An end to higher education’s monopoly on credibility

Time15 July 2012 Issue No:230

 

The times they are a changin’, and I’d like to suggest they are changing in a way that has massive implications for education: sources of credibility – once the domain of expensive degrees – are becoming democratised, decentralised and diversified, writes Michael Ellsberg for Time.

In the past, there was pretty much one way to gain credibility: get some letters after your name, from as fancy an institution as possible. Now, in 2012, I’ve seen dozens of young people who don’t even have college degrees use the following tools as sources of credibility in the business world: a track record of having started one or two successful businesses, even if they were small; industry-related blogs with well-written, lively, detailed posts that receive many comments and tweets/likes/shares per post; an impressive About page on a well-designed personal website; and large, legitimate, real followings on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other social media networks.

Clearly, any discussion of higher education needs to distinguish between two basic and distinct concepts: learning, on the one hand, versus credibility about having learned. While learning has always been available around us, inexpensively, free (or even paid on the job), until recently sources of credibility have been highly centralised, and highly expensive. There was basically only one source: higher education.

Full report on the Time site 

A slow thaw for women reaching leadership positions

Curt Rice15 July 2012 Issue No:230

 

Admission to medical school in Norway is based on an elaborate points system. High-school grades, work experience, even age can give applicants more points and thereby increase their chances.

Lately I've heard informal discussions about adding a new criterion for points. Perhaps male applicants should get an extra point or two – just for being men! (For a related discussion, see “A sex point or two for male nurses”.)

Incoming classes in medical schools in Norway have recently had about 70% female students. For some, the over-representation of women at this level gives hope.

Their hope is what I call the THAW argument – Time Heals All Wounds. According to THAW, if we just wait, the large numbers of women entering medical school will lead to greater numbers of women professors and greater numbers of women in leadership positions. This thaw is inevitable as today's students advance in their careers.

Unfortunately, THAW is a flawed argument. Three recent research results highlight the problems with THAW.

1. In the article “Is there still a glass ceiling for women in academic surgery?” we learn that the number of women surgeons has been rising dramatically over many years, but that they continue to be under-represented in leadership positions; for instance, as deans of medical schools.

Women progress through their careers more slowly, have lower salaries and experience discrimination. The increased number of women surgeons has not led to an increase in the numbers of women at the top of that field.

2. Women Matter 2010 also demonstrates the fallacy of THAW. The report argues that time alone isn't enough; it is critical to change the promotion system if we want to increase the numbers of women in leadership positions.

Their evidence against THAW comes from identifying the percentage of university graduates who are women in a given year, and then seeing how many of them are in top leadership positions about 30 years later.

In Sweden, for example, 61% of university graduates in 1978 were women. Some 32 years later, they occupied 17% of top leadership positions. In 2008, 64% of university graduates were women; the report claims that an analysis of social trends predicts that women will constitute only 18% of Swedish top leaders by 2040.

Spain has rather different numbers. Some 32% of university graduates in 1976 were women. In 2010, the Spanish companies in the McKinsey database had 6% of their top leadership positions filled by women. In 2008, the percentage of university graduates who were women had nearly doubled, reaching 60%. An analysis of social trends suggests that in 2040, 11% of top leadership positions will be filled by women.

3. In The Netherlands, nearly 12% of professors are women. The European Union's Lisbon Agreement had a goal of 25% women professors throughout Europe by 2010. At the current rate, The Netherlands will not reach this goal until 2030.

The government of The Netherlands modified its goal several years ago, hoping to reach a meagre 15% by 2010. This goal also went unmet and at current rates of increase, it will take until 2014 to get even to that point.

If we just wait, we won't see the benefits of gender balance in top leadership teams in our lifetimes. The thaw is just too slow.

* Curt Rice is pro rector for research and development at the University of Tromsø. He blogs on issues related to university leadership here, where this column originally appeared.

First doctoral training centre to be set up in UAE

Wagdy Sawahel15 July 2012 Issue No:230

 

The University of Wollongong in Dubai has joined with the National Research Foundation (NRF) in the United Arab Emirates, or UAE, to set up the country’s first doctoral training centre.

