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UC Undergraduate
Studies Catalog 2019-2023 Section V Overview of
Undergraduate Degree Programs |
The design of the undergraduate
degree programs at The University of Cambodia is based on the standard practice
followed in the United States. Thus, in addition to enrolling to study subjects
directly related to the student’s chosen major, they must also register for a
number of General Education courses together with a number of other relevant
electives outside their major.
Ø This aims to give
our students a broader education and more flexibility regarding job
opportunities in today’s rapidly changing world and an increasingly competitive
local employment market.
The
following gives a brief overview of relevant aspects of undergraduate degree
programs in general. More detailed information on these will be provided in
later sections for the individual Colleges and Schools.
1. The University of Cambodia’s Overall Expectations of Our Students
All
students have certain rights and responsibilities, and are required to abide by
the University’s Rules of Civility and the Student Code of Conduct (see Section
IX). The following draws attention to particular issues where students may
unknowingly fail to abide by these requirements and thus risk being penalized
as a result.
i. Attendance and the Timely
Submission of Assignments Maintaining an adequate
level of attendance for classes is important in order to maximize the benefits
gained from doing each course.
Thus
attendance is taken for each class, and counts for a possible 15% of the
student’s final mark (see Section V.10).
Ø
In addition, students need to
attend for a minimum number of allocated class-hours if they are to be allowed
to sit the final exam.
Ø
This minimum is higher for students
on scholarships.
The University is proactive in such cases and, where
monitoring of attendance shows a poor record, students will be given a warning
letter (which may also be sent to their parents) and constructive guidance on
how to better improve their future performance.
Ø Failure to improve will mean that scholarship
students will forfeit their awards.
On the other hand, the University recognizes that
students may have other short-term commitments on their time, unforeseeable or
otherwise, and thus there is the need for some flexibility. In such cases, it
is the student’s responsibility to keep the University informed when they have
to take time off due to other commitments during term-time, by applying for a
Short Leave of Absence, so that this may be taken into consideration when
evaluating their attendance and overall performance.
Ø Students
who cannot attend one or more classes (or a formal exam) due to unavoidable
circumstances should purchase the appropriate form from the University
Bookstore.
Ø They
should submit the completed form together with the appropriate
supporting evidence and the date of return to the Academic
Foundation Department or the Office of Academic Affairs as appropriate.
Ø Where
the application is for a pre-arranged event (e.g. a
wedding), then the student must plan
ahead and apply in advance: a
delayed submission after the day in question will not be accepted.
Ø If it is
not possible for students to submit the form in advance due to unforeseeable
circumstances, they must do it at the earliest possible time thereafter, as
long as they provide evidence to justify the delay.
Ø In
each case, the form must be complete and submitted by the student in person.
If the application is
approved, then this will be noted in the student's academic record as a
justifiable reason for not achieving maximum attendance.
Ø Ordinarily, it does not affect the minimum level of
attendance which the student needs to maintain (see Section
V.10).
Ø A special exception will be made in the case of
make-up classes, where students who submit a form with a justifiable reason
will not be considered to have been absent.
Ø Further exceptions, where accumulated
leaves-of-absence exceed the maximum for students to maintain their minimum
attendance, may be made in consultation with the student’s parents or
guardians,
Ø It is important to note that these are the limits of
the University's obligations: the student
alone is responsible for making up for the lost time and completing the
necessary homework and other assignments in a timely manner.
Ø If the approved absence is from a Midterm or Final
Exam, then the student must do a new exam paper within the following week under
appropriate conditions.
ii. Academic Integrity and the Need to Avoid Plagiarism
and Other Forms of Cheating The University has strict rules regarding the running of exams, in order
to avoid problems with cheating. Thus mid-term and final exams are tightly
supervised, as are the exit Comprehensive Exams (see Sections
V.10, 11).
