Centre for Educational Research and Innovation
CERI is dedicated to conducting high-quality research with a primary focus on education and training in Cambodia and the region to generate knowledge from qualitative and quantitative analyses rooted in data and evidence. Utilising the knowledge we generate, the centre actively facilitates policy discussions between both national and international researchers, policymakers, and practitioners through a series of workshops and policy dialogues held at both national and regional levels. In pursuit of our objectives, CERI maintain close collaborations with government agencies, educational and training institutions, civil society organizations (CSOs), and other pertinent stakeholders. This collective effort is to foster innovation and implement effective solutions in education and training. CERI's core activities revolve around research, capacity development, and policy engagement. Currently, our key areas of focus for research encompass educational technology, skills development, the advancement of quality education, and the promotion of inclusive education, spanning from K12 to higher education.
Lifting Barriers: Educated Boys for Gender Equality
UNESCOGender norms and disparities in education impact both boys and girls. Globally, more boys are out of school, and their learning performances are also decreasing compared to girls. These issues affect educational attainment and soc...
A Rapid Assessment of the Journalism Education Ecosystem in Cambodia
UNESCOIn the era of digital technologies, the rise of social media has widened everyone's access to information. In conjunction with many benefits, there lurk several harms as, in the same manner as authentic news, fake news can also sp...
Opportunities and Obstacles for the Attraction, Retention and Progression of Girls and Women to STEM Studies and Careers...
Asian Development BankThe Cambodia STI roadmap aims to have 50% of university graduates majoring in STEM subjects, with 40% of those graduates being women, by 2030. Despite the government's efforts to promote STEM education and careers, the number of s...
Information Needs Assessment for Persons with Disabilities in Cambodia
UNESCOPersons with Disabilities (PWD) in Cambodia face many barriers and challenges: poverty and unsustainable livelihoods; stigma and discrimination; limited access to services, information, justice, and education; inaccessibility of p...
Learning Gap between Male and Female Students in Upper Secondary Education
Swedish International Development Cooperation AgencyThe gender gap in achievement, which refers to the disparity in academic performance between male and female students, has been a subject of interest not only in education research but also in political and economic contexts. The...
Exploring the Effects of Gender-Responsive Pedagogy on Students' Learning Experience in Cambodia
Education Development TrustThis project is part of Education Development Trust (EDT)‘s multi-year research program aimed at improving the overall understanding of the impact of Gender Responsive Pedagogy (GRP) and its potential to improve learning outcomes...
Opportunity Case 2: Inclusive and Quality Education
Australia Aid | Ponlok Chammes | The Asia FoundationThe Ponlok Chomnes II program is a four-year program funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade through The Asia Foundation's Ponlok Chomnes: Data and Dialogue for Development in Cambodia that aims to promote...
Development of the ASEAN Plan of Action in Science, Technology and Innovation (APASTI) 2026-2035
Institute for ManufacturingThe ASEAN Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation (COSTI) works to leverage Science & Technology to address common problems faced in the ASEAN region and to raise the level of scientific and technological advancement in AS...
Students’ Learning and the Use of Gender-Responsive Pedagogy
Education Development TrustLack of quality teaching and learning is one of the main causes of the learning crisis for girls and boys alike, therefore there is a need for significant improvements in teaching to ensure that all students, both boys and girls,...
Closing the Information Divide: Addressing the Information Needs for Persons with Disabilities in Cambodia
Key Highlights In Cambodia, one in four people over five years old are estimated to have some form of disability. This group tends to be older, female, and residing in rural areas. The most common types of disabilities include difficulties in seeing, remembering, and walking/climbing. Education and work opportunities are limited, especially for women with severe disabilities. Their health and qual...
Negotiating Family and Personal Aspirations: Four Young Cambodian Women Reflecting on Choosing a Major
Despite recent declines in university enrolment due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors, the number of university students has continued to grow in Cambodia. In fact, in its recent Education 2030 Roadmap, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) estimates that there will be twice as many students enrolled in higher education in 2030 as there were in 2018 (MoEYS 2019a, 36). The fie...