The agreement between Wollongong in Dubai, an offshoot of Australia’s University of Wollongong, and the NRF, which is an initiative of the UAE Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, was outlined in a 1 July article published by Trade Arabia.

The new UAE Doctoral Training Centre will focus on building sustainable research partnerships with government, industry and other universities as well as providing high-quality postgraduate education and addressing the lack of doctoral training in the UAE.

The centre will strive to improve the retention of students in doctoral programmes and help to create uniform research standards, and will host conferences to facilitate interaction between postgraduate students and supervisors from various universities.

It will also set up doctoral student networks and provide an electronic platform to facilitate ongoing communication between students at different universities.

The UAE move will help to tackle challenges facing Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, including limited supply of knowledge workers to support innovation plans, highlighted in a 3 July report, Global Innovation Index 2012: Stronger innovation linkages for global growth.

The report indicated that GCC states were among a host of resource-rich, high-income "innovation underperformers" when comparing innovation performance against gross domestic product per capita.

Its findings were echoed by a study prepared by the Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) and reported in a 1 July Gulf Times article.

The GOIC study pointed out that despite many Gulf countries heading towards a knowledge-based economy with significant results achieved – especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – the contribution of GCC states to the global knowledge-based economy is 0.2% compared to 4% to 4.5% in developed countries.

Speaking to University World News, Ghassan Aouad, president of the University of Wollongong in Dubai, said doctoral programmes were relatively new in the region “but have quickly expanded in the past few years.

“This makes doctoral training crucial in creating a network of well-trained researchers and future research leaders whose expertise will help guide the UAE and other states in the Gulf and the Arab World.

“It is of critical importance to establish other similar centres in the region in order to support and promote knowledge-based economies,” Aouad argued.

“The formal research training which will be supported by the centre will enhance the human developments efforts undertaken by the UAE government, improve the research output of the nation and result in the production of research on issues related to the UAE and the Gulf region.

Mohammed Kuchari, an associate professor of microbiology at Saudi Arabia’s King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, welcomed the new development, which he said could provide a “good model for excellence in pan-Arab doctoral training” and help to create the world-class research community and powerful science base essential for the knowledge economy.

According to a November 2011 Arab research strategy, there are about nine million students in 470 higher education institutions in the region, but only 10% are postgraduates.

To enhance the new centre’s role, Kuchari said, it should develop parameters for measuring quality assurance in doctoral training and encourage the setting up of university consortia and networks “to ensure that doctoral training is undertaken in a strong research environment”.

It could also promote “the vital role of doctoral training to business and industrial communities” and the value of doctoral training for careers beyond academia, Kuchari told University World News.

Richard Gold, an expert in innovation, patent law and policy, as well as being a law professor at Canada-based McGill University and the director of The Innovation Partnership, said regional training for doctoral students had been “one of the critical missing pieces in developing scientific capacity.

“Doctoral students who study abroad often remain where they learn as they develop links, both personal and professional, where they live. Thus, developing countries suffer from a brain drain as some of their best students move abroad,” Gold told University World News.

“Locating training at home will provide students with the option of remaining in their home countries while receiving a first-class education. Increasing links with top international universities to provide local training will build local capacity to participate in the innovation economy,” Gold added.

“While this is a long-term investment, it is critical if the UAE and neighbouring states wish to build the capacity to innovate, build local enterprises and develop entrepreneurial expertise.”

Gold said it was important to ensure that such centres offered first-class education, and so they should not compromise on the quality of instruction, equipment and laboratories.

“One of the best ways of ensuring this is to collaborate with an internationally recognised university,” Gold argued, including some training at the overseas university “to broaden students’ intellectual horizons” for periods that did not displace students for too long.

“What the UAE and its neighbours offers to these universities is well educated students who are eager to learn as well as the ability to fund research, which is of increasing importance to publicly-financed universities.

“Developing these relationships can therefore be win-win as research relies increasingly on international collaborations that require a significant number of highly qualified students, laboratories and research funding,” Gold concluded.