Students
should realize that plagiarism is another form of academic dishonesty. This is where
someone copies someone else’s work (with or without minor changes) and seeks to
pass it off as their own without the acknowledgement due. This is often because
of laziness on the student’s part, in which case they are missing the
opportunity to better develop their soft language skills. In addition, or
alternatively, it may be due to the need to take shortcuts in order to meet a
looming deadline, in which case the student needs to better develop their soft
skills regarding time-management.
Ø
Regardless of the reason(s),
plagiarism is still a form of cheating and the University takes a serious view
of this academic offence.
Ø
Students who are found to be guilty
of plagiarism will be required to resubmit their work within a particular
deadline.
Ø
Persistent offenders will not have
this second chance and will suffer more serious disciplinary action.
This
is based on the number of hours spent in formal classroom teaching for a
particular course. All of UC’s degree courses are 45 hours long; thus each
constitutes 3 credits. One criterion for a student being able to graduate is
that they must have completed at least a minimum number of credits, as
pre-determined by the particular program in which they are studying.
3. Khmer and
International Tracks
When
the University first opened in 2003, all of its classes were taught through the
medium of English. This made our graduates attractive to prospective employers
in the region and beyond, as well as giving them an advantage in studying for
higher degrees elsewhere.
However,
recognizing that not everyone is confident in whether they might be able to
perform well in a degree program other than in their native language, an
additional Khmer Track was introduced in Academic Year 2012-2013. Apart from lower-level
English language courses, the selected programs are identical to what is now
called the International Track except that they are taught in Khmer, with
courses being identified by the suffix ‘K’ (e.g. ACC101K).
Based
on the existing requirements regarding:
Ø
the Foundation Year, Khmer track students must complete ENG001K and
ENG002K; whilst,
Ø
to build upon these introductory courses, the University requires them
also to complete ENG003K-ENG005K and ENG219K as Other Electives, to further
develop their skills in this language as part of an ongoing, life-long learning
process.
Thus the students graduate
with the same knowledge and insights about their respective major and ancillary
topics, albeit without the extra dimension and resulting flexibility provided
by an English-based medium of instruction.
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Note that whilst some of the following
degree offerings presume that these programs will be offered in the Khmer
track, we hope to also open comparable ones in the International track where: Ø ENG001K and ENG002K are replaced by ENG101
and ENG102; Ø ENG003K-ENG005K are replaced by ENG105,
ENG107 and ENG122. |
In
response to an initiative by the Accreditation Committee of Cambodia (ACC), the
University established an Academic Foundation Department in 2005 as requisite
for all officially recognized universities in the country. The purpose of this
Department is to design and implement a program of courses for all
undergraduate students during their first year of studies at university, in
order to give them a good foundation for completing the rest of their degree
programs. The progress of this is regularly monitored and evaluated by the ACC,
and students who successfully complete their first year of studies receive an
official Foundation Year certificate, after which they can proceed to continue
with their studies.
As
part of easing the transition from secondary to more independent tertiary modes
of teaching and learning, Foundation Year students have to do fewer courses:
ten compared with up to 13 each year at higher levels. The time not allocated
to formal teaching is thus available for them to study outside the timetable,
including doing short courses organized by the University in order to help them
develop their soft skills and thereby further enhance their personal
development.
Apart
from running the program itself, the Academic Foundation Department (AFD; see Section II.1.iii) is responsible for
initial orientation sessions with students at the very start of their first
year, in order to make them aware of what is expected of them during their time
at university. To this end, it is assisted by the Student Senate who organize a
Welcome Week, prior to the start of Term I, in order to informally introduce
new students to the University community and provide advice and insights on how
to get the most out of their time at UC (see Section
IV.1.i).
Thereafter,
the AFD monitors student performance in order to identify potential issues and,
where necessary, provide individual counselling in order to help students
understand how to take responsibility for becoming active learners who are less
dependent on their instructors in the pursuit of knowledge and understanding.
The
ten courses which make up the Foundation Year comprise eight which must be
taken by all students (Table 1); and two other ‘oriented’ ones which are
specific to the student’s chosen major. All courses must be taken and passed
within a twelve month period; students who fail a course are given the chance
to take a re-sit exam.