The Reversal of Gender Gap in Learning: Why Boys Are Falling Behind in Upper Secondary Schools
The global emphasis on addressing gender disparities in education has highlighted the importance of equitable academic achievement for policymakers, scholars, and the public. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have incorporated gender equity, emphasising the ongoing challenge of ensuring equal access to quality education worldwide. In Cambodia, traditionally a male-dominated society, a notab...
SHARE LIBROS (Learning to Improve Book Resource Operational Systems) Cambodia, Final Brief
This policy brief presents key findings from the technical report "Learning to Improve Book Resource Operational Systems (LIBROS) in Cambodia". The study examined the perceived impacts, development, and implementing factors of the Track and Trace (TnT) system, a digital intervention implemented by the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport (MoEYS) to manage the textbook demand of and supply to Ca...
LIBROS: Learning to Improve Book Resource Operational Systems in Cambodia-Technical Study Report
Children in low-and middle-income countries often struggle to master foundational academic skills, such as reading, despite years of schooling. Quality learning materials are essential to addressing this issue. In this Learning to Improve Books Resource Operational Systems (LIBROS) study, we explore ways to enhance the primary-level book supply chain in these regions via a multi-method case study...
Examining Improvements to Girls’ Education in Cambodia Through a Gender-Responsive Lens
The Cambodian government has been successful in raising girls’ enrolment and academic achievement in recent years, with girls’ enrolment reaching 100% in 2021 and girls outperforming boys in reading, writing and mathematics at Grade 5 level. While this is hugely encouraging for girls’ education in the country, these statistics alone do not help us to understand the extent to which gender imba...
What Makes Academics (In)active in Higher Education Internationalisation: Evidence from Cambodia
This study explores the international engagement of academics and the factors influencing their engagement in internationalisation efforts in Cambodian universities. Data were gathered through online semi-structured interviews with academics and university administrators and later coded and analysed using reflexive thematic approach. The findings revealed that academics predominantly participate i...
Addressing All Learners’ Needs Through Gender-Responsive Pedagogy: The Case Of Cambodia
This blog post summarises key findings from recent research conducted by the Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) and Education Development Trust which investigates Cambodia’s journey toward gender-responsive education. Gender-Responsive Pedagogy, using FAWE’s (2018) framework, provides a lens for examining changes within Cambodian classrooms as reported in key informant interviews....
Assessing Technology Readiness of Students and Teachers in Cambodian Higher Education during COVID-19
The global COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented disruptions to the higher education landscape worldwide. Widespread school closures, driven by the imperative of social distancing to combat the virus's spread forced a rapid and dramatic shift from traditional face-to-face instruction to online learning and teaching environments in numerous countries. Recent research has highlighted the formidabl...
Technology integration of Cambodian higher education: emerging changes since COVID-19 and notable challenges
The second decade of the 21st century marks the time the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) officially directs the nation’s public sector, economy, and society to accelerate technology adoption and digital transformation. This present study aims to observe developments of such direction in Cambodian higher education (HE) sub-sector before and in response to Covid-19 by (1) examining policies and i...
Closing the New Gap: How We Can Help Underperforming Boys
Author: Dr CHEA Phal, Senior Research Fellow at CDRI's Centre for Educational Research and InnovationRecent educational statistics—including enrolment data, learning assessments, and national examinations—indicate a growing academic disparity, with boys increasingly lagging behind girls over the past decade. As seen in the figure below, this reversed disparity in Grade 12 national examinations can be observed since 2015, with the gap widening fro...
Partnership and Investment Workshop
On Tuesday, 09 April 2024, CDRI’s Centre of Educational Research and Innovation, Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport, and Publishing and Distribution House, hosted a Partnership and Investment Workshop, a continued effort from the Learning to Improve Book Resource Operational Systems (LIBROS) in Cambodia project. About 31 stakeholders from the government, development partners, local and international civil society (CSOs), and private sector c...