 

Four out of 10 graduates worldwide from China and India by 2020

David Jobbins12 July 2012 Issue No:230

 

Four out of every 10 university graduates will come from just two countries – China and India – by 2020, according to a new report from the OECD. China alone will account for 29% of graduates aged 25-34, with the United States and Europe stagnating at just over a quarter.

The report says that if current trends continue, the number of 25- to 34-year-olds from Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia and South Africa with a higher education degree will be almost 40% higher than the number from all OECD countries in 2020.

The latest in the series of Education in Focus reports records that in 2000 there were 51 million 25- to 34-year-olds with higher education degrees in OECD countries, and 39 million in non-OECD G20 countries. The OECD sent the paper out last week.

One in every six 25- to 34-year-old with a higher education degree was from the United States, and a similar proportion was from China; 12% came from the Russian Federation and about 10% each were from Japan and India.

By 2010, the same countries still possessed the largest shares of young people with a degree – but in a different order. According to OECD estimates, China accounted for 18%, followed by the US with 14%, the Russian Federation and India (each with 11%) and Japan with 7%.

The OECD concedes that its projections may actually underestimate the future growth of the global talent pool, partly because a number of countries are pursuing initiatives to further drive up qualifications among their young people.

It cites the goal set in 2009 by the US to become the nation with the highest proportion of 25- to 34-year-old tertiary graduates – requiring the proportion of younger adults in the US with a degree to reach 60% by the end of the decade.

It also acknowledges the progress made by European Union member states to increase the percentage of 30- to 34-year-olds completing higher education by at least 40% – Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK have already reached this goal for the 25- to 34-year-old population.

These ambitions are dwarfed by China, “which has quintupled its number of tertiary graduates and doubled its number of tertiary institutions in the last 10 years”.

It aims for 20% of its citizens – or 195 million people – to have higher education degrees by 2020. If this goal is realised, the OECD says that China will have a population of tertiary graduates roughly equal in size to the entire projected population of 25- to 64-year-olds in the US in 2020.

And it predicts that the ceiling for jobs in science and technology has not been reached and that individuals from increasingly better-educated populations will continue to have good employment outcomes, as long as economies continue to become more knowledge based.

“On average across OECD countries, human resources in science and technology (HRST) occupations represented more than a quarter of total employment in 2010,” the report says.

“In Luxembourg, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland, HRST workers accounted for more than 40% of all employees, while in India, China and Indonesia they accounted for less than 10%.”

Importantly, it points out, between 1998 and 2008 employment in these occupations “increased at a faster rate than total employment in all OECD and G20 countries with available data”.
 

U.S. to ASEAN: 'Take a stand on territorial dispute which can threaten all of you'

Friday, July 13. 2012

by Michaela del Callar

MANILA — United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to take a stand on the three-month impasse between China and the Philippines at the Bajo de Masinloc, warning that such territorial dispute could eventually threaten all 10 members of the regional bloc. 

“What might be a challenge today for some of ASEAN’s members, if left unaddressed by all of ASEAN, could lead tomorrow to issues that may become problems for (the rest of) other ASEAN members,” the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) quoted Clinton as saying during the ASEAN-U.S. ministerial meeting in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh on Wednesday.

It was the first major call on the ASEAN, which is currently led by Cambodia, to take a clearer and stronger stand on the long-simmering territorial rift in the West Philippines Sea, also known as South China Sea, which involves four ASEAN members -- Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

China and Taiwan are also involved in the dispute, which has long been feared as Asia’s next potential flashpoint for a major armed conflict.

Beijing virtually claims the whole of South China Sea, which is dotted by clusters of islands, cays, shoals and reefs, and teems with rich fishing areas. The vast sea is also believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits and is regarded as among the world’s most strategic and busiest waterways.

Clinton also urged the ASEAN to act fast and finalize a regional Code of Conduct, a proposed legally binding pact with China that aims at preventing the territorial conflict from degenerating into armed confrontation by enacting rules that would discourage aggression.