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Table 1 Compulsory courses taken by all
students in the Foundation Year. |
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Category |
Courses |
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Arts and Humanities |
KHM140 (Khmer Culture) |
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LAW101 (Introduction to Law) |
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Mathematics, Science and
Computers |
ITE101 (Fundamentals of
Computing) |
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MTH120 (Introduction to Statistics) |
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Social Sciences |
HIS101 (Cambodian
History) |
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POL101 (Introduction to Political Science) |
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Either Foreign Language
(I-track)* |
ENG101 (College English) |
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ENG102 (English Composition) |
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Or Foreign Language
(K-track) |
ENG001K (Foundation
English I) |
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ENG002K (Foundation English II) |
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* Note that students
doing majors in foreign languages other than English do different pairs of
courses as appropriate (see Section XIV). |
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Once
enrolled for a Foundation Year program, a student is committed to studying for
the full year. Failure to do so means that they must re-apply for admission to
do the whole program again.
These are usually taken by students who have
completed grade 12 of high school. Cambodia’s National Qualification Framework allows
that only those who passed the National High School examination are eligible to
be admitted to an Associate’s Program for non-TVET Programs. Various programs
offered in the Khmer track at The University of Cambodia conform to the TVET
standard, subject to sufficient class enrollment; in order to be admitted to
such a program, the prospective student must pass the University’s Associate’s
Degree Entrance Exam.
MoEYS’ regulations require that, as part of Cambodia’s
National Qualification Framework, a full-time student complete and pass overall
at least 60 credits in order to be able to earn an Associate’s degree; this has
to be achieved within two years. However
The University of Cambodia sets a higher standard, with the need to
satisfactorily complete 75 credits within the same time-frame: students are
required to do extra General Education and Other Elective courses in order to
further enhance their background knowledge and thereby increase their
attractiveness and flexibility in a rapidly changing employment market.
Thus, during this
time they have to complete not only their respective major’s requirements (36
credits), but also the General Education requirements (24 credits) and four
other elective courses (12 credits). Of these, 39 credits are completed in the
first year, including six credits for their major’s oriented courses and 24
credits towards the General Education requirements, together with nine credits
for other electives (Table 2).
Provided that the
student meets the minimal Grade Point Average (GPA) requirements, they can then
prepare for the Comprehensive Exam (see Section
V.11).
Admission to one of these degree programs
requires that a student must have successfully completed their High School
Baccalaureate and then passed The University of Cambodia’s Bachelor’s Degree
Entrance Exam; in addition, prospective International track students must pass
the University’s English Placement Exam or an outside equivalent.
All Bachelor’s degree
programs require students to complete at least 135 credits as one of the
criteria for being able to graduate; 30 of these credits are completed in the
Foundation Year (Table 3). Full-time students who do not take any leaves of
absence can complete this number in the first half of their fourth year, if
they maintain a satisfactory academic performance.
Of
these, 72 credits (including six from the two oriented Foundation Year courses)
reflect their particular major’s requirements (Table 3); 48 credits are for
General Education courses (including half of these completed in the Foundation
Year); whilst the remaining 15 credits are from other relevant electives
outside their major.
These
are courses directly related to the student’s degree program (see Tables 2, 3),
and include the two oriented courses taken in the Foundation Year for
Bachelor’s students. Where there are more than one major in a particular
College or School, these may share a set of common core courses during the
first part of their respective programs: thereafter, each of them is
distinguished from the others by particular suites of more specialized courses,
the so-called major electives.
8. The General Education Component
These are
compulsory courses required to be taken by all students in order to complete
their degree programs, regardless of their major. The aim of these courses is
to broaden students’ outlooks and their perspectives of Cambodia in the broader
context of today's world in this era of computerization and globalization. These
courses comprise 32% of the requisite courses for an Associate’s Degree;
and 36% of the minimum total required for a Bachelor's degree program.
Table 4 General Education requirements for UC students doing a
Bachelor’s degree.
