UC Undergraduate Studies Catalog 2019-2023

 

Section IV

 

Extra-Curricular Activities to Facilitate Students’ Rounded Development

 

 

1. The UC Student Federation

This is an umbrella group for the various student organizations at The University of Cambodia, under the auspices of Office of Student Services.

i. UC Student Senate The UCSS constitutes a group of students elected by the general student population at the start of each calendar year. During its mandate, they are responsible for planning and organizing various activities, including the Khmer and International New Year parties; the UC Welcome Week for new students prior to the start of Term I; and various other extracurricular activities to facilitate interactions amongst students, faculty, staff, and the community at large.

ii. UC Cambodian Red Cross Youth The UCCRCY, a local branch of the Cambodian Red Cross Youth, comprises students who learn First Aid skills and are involved in various social and humanitarian activities for the benefit of those in need.

iii. UC Debate Club This Club aims to improve students’ oratory skills and build up their confidence in public speaking. In addition, the practice of debating particular controversial topics helps participants to further develop their analytical and critical thinking skills, as well as those related to leadership and teamwork.

ü  As a result, the Club has successfully participated in televised debating contests against other universities.

iv. UC Sports Club This includes a football team and an athletic team, which have each participated in various friendly and competitive national-level matches.

2.Skills and Career Development Center

This Center designs and runs workshops and short courses for UC students, as well as providing individual counselling, to help them to better develop relevant soft skills and thereby further their progress at the university and in their subsequent careers.  Examples of such activities include public speaking classes, curriculum vitae (CV) and cover letter writing, interview preparation workshops, scholarship application assistance, study abroad assistance, mentoring programs, and volunteer/internship opportunities.

3. UC Career Fair 

This annual event seeks to promote Cambodia’s development by connecting students, job seekers, and professionals with recruiters, mentors and advisors to match employment and career objectives.

4. Forum for Success

This innovation, introduced in 2016, provides a week-long forum where invited experts from outside give talks to share their experiences and give UC and other students insights on how they can use their educational and other opportunities in order to better achieve their personal career goals. 

Ø  Various other initiatives by individual Colleges and Schools are organized towards the same end, as outlined in the University’s Annual Report (2017).

Ø  For example:

ü  many activities to develop soft skills organized by the Skills and Career Development Center; and

ü  various presentations, workshops and study tours, organized by different Colleges and Schools, where partners, stakeholders and others can increase students’ awareness of not only the various employment and other opportunities but also the soft and other skills expected of successful applicants.

5. Students’ Academic Leadership Conference

This annual event is an exercise where undergraduate students of each College or School are required to plan and organize their own session of presentations to the rest of the UC community, in order to stimulate interest in their particular field of study. This helps to enhance the soft skills of those students who are involved in preparing and doing their presentations, not just with regard to public-speaking but also the necessary background research and the development of convincing arguments; as well as the organizational skills of those involved in the overall running of the Conference. Moreover, it helps to set a standard for students in subsequent such activities to not only aspire to but also inspire them to realize that they can also do it.

6. Distinguished Lecture Series

Up until now, UC has hosted ambassadors, film stars, Nobel Laureates, foreign professors, and other local and international government officials.

These series of invited lectures, including the Diplomatic Lecture Series for example, help our students and other members of the UC community to keep in touch with the world at large, based on insights provided by top-tier members of the global community. More broadly, it serves to enhance the networking capacity through the cultivation of meaningful relationships with these and other individuals, for our students and others alike.

7. Short Course Programs

These are open to our students as well as the general public, with the aim of encouraging life-long learning.

As their name implies, they aim to give concise coverage of particular fields of interest. As such they provide either introductions to particular new fields of interest (language courses and certain IT-related ones) or higher-level courses which aim to provide deeper insights into a particular area of interest for those with background experience in that field or those other professionals who wish to develop an understanding of ancillary dimensions of their existing area of expertise.

i. Language Courses The School for Foreign Languages offers a variety of different non-degree courses catering for different interests. The Department of English Language has taken over the variety of programs previously run by the Center for English Studies, including the ‘FasTrax’ suite of intensive English language courses designed to bring potential students up to speed for the University’s International-track degree programs; this set of courses also sets out to further develop an individual’s soft skills, including organizational and time management skills and research, critical thinking and essay-writing skills. Various other options are available such as courses in English for Specific Purposes for those who wish to learn terminology and vocabulary related to a particular profession or area of study.

Similar programs of short courses are available for Mandarin Chinese, French, Japanese, Korean and Thai.

ii. IT-Related Courses The College of Science and Technology offers a variety of courses, from the novice to the potential expert level, in various aspects of the use of computer applications (see Section III.3).

Whilst various basic courses (including practical hands-on experience) are aimed at the development of an individual’s soft skills in the use of various computer software, high-level ones provide advanced-level implementation of skills related to computer security and other specialized aspects of recent developments in IT.

iii. Other Professional and Executive-Related Courses Other Colleges and Schools offer courses relevant to their particular domains which serve to provide participants with in-depth insights into specific aspects of a particular topic, whether to supplement their existing background or to otherwise augment it. The Skills and Career Development Center (Section IV.2) can be contacted for further information.