Cambodia, a key ally of China, has been hosting the week-long annual ASEAN ministerial meetings as chairman of the bloc, which also includes Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

ASEAN has been criticized for failing to take stronger and rapid steps to ease the territorial conflict in the South China Sea. The Philippines has urged the bloc to speak up after Filipino vessels figured in a dangerous standoff with Chinese ships at the Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Scarborough Shoal, last April 10.

But the dispute at the shoal dragged on for months without ASEAN collectively issuing any statement. ASEAN, through Cambodia, has to issue a joint communiqué on different issues after this week’s ministerial meetings that are expected to touch on the South China Sea conflicts.

ASEAN members have been seen by analysts as having been divided in their political alliances between Asian powerhouse China and the United States, which has been trying to reassert its presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Cambodia, which has received huge economic assistance and investments from China, has promised to be an impartial chairman of the ASEAN meetings despite concerns it would toe Beijing’s line on most issues, including the South China Sea territorial row.

The Philippines and Vietnam, on the other hand, have separately increased their military engagements with Washington as they confronted China in fresh territorial incidents in the disputed waters.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, who is leading the Philippine delegation in Phnom Penh, told fellow ASEAN ministers “that the current situation in the West Philippine Sea deserves urgent attention from ASEAN because it has direct impact on unimpeded commerce and freedom of navigation in the region,” the DFA said in a statement issued in Manila.

Del Rosario said the territorial conflicts should be resolved through a United Nations maritime treaty signed by the Philippines, China and 162 other governments for any solution to gain international recognition and respect.

“The adherence of all countries in the region to a set of fair and transparent rules, as embodied in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, will generate greater mutual trust and respect in the region,” Del Rosario said.

UNCLOS gives maritime states the right to develop, explore and exploit areas up to 200 nautical miles from its shores - coastal waters the U.N. treaty calls Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of a country like the Philippines.

China has frowned on bringing the territorial dispute to any international arena or forum such as the ASEAN, preferring to negotiate with each of the other rival claimants in the South China Sea.

The Philippines, along with the United States, has taken steps to raise the issue in multilateral fora.

The ASEAN-US meeting in Phnom Penh Wednesday was jointly presided by Del Rosario and Clinton.

During the meeting, Clinton said that Washington “looks to ASEAN and claimant States to provide leadership in this issue and recognize the important role of the (ASEAN) chair to find consensus and advance a common ASEAN position,” the DFA said.

“ASEAN needs to meet its own goals and standards and be able to speak with one voice on issues facing the region,” the DFA quoted Clinton as saying. (PNA)

Cambodia's proud history of building art

Friday, 13 July 2012

Dr. Tilman Baumgärtel

 

 The Office of the Prime Minister on Jok Dimitrov Boulevard. Photograph: Heng Cuechly and Dareth Rosaline

 

A collaboration between media students from the Royal University of Phnom Penh, the new magazine Sthapatyakam has highlighted some of Phnom Penh’s architectural treasures, from the Angkor period through to the contemporary styles that have occasioned the city’s development boom. Project supervisor Dr. Tilman Baumgärtel discusses the origins of the project alongside excerpts from the publication.

When I moved to Phnom Penh in 2009, one of the first things that piqued my interest was the Naga-adorned parapet along Norodom Boulevard between Street 106 and Street 108 south of Wat Phnom. Why were these Nagas there? It looked like a bridge, but a bridge over what?

It was only when I started to poke around at the wonderful and surprisingly well-endowed National Archive of Cambodia that I came across a picture that explained the mystery to me: during the colonial period, Norodom Boulevard used to cross the Verneville Canal here. This channel separated the French Quarter around Wat Phnom from the Chinese downtown of Phnom Penh, and has since been replaced by a small park strip. Ever since, whenever I ride my bike over this ex-bridge, I think: “I am driving over water.”

Phnom Penh is a city full of little mysteries and great buildings. Ride your bike through the city with an open eye, and you find a bizarre little tailor shop called “Casanova Tailor” on Street 19 that looks like it has been in operation since 1950. A former colonial-era delicatessen-turned-hotel-turned-flophouse has old French shop signs on the walls (the “International” on the corner of Street 13 and Street 130).