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Associate’s
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Bachelor’s
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1. Arts and Humanities
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Humanities
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--
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6 credits
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Cambodian History
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3 credits
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3 credits
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Law
and Justice
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3 credits
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3 credits
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2. Mathematics, Science and Computers
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IT and Computer Science
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3 credits
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3 credits
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Quantitative Reasoning
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3 credits
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3 credits
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The Sciences
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--
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6 credits
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3. Social Sciences
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Cambodian Studies
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3 credits
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3 credits
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Social and Behavioral Sciences
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3 credits
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6 credits
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International Understanding
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--
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6 credits
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4. Communication
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*Written English
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6 credits
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6 credits
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Oral Communication
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--
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3 credits
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Total GE Credits
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24 credits
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48 credits
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* Not
applicable for students studying languages other than English (see Section XIV).
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There are four categories
within the General Education program, each of which is comparable with a
general field in the Foundation Year program for Bachelor’s students (Table
4). Apart from the Language
category, the content of courses in the K-track is identical, but are suffixed
by the letter ‘K’ in order to indicate that they are taught through the medium
of Khmer.
i. Arts and Humanities Bachelor’s students must do courses in:
- Humanities – two
of PHL105 (Moral Philosophy), RLG101 (Introduction to Religion) and WMN201 (Perspectives on Women in Society);
·
Cambodian History – HIS101 (Cambodian History) in the
Foundation Year; and
·
Law and Justice – either LAW101 (Introduction to Law) in the Foundation Year or PST102 (Human Rights and Global
Justice).
Associate’s
degree students are required to do HIS001 and LAW001 as part of their Foundation Year.
ii. Mathematics,
Science and Computers Bachelor’s students must do courses in:
·
Information
Technology and Computer Science – ITE101 (Fundamentals of Computing and Information)
in the Foundation Year;
·
Quantitative
Reasoning – MTH120 (Introduction to Statistics) in the
Foundation Year; and
·
The
Sciences – PHL104 (Critical Reasoning) and RES301 (Research Methodology).
Associate’s
degree students are required to do ITE001 and MTH020 as part of their Foundation Year.
iii. Social
Sciences Bachelor’s students must do courses in:
- Cambodian
Studies – KHM140 (Khmer Culture) in the Foundation Year;
- Social and
Behavioral Sciences – POL101 (Introduction to Political Science) in the
Foundation Year and RES201 (Introduction to Research) thereafter; and
- International
Understanding – INT104 (Geopolitics and Globalization) and one of ANT101 (Introduction to Anthropology), PSY101 (Introduction to Psychology) or SOC101 (Introduction to Sociology).
Associate’s
degree students are required to do KHM040 and POL001 as part of their Foundation Year.
iv. Communication The
Foundation Year language courses which Associate’s and Bachelor’s students must
do depend on their particular track (see Table 4):
·
those on the Khmer track are
required to do ENG001 and ENG002;
·
those on the International track
studying through the medium of English are required to do ENG101 and ENG102; whilst
·
those studying languages other
than English must do the requisite courses in their chosen program (see Section XIV).
Thereafter, students must do one of COM101
(Interpersonal Communication) or COM102 (Essentials
of Public Speaking): the equivalent courses are COM001 and COM002 for
Associate’s students.
These are
other courses taken outside the student’s major which are selected to enhance
their language and other soft skills, and thus their attractiveness in the job
market. Starting in Academic Year 2012-2013, there has been the progressive
implementation of fixed degree programs for each major, in order to meet the
requirements of MoEYS.
In
Associate’s degree programs, these comprise BUS005 (Foundations
of Teamwork and Leadership), ITE002 (Office
Applications) and PHE001
(Personal Health and Wellness).
For
Bachelor’s fixed-degree programs, these include BUS304 (Leadership
Skills) for students not majoring in a Management program; for the latter students,
MTH110 (College Algebra) is the replacement. For non-English majors on the
International track, ENG107
(The Written Language) and ENG122 (Further English for Non-Majors), as prerequisites
for more advanced English-language courses of benefit to all graduates, such as
ENG218 (Writing
for Academic Purposes) and ENG219 (Business
Communication); these are replaced by EDC101 (Principles
of Education), MKT201
(Principles of Marketing), MKT306 (Public
Relations) and ORG201
(Organizational Behavior) for English majors.
