CIEE Delegation at PUC
On January 11, 2012, from 11am-12pm, PUC was honored to have a formal meeting with CIEE’s delegation members: Dr. David Streckfuss, resident director, CIEE; and Mr. Josh Gohlike, Coordinator, CIEE. The meeting was hosted by Dr. Chea San Chanthan, PUC Chancellor, and attendees included: Mr. Long Kimheng, Director of International Study Program and Business Development; Prof. Hem Bonarin, Director of Academic Program; Mr. Sarim Mardi, Program Director of Community Service Learning; Mr. Yann Aoudourm, President of Pannasastra Student Senate; and Miss. Krang Kani Ka, President of Khmer Youth Good Will Mission.
In the meeting discussions were held about the Summer Program in June. In the beginning, Dr. Chea San Chanthan introduced the PUC semester system studying to CIEE’s delegation members. He also told Dr. David Streckfuss that at PUC, about 2% are foreign students who come to study here, such as Thai, Korean and Chinese. All of the courses are taught in English, even Khmer Studies. He went on to tell the delegation that the Khmer Studies professor should teach in Khmer but, because of foreign students, the professor tries to teach in English to all students.
Mr. Mardi said students participate in community work in groups of 5-10 students for each NGO and they have 3 weeks for going to communities. PUC also has home-stays for foreign students who come to Cambodia for community work.
Dr. David Streckfuss said he lived in Thailand for 18years and he also mentioned that Thailand has strong management and good relationships with NGOs. He expects that when the American students come to join with community work in Cambodia, they will have the opportunity to serve poor communities and to learn about Cambodia. He suggested that American students should have a semester-long program because they can have good relationships with Cambodian students; such as hanging out, sharing knowledge and exchanging cultures. Dr. David Streckfuss continued to say that the semester program should include language studying because it is easy for foreign students to communicate with Cambodian students.
At the end of the meeting, Dr. David Streckfuss and Mr. Mardi agreed to go to observe NGOs with each other on Monday morning at 9:00am.
In the conclusion, Dr. Chea San Chanthan and Dr. David Streckfuss hoped that community work would be in a semester-long program to have more time for foreign students and Cambodian students to work with each other. Dr. David Strecfuss continued that Cambodia is a great place, so it is a valuable way to spend time for foreign students to come and learn something.
Reported by Cheng Sorphon, PASS Vice-President
Edited By: Prof. Mariam Arthur, Director of the Learning Resource Center