Behind this non-descript wall, east of France Street, is a military hospital where not much has changed since circa 1900.

These are just some of the fascinating buildings that we could not include in our magazine Sthapatyakam: The Architecture of Cambodia, a semester project that I did with my journalism students at the Department of Media and Communication at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Since we had only a limited number of pages, we could not include many of the architectural marvels that make Phnom Penh such a wondrous city – despite the dirt, the neglect and the grime.

We hope that we can inspire both Phnom Penhers and visitors to look at the city as a treasure chest of some of the finest European-inspired colonial architecture in Southeast Asia. At the same time, as an ensemble of the most advanced modern architecture in the post-war period in all of Asia: the private residences and official buildings that Vann Molyvann, the first “eco-architect” in history, and his contemporaries created in the Sangkum Reastr Niyum period. We hope that much of it will survive the current speculation boom and modernisation of the city (especially the Olympic Stadium), so Phnom Penh stays a city that is attractive and habitable for its citizens.

Wat Botum Vathey
Vorn Sokhan

Wat Botum Vathey was established in 1442 by King Ponhea Yat. “Wat Botum Vathey, whose original name was Wat Khpop Ta Yang, was built on a raised ground,” says Chem Thyrack, deputy chief monk of the pagoda. “At that time, Buddhist temples were built from wood.”

In 1865, it was rebuilt under King Norodom and renamed Wat Botum Vathey, which means “Pagoda of the Lotus”, because it was surrounded by ponds full of lotus flowers.

He adds that at that time, this kind of natural decoration was the only way to adorn the pagoda. The lotus ponds kept the pagoda beautiful. This technique was also used in Angkor Wat, where the temples originally were also surrounded by water. In 1937, King Sisowat Monivong and the Venerable Panhatybor Sok had the main temple rebuilt in brick and cement.

The Wat Botum complex is 260 metres long and 202 metres wide with six gateways. There are 44 houses, one Buddhist temple, one gathering hall, one residence for high-ranking monks, one library, the building of the Writer’s Association, two primary school buildings, one bell tower, and 37 monk houses.

Around the main temple, there are many stupas, and behind the temple there are sculptures of tigers and lions. On the south side of the temple is the most important stupa of the Wat, which contains a bone of the Buddha. On the walls inside the temple are paintings about the life of Buddha.

Chinese House
Sam Chanmaliny

The Chinese House belongs to the family of Tan Bunpa, a Chinese merchant of Hokkien descent. Tan Bunpa bought the land on Sisowath Quay on the banks of the Tonle Sap River and built the house in 1904. As this was during the French colonial period, the house was designed in a combination of Chinese and French style.

The Chinese House was built following the concept of Feng Shui, meaning “wind and water”. As the building is located at the riverbanks, the air from the Tonle Sap can blow into the building and cool it.

The whole building is built out of concrete that has been painted in light yellow and white, with a traditional Chinese roof with clay tiles. The door and window frames are painted in a dark green.

The Chinese House has two floors. Traditionally, builders pounded dirt and soil to create the floor of a house or laid a foundation with bricks, but this building is different because the floor is tiled with French tiles from the colonial period. The roofs, doors, and pillars are all in traditional Chinese style. The upper floor is made out of hard wood, and Chinese lanterns hang from the roof.

The building was owned by Tan Bunpa’s family until 1975. The house was abandoned during the Khmer Rouge period. In the 1980s, some families from the neighbourhood managed it. From the 1990s to 2007, the owner was Darryl Collins, an Australian art historian. The great-granddaughter of Tan Bunpa bought the house in November 2008 and owns it now.

The Chinese House is still in a good location, and it still serves as a business house. Originally, Tan Bunpa used the house to sell food and to supply foodstuffs to the ‘Prison du Protectorat’, the colonial prison, and other departments of the French administration. Nowadays the great-granddaughter of Tan Bunpa rents the house to business people, says current manager Antonio Lopez De Haro. Today, the Chinese House is a restaurant that attracts both local customers and tourists.