The 4th Educational Forum on Towards Future-Ready Schools: Building Resilience and Ensuring Quality
On 20-21 March 2024, Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI), in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, with the support from Ponlork Chomnes, co-organised the 4th Educational Forum on Towards Future-Ready Schools: Building Resilience and Ensuring Quality at the National Institute of Education. The forum was graced by the esteemed presence of:HE Dr Hang Chuon Naron, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Y...
Learning to Improve Book Resource Operational Systems (LIBROS)
On 31 January 2024, CDRI’s Education Centre convened a meeting with the participation of Publishing and Distribution House, World Education, and software development companies (Coolbeans and Codingate) to enhance the Track and Trace (TnT) system, a digital platform managing textbook supply in Cambodia. This meeting was a follow-up to the LIBROS-Cambodia study, aiming to utilise the evidence generated from the main study. The project seeks to stre...
Dissemination Workshop on Learning Disparities between Male and Female Students in Upper Secondary Education
On January 30, 2024, CDRI’s Education Centre, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS), hosted a dissemination workshop on "Learning Disparities between Male and Female Students in Upper Secondary Education.” With support from the Embassy of Sweden Section Office in Phnom Penh and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the dissemination workshop aimed to identify factors influencing learning performance and the learnin...
Media Diversity Forum
UNESCO Cambodia hosted the Media Diversity Forum, a vibrant platform aimed at providing a critical understanding of audience diversity within the media sector, enabling the better production of content and strengthening trust in the media. During the forum, Ms Bun Phoury, Research Associate from CDRI’s Education Centre got to share some insights on a new study on the Information Needs Assessment of Persons with Disabilities. She also joined as a...
Fifth Stakeholders’ Meeting on Internationalisation of Higher Education in Asia and the Pacific
Dr Chea Phal, Director of the CDRI's Education Centre, participated as a panellist in the Fifth Stakeholders’ Meeting on the Internationalisation of Higher Education in Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, which organised by UNESCO Bangkok and the University of Tokyo. This event aimed to promote understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the role of international higher education in Asia and the Pacific, facilitate dialogue amon...
Research Training Course “Applied Social Research and Information Literacy”
On 15 December 2021, we concluded a 40-hour training course on “Applied Social Research and Information Literacy” for CSOs leaders based in Phnom Penh, Battambang, Siem Reap, Stung Treng, and Kampot.The training was jointly organized by Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) and NGO Education Partnership (NEP), with financial support from Global Partnership for Education (GPE). A total of 16 participants have strengthened their capability...
Training on Introduction to R for Quantitative Data Analysis
In collaboration with The Asia Foundation and under financial support from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) has organizing a three-day intensive workshop on “Introduction to R for Quantitative Data Analysis” from 2 to 4 February 2021 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Over 30 participants from universities, TVET institutes, research thinktanks, and government ministries...
The Asia Foundation's Visit to CDRI
Thursday, 10 September 2020, Ms Meloney C. Lindberg, country representative of The Asia Foundation and Ms Heang Sophea, program manager of Ponlok Chomnes program, paid a courtesy call to CDRI. Supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Australia, the partnership between TAF and CDRI focuses on research, policy dialogues and capacity development in higher education. Ongoing research projects in 2020 under this partnership inc...
20 Mar
The 4th Education Policy Forum
Towards Future-Ready Schools: Building Resilience and Ensuring Quality
08:00 AM 05:00 PM
NIE Meeting Hall
The Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport (MoEYS), the Cambodian Development Resource Institute (CDRI), are collaboratively organising the annual Education Policy Forum. The theme of this year's forum is "Towards Future-Ready Schools: Building Resilience and Ensuring Quality." This gathering serves as a pivotal platform for stakeholders to deliberate on crucial issues shaping the education landscape in Cambodia. Given the complexities of the 21...
11 Dec
Validation Workshop
Information Needs Assessment for Persons with Disabilities
08:00 AM - 01:30 PM
Raffles Hotel Le Royal
As of March 2023, more than 1.3 billion people live with a disability which is approximately 16% of the world’s population (WHO, 2023). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UNCRPD affirm that persons with disabilities have the same rights and freedoms as everyone else, including the right to access information. Information is vital for people with disabilities to engage in public life or exercise their civil rights, and to make infor...
