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UC Graduate
Studies Catalog 2018-2020 Section II Structural
Organization of the University |
The
following lists the main offices and departments which students should be aware
of, to help them during their time at The University of Cambodia.
To better
ensure that we meet these and other objectives, the Office of Internal Quality
Assurance monitors existing and emerging problems, based on feedback from
faculty, staff, students and other stakeholders. This results in the
compilation of an internal Self-Assessment Report each year; this is submitted
to the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport and to the Accreditation
Committee of Cambodia, as part of their requirements regarding the need for
quality control.
This section deals with the running of the various degree programs.
i. Office
of Academic Affairs Under the
Vice-President for Academic Affairs, this works with the Office of the School
of Undergraduate Studies, the Academic Foundation Department and the various
Schools and Colleges in order to prepare class timetables for each term; to
monitor the effective implementation of these by the faculty involved; to oversee
the effective running of centralized exams; and to regularly update the content
of various degree programs in the longer term.
As such, it is responsible for keeping abreast of changes in the policies
and regulations implemented by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and
by the Accreditation Committee of Cambodia and ensuring that all degree programs conform to these requirements.
It is also responsible for submitting reports to the latter bodies, including
data on student numbers; those filing for graduation; and exam results.
It is also in charge of processing requests for credit transfers.
ii.
Office of the School of Graduate Studies Under its Dean, this Office works to coordinate the implementation of
policies with regard to the teaching-related activities of the various Schools
and Colleges, together with the monitoring of students’
performances and the counselling of those who might be having problems.
In
addition, the Office of the School of Graduate
Studies works with the various Schools and Colleges and the Council for
Creativity and Research (see below) to promote and otherwise encourage student
research activities. This includes the publishing of a bi-annual journal, the Occasional
Papers series, to publicize graduate students’ research and thereby
further promote an interest in such activities at UC.
The
University of Cambodia sets a high priority in developing a research culture
amongst our students. Thus, it has taken various initiatives to channel
students’ energies in this direction, through basic research courses as
part of the General Education program as well as organizing research
competitions and providing outlets for students to publish their results,
including through the Working Paper series, a biennial publication under
the auspices of the Dean for Undergraduate Studies which showcases papers
produced by undergraduate students as a result of their research
endeavors.
i. Council for Creativity and Research In this
initiative of the President and with the active support of other full-time
faculty members, the Director is responsible for seeking to foster the
development of the research capacity of university faculty, staff and students
including through the allocation of funds for promising research proposals. The
university also provides the opportunity for the publicizing of the outcome of
these projects, including through the Cambodian Journal for International
Studies.
In order
to establish a solid foundation for the promotion of a research ethos, the
Director together with the Vice-President for Research, Development and
Policies is responsible for overseeing the curriculum for two General Education
courses, RES201 and RES301, which serve to lay the groundwork for students to
have a solid background which will benefit their studies at UC as well as
providing future benefits when they apply for jobs or to study higher degrees.
ii. Institute for Research and Advanced Studies Under the
Vice-President for Research, Development, and Policies, this seeks to establish
an active role in supporting useful and productive research at The University
of Cambodia, and thereby develop the university as a center of excellence in
research. The aim is to bring recognized researchers on board who can
contribute to the country’s further development through constructive
research in areas such as education, gender issues, and other aspects of the
Rectangular Strategies of the Royal
Government of Cambodia. Towards this goal, one aim is to tap sources of
outside funding for potentially expensive seed-studies in coordination with the
Council for Creativity and Research.
iii. ASEAN Study Center This has been
established as a think-tank and research institution on the continuing
evolution of coherent ASEAN policies with particular reference to the three
pillars of political, economic, and socio-cultural development and their
implications for Cambodia. Apart from a broadly academic framework, the Center
also seeks to provide a bridge for the translation of these objectives into
national adaptive responses, through research and the promotion of dialogues,
thereby serving as a means of promoting
awareness and understanding of ASEAN within Cambodia, and of Cambodia amongst
other ASEAN members. To this end, apart from publishing its research findings,
the Center is also responsible for organizing lectures by distinguished
speakers, workshops and other activities. It also aims to provide a source of feedback
for local stakeholders’ perspectives on the impacts of existing policies and
other initiatives to the Royal Government of Cambodia, the ASEAN Secretariat
and other member states in implementing and fine-tuning the community’s
decisions.
Amongst many offices related
to the efficient running of the University (e.g. those for Archives,
Inventory and Assets Management, Planning) under the oversight of the Office of
Administration as a coordinator and facilitator, some are directly involved
with student-related issues.
i. Office of Admissions, Information and Registration
This office (see Sections VI and VII) is responsible for:
Ø providing prospective students and others with information about the
university and its various degree and other educational programs (including
queries received by email and Facebook), directing enquiries to other Offices,
Schools or Colleges in the University as appropriate;
Ø
conducting campus tours for
new students and other interested parties;
Ø enrolling new students after checking individual applicant’s files
to ensure that they have the sufficient supporting documents for their
application forms (together with facilitating their taking of the English
placement test in the case of those applying for the International Track),
issuing them with ID cards and archiving hard-copies of their transcripts and
other relevant documents;
Ø coordinating the processing of applications from transfer students and
their enrolment; and
Ø thereafter transcribing all new students’ personal records into a
database and updating these as necessary at registration each term thereafter,
in consultation with other Offices, Schools or Colleges when necessary.
ii. Office of
Scholarships This Office is responsible
for facilitating and coordinating scholarship exams in collaboration with other
offices, schools and colleges as appropriate; together with the coordination of
compiling the results of these and the informing of successful candidates (see Section VI.2).
Thereafter, the Office of Scholarships assumes the overall responsibility
of the scholarship programs, including sharing all information relating to
scholarship policies. Working in collaboration with colleges, schools, centers,
and relevant offices, it maintains statistics concerning scholarships (covering
donors, years, gender, etc.) for a report to the President each term and
for other reports as and when required. It is also responsible for monitoring
the performance of individual recipients, identifying those who fail to meet
the required academic grades, and referring individual cases to the Academic Foundation
Department or the student’s School or College, as appropriate, for
counselling.
iii. Office
of Student Services In coordination with the Office of
Scholarships where appropriate, this Office tracks the academic progress of
each student; where students are falling behind with their studies, it follows
up with the Academic Foundation
Department or the student’s School or College as necessary.
iv.
Office of the University Registrar This Office is responsible for the collating and managing of the records
for each student at the University. It thus plays a coordinating role in
identifying students who have become eligible for graduation, together with the
subsequent processing of these through to graduation itself.
Based on this, the Registrar is also responsible for issuing provisional
certificates, official transcripts and letters of recommendation for individual
students.
v. Office of the
Bursar This Office is responsible
for matters related to the payment of student fees.
vi.
Office of Information Technology Apart from its broad responsibilities regarding database development,
the maintenance of the university’s web-sites and other portals together
with free on-site WiFi access, this office is also responsible for setting up
and maintaining five student laboratories (see Section
III.3), as well as providing training to staff and students as
needed.
vii. Office of Public Affairs, Communications and
Alumni Apart from its remit to promote the University and our degree
programs and other activities, this Office is also responsible for liaising
with the UC Alumni Association (a body comprising all of The University of
Cambodia’s graduates), including organizing an annual Alumni Reunion.