The Office of the Prime Minister
Chey Phearon

The Office of the Prime Minister, also known as the Peace Palace, was officially opened on October 19, 2010, by the King of Cambodia, Norodom Sihamoni, and Prime Minister Hun Sen. According to a press release from the Press and Quick Reaction Unit, the building’s design is a combination of Khmer building styles from the Angkor period and modern architecture that defines a new style.

The building has two wings which have been added to avoid the simple square shape which is, according to architect Chheang Sidath, “considered to be a flaw in architecture.”

Besides that, the two wings provide more space for the building’s function, in order to house meetings and conferences such as the recent ASEAN summit.

On the eaves on top of the building is the Cambodian coat of arms surrounded by the Bang Klaeng ornament; one decorative element in ancient Khmer architecture first used on Preah Ko Temple in the 9th century, that is part of the Rolous group in Siem Reap, and featured on Banteay Srei temple in the 10th century. The walls and the main gate around the building are embellished with the modernised version of the Bang Klaeng.

The building was constructed by the Ly Chhuong Construction Import & Export Company in consultation with Samdech Chaovea Veang Kong Som Ol, the Minister of Royal Affairs. According to Prime Minister Hun Sen, the Peace Palace is considered as a symbol of Cambodia’s great achievement, since all engineers, architects, constructors and designers who contributed to the building are Khmer.

The Peace Palace was constructed exclusively out of the national budget. The building cost US$50 million, a sum that does not include the interior equipment and furniture.

Sthapatyakam: The Architecture of Cambodia is on sale at Monument Books for $2.50

India’s anti-alcohol laws: Inspector Killjoy

 

A crackdown highlights the problems with a modern city’s archaic rules

Jun 23rd 2012 | MUMBAI | from the print edition 

IF A Bollywood scriptwriter had to dream up a killjoy cop, he would base him on Vasant Dhoble. Over the past month Mumbai’s police have been shutting down parties and confiscating bars’ music systems in a drive to regulate the city’s nightlife. Leading the drive has been Mr Dhoble, the head of the city police’s “social services” division.

A stocky figure in his 50s sporting a moustache, Mr Dhoble has gained cartoon-villain status among hip Mumbaikers. An anti-Dhoble Facebook group has attracted over 20,000 members. Urbane newspapers witheringly describe him as a teetotal vegetarian. Bloggers have shared video footage that shows him roughing up employees at a juice bar, armed with a hockey stick.

The crackdown intensified on May 20th, when officers broke up a party at a hotel. Guests were rounded up and blood-tested. Police cited the Bombay Prohibition Act of 1949, which states that even customers must have a permit to booze. Mr Dhoble is making a speciality of dusting off old edicts—alcohol was banned in the state of Maharashtra, which the city of Mumbai (then Bombay) dominates, until 1963. Many prohibition-era laws have not been updated, yet until recently were rarely enforced.

Mr Dhoble or his officers have also shown up at five of the city’s high-end bars this month, slapping fines on them for overcrowding or for allowing DJs to perform without the correct licences. At another bar, some women customers were detained on suspicion of being prostitutes, leading to a defamation lawsuit against Mr Dhoble that was dismissed on June 20th. Bar-owners say turnout has dropped as nervous customers have chosen to stay at home.

Mr Dhoble’s crackdown highlights a wider grievance among Mumbai’s business crowd, all of whom complain about archaic and fiddly rules (be they citywide, statewide or national laws). Bar-owners say they need up to 20 licences to run a single drinking hole, and up to three-dozen if music is also to be allowed. Property developers grumble that they have to provide the original plan of a building they wish to overhaul. One art dealer is fed up with the lengthy process by which sculptures for export must officially be confirmed as not being antiques—even contemporary pieces in fibreglass. 

The World Bank ranked India 132nd out of 183 countries in last year’s “Ease of Doing Business” report.

