
\nshould dedicate extra funding to push the actions described in the roadmap.
\nLack of human resources is also found to be a hindrance to faculty engagement.
\nAlthough this issue can be partially solved through the capacity development
\nprograms reported in the study, not many competent individuals are willing to
\ncommit to this profession full-time. An academic partnership is an effective
\nway to promote academic mobility (inbound and outbound), and collaboration and
\nestablishing regional and international partnerships have been proposed in the
\nroadmap. However, the study found insufficient activities under this strategy.
\nTherefore, more actions should be taken to build the capacity of HEIs, both
\npublic and private, to succeed in seeking and sustaining international
\npartnerships. Moreover, a proper reward system and an enabling environment are
\nkeys to the promotion of faculty engagement in internationalisation. Hence, it
\nis imperative that university management develop and put into practice an
\ninternal policy incentivising faculty members to actively involve themselves in
\nand initiate more internationalised activities and, at the same time, provide a
\nsupportive environment where faculty members can efficiently implement
\nactivities. Different from many other countries, Cambodian faculty members are
\npaid by teaching hours. This explains why they are reluctant to be involved in
\nactivities not directly related to teaching or in any engagements that affect their
\nteaching hours. Thus, HEIs should reconsider the current salary structure if
\nthey wish to increase faculty involvement in internationalisation. Even after
\nseveral public reforms and interventions, the lack of research culture and
\nresearch capacities continues to be an issue in Cambodian higher education.
\nThere should be a practicable mechanism to implement professional progress that
\nis based on merit and knowledge generation, not only knowledge transfer. It is
\ntime for Cambodian HEIs to move from teaching-based to research-based institutions.
\nUniversity salaries need to be much more competitive to attract more talented
\nand experienced full-time researchers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Internationalisation is known to contribute to higher education development, particularly through the integration of international, inter-cultural or global dimensions into the purpose, functions, or delivery of higher education institutions (Knight 2004). Within this inter-connected world, higher education institutions are pressured to produce quality human resources with global citizenship characteristics. Students have benefited greatly from this process as they can have access to international\/regional standards of education services and the opportunity to be exposed to other countries, people, and cultures. Academics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33540","publications","type-publications","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n