Dear LIFT,
Having read your
article “Should university take stock in your thesis?” (LIFT 121, May 9, 2012),
I would like to contribute my personal comments in response. Last February,
most mass media and social communication networks had broadcasted and discussed
Royal University of Law and Economic’s official announcement prohibiting their
students from pursuing certain research topics for their graduation thesis. At
that time, some scholars and civil societies considered this as controversial, citing
political motivation as a violation of academic freedom. However, I think there
are legitimate reasons behind RULE’s ban on certain topics that need to be
considered. To begin with, Cambodian students will face many problems with
their English proficiency because most documents related to these subjects are
written in English. For example, the stock market is a new economic phenomenon
in Cambodia. Most universities are lacking library resources with updated
documents, textbooks and modern facilities. Students cannot access internet services
to download e-books and academic journal papers.
Also, Cambodian
universities have a shortage of qualified academics on these subjects who can
supervise students’ theses in conformity with international standards. RULE
doesn’t have research university status in Cambodia because of the constraints
of low public financial support and incentives. Finally, research findings on
these banned topics could be wrong, due to the lack of available resources,
thereby leading people and organisations to believe information that’s false.
Some findings, which may not be true, could cause a negative internal backlash,
as well as disturb social stability and even breach confidentiality.
Sam Rany
Sam
Rany is a graduate of law at RULE and currently a PhD Candidate at the
Universiti Sains Malaysia’s School of Educational Studies.
No comments:
Post a Comment