Mr Dhoble, at least, appears honest. But outdated rules create opportunities for graft—one reason they remain in place. A bar-owner says that when setting up a venue last year, Mumbai officials expected a bribe equal to the cost of each licence they issued. One licence cost over $6,000. Officials ask the art dealer for under-the-table fees before sculptures for export can be signed off. A property lawyer says he just thinks of corruption as part of the process—itself an example of how a supposedly go-ahead city can stay stuck firmly in the past.

Young Cambodians cut their lifelines for a wage

Wednesday, 11 July 2012

Phearun Sreng

 

Tien Vireak was standing alone in the dark, sleepily holding his umbrella. As a security guard, his job is to stay awake when everyone else is sleeping.

He is only 24, but would be happy to take off his uniform and find a better job.

For people like Vireak, however, this is the only option.

“I don’t have a high level education,” he said. “I am also the son of a farmer.”

With a salary ranging from US$90 to $100 per month, his job requires a high level of responsibility and courage.

“As a security guard, I have to work alone every night, standing in front of the company from 6pm until 6am,” Vireak said. “I cannot even think of falling asleep, I am too afraid someone will rob something, like a car or other things that the company owns. If that happened, I wouldn’t be able to pay the company back for what was lost.”

This is a lesson Vireak learnt in the past, when he lost a phone battery and $27 was deducted from his already poor salary.

To make his job even harder, gang violence can be dangerous at night and bad weather very unpleasant.

In order to send support to their families who live in the countryside, workers have to make many sacrifices, especially by saving up on rent and food. This usually leads to poor hygienic living conditions and unhealthy diets unable to provide the basic nutritional elements to keep the strength to work.

Kuy Im, a 31-year-old factory worker, makes an average of $70 a month. In order to survive, he has to cut his daily ration of food. Needless to say, eating boiled rice (around 1000 riel, or twenty-five cents a cup) every day might be good for his wallet, but dangerous for his health.

Workers are also being put in danger because of unsafe working practices. Last month, The Post reported that 107 factory employees who were sent to hospital after fainting due to protracted exposure to poisoning chemicals while manufacturing gloves.

“I have been working in a factory for 10 years,” Im said. “But I am still concerned about my Chinese bosses’ attitude. They just don’t care, for them workers are worth nothing. They do nothing else except blame us and look down on us, even when we are right.”

Unlike factory workers, construction workers might not be exposed to toxic or poisonous chemicals, but their work place is not much safer. Without the proper protection and equipment, a construction site can easily become lethal.

“Carrying heavy stuff is not a problem,” Bun Thoeurn, 31, who started working for a construction company at the age of 15, said. “It’s the lack of protection that worries me. Dying just like that, it just doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Thoeurn has been fortunate enough not to get injured so far. But witnessing people falling from buildings or being hit by electric shocks tells him how easily these things can happen without safety measures.

Many construction workers get injured in road accidents while moving from one building site to another. On top of that, if injured, their salary is often too low to cover the medical expenses.

Bun Ying, Communications Officer of the International Labour Organization in Cambodia, also expressed his concern about the risks these workers have to face daily.

“Although working conditions have been improved recently, there are still a lot of challenges for workers. Health problems and poor safety at work are examples that prove that the quality of their working conditions is still not high enough if compared with what they earn,” Ying Said.

Although the textile industry is booming, and more factories are being built every day, companies still don’t consider their worker’s health and safety as a fundamental issue, he added.

In order to achieve higher productivity however, benefits are important. Not only will that attract workers but it will motivate them to produce more and want to keep their job. With better working policies, companies would also gain a better reputation in the market, Ying explained.

But for the moment, current working conditions only make workers want to leave and try to find something else.

“When I’ll have enough savings I will start my own business,” Vireak said. “I want to guarantee an appropriate standard of living for myself, one that a worker like me doesn’t have the privilege to access.”

Interfering officials arrested

Thursday, 12 July 2012

Military police in Stung Treng province arrested five government officials yesterday after they forcibly stopped student volunteers from measuring property lines as part of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s national initiative to help settle land disputes.

The volunteers, mostly university students, were measuring land for villagers in conflict with companies that had received economic land concessions in Samaki commune.