22 Sep
Dissemination and Engagement Workshop
Learning to Improve Book Resource Operational Systems (LIBROS)-Cambodia
08:00 AM - 04:30 PM
Fairfield by Marriott Phnom Penh
Cambodia Development Research Institute (CDRI) is delighted to organise a dissemination and engagement workshop on Learning to Improve Book Resource Operational Systems (LIBROS)-Cambodia on September 22, 2023, at Fairfield by Mariott Phnom Penh. This dissemination and engagement workshop will convene relevant stakeholders from government agencies, book developers (authors, editors, illustrators etc.), book publishers and distributors, development...
06 Jun
Dissemination Workshop
The Thnal Udom Chomnes: Reimagining Future Education of Cambodia
08:00 AM - 01:30 PM
Fairfield by Marriott Phnom Penh (Ballroom Level 25)
On 6th June 2023, CDRI will host the dissemination workshop on Reimaging Future Education of Cambodia under the program ”Thnal Udom Chomnes,” at Fairfield by Marriott Phnom Penh (Ballroom Level 25) at 8:00 AM to 13:30PM. This workshop will bring together the key relevant stakeholders from both government agencies, higher education institutions, schools, private sectors, development partners, and local and international civil society organisation...
15 Dec
Symposium
Research Evidence and Policy Engagement
08:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Himarwari Hotel Apartments
With support from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) through The Asia Foundation’s Ponlok Chonmes Initiative: Data and Dialogue for Development in Cambodia, CDRI will organise the Symposium on Research Evidence and Policy Engagement. This symposium is to share the findings from CDRI's recent research on technology integration in Cambodian higher education. At the same time, it provides researchers and students opportuni...
23 Jun
Workshop
System Thinking Workshop
08:00 AM 05:00 PM
Raffles Hotel le Royal
The book supply chain in Cambodia has many weak points as it can take months to progress from one step to another. Despite additional support given and policies implemented, there have not been major improvements in the book supply chain. Therefore, to have deeper insights on the book supply chain in Cambodia, Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) in collaboration with the University of Notre Dame (UND) under financial support from t...
04 Feb
Dissemination Workshop
The Thnal Udom Chomnes: Promoting Cambodian Higher Education Innovation
08:30 AM - 05:30 PM
Hotel Cambodiana and Zoom Webinar
Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) is delighted to organize a Book Launch and Dissemination Workshop for our 2.5-year research program “Thnal Udom Chomnes: Promoting Cambodian Higher Education Innovation”, on 04 February 2022, 09:00-17:15 (UTC+7). This event marks the conclusion of the research program implemented by CDRI under the financial support from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) through the Asia...
14 Oct
Comparative Education Society of Cambodia (CESCam)
Envisioning Education 2030: New Models of Education
Kirirom Institute of Technology (KIT) and Zoom
The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions to education around the globe. The necessity of social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has forced many educational establishments to close and adopt online and distance education. It has been argued that technology-assisted distance education, has had various benefits, including the increase in teaching efficiency, flexibility in time and place, and expansion in educat...
31 Aug
Project Inception Workshop
Thnal Udom Chomnes: Reimagining the Future of Cambodia Education
08:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Zoom Meeting
Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) is going to organize an inception workshop of a new research project entitled “Thnal Udom Chomnes: Reimagining the Future of Cambodia Education”. The aim of the project is to contribute to the policymaking and development of the education sector in Cambodia through high-quality, policy-relevant research and collaboration among policymakers, researchers, scholars, and practitioners. This project...
01 Jul
National Workshop
Accelerating Progress and Equity in Education
08:30 AM 12:00 AM
Zoom Webinar
The aim of the dialogue is to engage the Cambodian government and stakeholders at all levels to discuss and work together to address the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic on the implementation towards achieving SDG 4 in 2030. The specific objectives of the national policy dialogue are to:To promote collaboration and cooperation between various stakeholders in addressing SDG 4 and other societal aspirations.Identify the common challenges f...