University Transfer Credits Trouble Students

Private university students in Phnom Penh are having difficulty remaining at the same grade level if they change universities, education officials said.

Without academic records, students who want to transfer have to begin at their new university in the first year, Rong Chhun, Cambo­dian Independent Teach­ers’ Asso­c­iation president said Monday.

He urged the education ministry to force private universities to allow students to transfer with academic credits that would allow them to remain at the same level they had reached at their previous university. “The problem is affecting students because they are wasting their time and money,” Rong Chhun said.

Some private universities are refusing to provide students with ac­a­demic records for fear that they transfer to better-qualified schools, Mak Nang, deputy director of the Higher Education De­partment at the Ministry of Edu­cation, said Monday.

Universities have the right to see students’ academic records before accepting them as new students, Mak Nang said. How­ever, the education ministry has no power to force private universities to accept students at an equal or higher level of study based on the courses they have completed elsewhere, she added.

“We can’t force private universities to accept students when they [attempt to] transfer [and] let them stay in the same grade,” she said.

In Veracheat, rector of Build Bright University, said Monday that his university lets students transfer from other universities if they are recognized by the High­er Education Department.

“Those universities must probably have the same educational standard,” he said.

“All universities should accept students who transfer, and place them in the same grade,” he said.

Kieng Ropatana, director of ad­missions and records at Pan­na­sastra University, said his university would not allow students to trans­fer from other private universities and remain at the same grade. Each university has a different curriculum and academic standard, he said.

“The university is strict because we want to increase educational” standards, Kieng Ropatana said.

“Parents want their children to study at a qualified university.”