In the case
of the Khmer track programs, these four courses are replaced by ENG003-ENG005 and ENG219K.
10. Evaluation of Student Performance
The
University aims to develop innovative teaching techniques in order to better
increase our students’ knowledge and understanding of particular fields and
their awareness of the possibilities that linking ideas from different (sub-)disciplines may generate new insights.
Whilst
such approaches seek to encourage free-thinking, there is nevertheless the need
to set benchmarks in order to objectively compare the performance of individual
students, both within particular courses and as a result of the accrued broader
perspectives which they have gained from the study of their major in the
context of the General Education syllabus and their other electives (see Section V.11 regarding the final Comprehensive
Exam).
i. Methods of Student Assessment As indicated in Table 5, various measures contribute to the student’s
final mark. The latter is then converted to a letter grade, with a numerical
weightage (Table 6) which can then be used to calculate the student’s Grade
Point Average (GPA; see below).
For
their own benefit, students are expected to be conscientious in attending to
their studies at The University of Cambodia (see Section V.10). To encourage
this, attendance accounts for up to 15% of the final mark. Moreover, students
must exceed a minimum level of attendance in order to take their exams:
Ø
Scholarship
students must maintain at least 85% attendance for
each course taken;
Ø those receiving a Partial Scholarship are required
to have at least 75% attendance; whilst
Ø other students are required to maintain a minimum
of 65% attendance.
If a student fails to maintain adequate attendance, they will be barred
from sitting the final exams for that course, and they will receive a failed
grade 'F'.
Ø
An exception will be made if
the student asks before the end of the first week of term to drop registered
course, in which case their transcript will instead indicate ‘Withdrawn’ (see Section VII.1).
To
encourage our students to develop their soft skills, various types of class
assignment are also important: they account for 25% of the final mark (see
Table 5). These are based on the realistic and realizable need to produce
end-products, whether individually or as a result of group work, within an
agreed-upon time-frame.
However,
the greatest component of the final mark is based on mid- and end-of-term
exams. These are centralized, with their running designed to minimize the
potential for weak students to resort to cheating.
ii. Maintaining an Adequate Academic Standard The letter grade for each course studied has a corresponding numerical
value, the grade point (Table 6). The latter can be used to calculate the GPA,
both for the courses studied during the term in question and for the whole of a
student’s time at UC.
Ø
In order to be able to graduate,
students need to have minimum overall GPA of 2.0 according to MoEYS guidelines.
Ø
Where their current performance is
less than this threshold, they will have to take extra courses to try to bring
their GPA above this minimum.
Ø
However students should realize
that it is very difficult to compensate for past poor performances in
this way.
Ø
MoEYS regulations require that a student must graduate within six years of
first enrolling for a degree program.
In
addition, students who are on a Scholarship need to maintain a minimum overall
GPA of 2.5 in order to retain their scholarships (see Section
VI.2).
Ø This
reflects our greater expectations for such students.
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iii. Recognition of Our
Best Students Undergraduates who have an overall GPA of 3.5 in
their Foundation Year are nominated to the Dean’s List, whilst those with a GPA
of 4.0 are on the Vice President’s List. They will receive certificates to that
effect at the Foundation Year graduation.
Thereafter,
having such GPAs in any one term will mean that the student will be nominated
to the pertinent List for that particular term, and this will be indicated in their
academic transcript. In addition, where a student has an overall GPA of 3.5 for
an Academic Year, they will be nominated to the President’s List, whilst those
with a GPA of 4.0 are placed on the Chancellor’s List; they will receive
certificates to that effect at the annual graduation ceremony.
Having enrolled to start a
Foundation Year program, MoEYS regulations require
that:
Ø
whilst a full-time
Associate’s student must graduate within two years (extendable up to four years
with adequate justification), part-time students must do so within five years;
whilst
Ø
a full-time Bachelor’s
student must graduate within four years (extendable up to six years with
adequate justification), whereas part-time students can extend to eight years.