A deputy commander with the military police who didn’t want to be named said that five officials from the Ministry of National Defence and the Council of Ministers were arrested. He said some of them had positions as legal advisers to the government.

“The case involves high ranking officials – it is too difficult to find information as authorities are willing to keep information from spreading,” said Hour Sam Ol, an investigator for the rights group Adhoc in Stung Treng.

Stung Treng provincial governor Loy Sophat said that the dispute started because a “group of people”, whom he didn’t identify, tried to force the volunteer students to measure land for their own development purposes. Apparently, they wanted to plant an orchard.

“Thus, what they did is contrary to the government policy,” he said.

Sophat declined to identify the group because he said he needed to make contact with military police officers first.

Mobile phones could replace credit cards

Thursday, 12 July 2012

Gregory Pellechi

 

Mobile money transfer service WING is preparing to launch a mobile wallet service later this year, and ACLEDA Unity is preparing to expand its own mobile services, enabling people to quickly pay for things just by touching their phone to a point-of-sale terminal.

Near-field communications (NFC) technology will be the next addition to WING’s mobile platform to be used for smaller payments, such as purchasing a cup of coffee, as the company tests the service later this year, according to WING chief operations officer Anthony Perkins.

“What we really want to tackle here is near-field communication like the Oyster Card in London or similar services offered in Japan and Australia,” he said.

NFC technology, which one in five smartphones will have by next year, according to Juniper Research, will enable mobile phones to act as cashless wallets. Users will simply swipe their phone over a terminal to complete a transaction.

Sok Sophea, senior vice-president of marketing for ACLEDA Bank, said ACLEDA would be introducing additional mobile services to its Unity mobile banking facility, which is utilised by 68,000 customers. She did not say when the new features would be available, however.

“The system is updated, and only the customers need to be introduced to the new features,” Sophea said.

For customers without smartphones, WING would provide a sticker embedded with an NFC chip that could be placed under an ordinary phone’s case to enable WING’s mobile wallet, Perkins said.

Seventy-four per cent of the population in urban and semi-urban areas of Cambodia had mobile phones, 23 per cent of which were smartphones, Laurent Notin, general manager of Indochina Research, said.

“I think there is more potential in Cambodia for mobile banking and NFC technology than for credit or debit cards as a payment tool, considering a mobile phone is now a commodity and the penetration of mobile phones is significantly higher than the penetration of credit or debit cards.

“Cambodian people are already familiar with mobile banking. NFC technology is an obvious next development for a company like WING.”

Notin said Cambodia’s high reliance on cash for transactions might slow propagation of the mobile wallet system.

“One of the challenges the industry will have to overcome is the high reliance Cambodians have on cash.

“There is a difference between sending money to support the family’s living or for a loan, and using a mobile phone or credit card to pay for a product or service.”

WING’s Perkins said plastic credit cards were not working in Cambodia at all.

“Plastic just hasn’t taken off. I think Cambodia will jump from cash to mobile payments,” he said.

Ten per cent of WING’s 400,000 customers would be classified as affluent or middle-class, in keeping with the socio-economic divide of the country, and some even kept a couple of thousand dollars on their WING account, Perkins said.

Anne Guerineau, general manager of Gloria Jean’s Coffees, the first international coffee-chain franchise to enter Cambodia, said her company did not accept credit or debit cards at the moment.

“We don’t do cards for the moment. But it’s true we’ve started to get requests from guests,” she said.

Guerineau said she would welcome the ability to pay through NFC technology.

“It could be good for all those younger people who get pocket money to spend from their affluent parents.

“This is our target. Gloria Jean’s brought a new concept of coffee retail into the country with the ‘self-service’ style, so this would go along with the modern way of life our guests enjoy.”

Cellcard chief operations officer Kay Lot could not be reached for comment and Sok Sophea from ACLEDA had nothing to say on WING’s plans.

WING was also looking to launch an online payment gateway for Cambodia early next year, Perkins said.

“It’s in our IT pipeline over the next six months. Regardless of whether the market is ready, we will work on it.”