For students at The
University of Cambodia, this means that they not only have to satisfactorily
complete all necessary coursework but also prepare for and pass an exit
Comprehensive Exam within this time-frame.
i. Course
Requirements All students must have
passed their Foundation Year and
completed the minimum number of credits (75 for an Associate’s degree; 135
credits for a Bachelor’s degree), including courses to meet the General
Education requirements and those of their present major (see Tables 2 and 3).
However they will have to take extra courses if their GPA is less than 2.0, in
order to bring their score above this threshold.
In order
to initiate the process of filing for graduation, students must confirm with
the Registrar’s Office that they have satisfied these academic requirements.
Ø If this is
the case, then they should complete a Graduation Clearance Form and submit this
with all supporting documents (including a standard photograph, their High
School and Foundation Year certificates and an Alumni Association Information
form) as early as possible.
Ø They
should also clear any outstanding financial obligations that they may have with
the University.
Ø In the
meantime, they can get an 'ABC' ('All But Comprehensive Exam') certificate from
the Registrar upon payment of the appropriate fee.
ii. The Comprehensive Exam This was introduced in Term I of Academic Year 2012-2013;
initially, it counted for 3 credits (CEX401) to the total required for a
Bachelor’s degree, but this no longer applies from June 2018.
The exam aims to
provide a capstone to further help to prove that UC undergraduates who have
completed their studies are of a good caliber and meet the high standards
expected of them, so that they will have an even better opportunity to secure jobs
or other openings in Cambodia or elsewhere.
It comprises three
1.5-hour papers run under the oversight of MoEYS
officials at a pre-arranged time and place.
Ø Individual
Colleges and Schools are responsible for preparing their students for the exam.
Ø They may
be held 4-6 weeks after the Final Exams in the preceding term.
Ø However
they may not be held after every term; and the student can postpone taking the
Exam by one term (subject to the constraints of meeting MoEYS’
deadlines for completing their degrees in a timely fashion).
For both Associate’s
and Bachelor’s students, two of the papers are related the student's major; the third is a general one.
Students will be provided with a pool of possible questions to
prepare for the exam: the actual questions to be answered will be selected from
this pool on the day of the exam.
The major-specific
papers are designed to test a student's overall grasp of the material covered
by their particular field of study, rather than concentrate on any particular
course in that major.
Ø
Candidates are expected to
review all of the course work covered during their degree program.
Ø
They are also expected to do
further background reading, based on a list of recommended textbooks and other
materials.
On the other hand,
the general paper aims to test broader aspects of the student’s knowledge,
understanding and insights with particular regard to reviewing broader aspects
covered by the General Education program.
Students are required
to sit and pass each of the component papers. If this is the case then this
will be annotated as a ‘Pass’ on their final academic transcript; otherwise, a
‘Fail’ will be recorded.
Ø Where a
student fails one or more papers, they can register to take a re-sit, with the necessary papers re-taken at the
next scheduled Comprehensive Exam.
Ø However, where a student scores zero marks in at
least one of the papers in their first Comprehensive Exam (e.g. through
absence or arriving too late to take the exam), then all three papers may have
to be re-taken.
A second failure will mean that this is also recorded as such on the
transcript and the student drops out of the program.
The
University of Cambodia is proud of its graduates, many of whom have gone on to
make significant professional contributions in the public and private sectors
as well as in society at large, including after going on to further studies
abroad. We have established the UC Alumni Association to maintain contact with
our graduates. Activities include an Annual Reunion (organized by the Office of
Public Affairs, Communications and Alumni), where former students can meet and
network with each other, as well as with the University, which stands to gain
from them sharing their experiences and thus help us further fine-tune our existing
degree programs. In addition, outstanding alums are now recognized at the
annual graduation ceremony.
It is also
to be hoped that those who were on scholarships and have profited as a result
of their free education will share some of their gains to help others at UC,
whether through monetary donations to the UC Foundation or other means.