For the upcoming academic school year, 3,260 scholarships are being offered at state and private universities to students who received grades A through D on their high school examinations.
Education officials said last week that more than 70 percent of the 78,048 students who took the examinations passed. Amid the usual claims of widespread cheating, a total of 55,178 students received grades A through E, considered passing grades, though an E does not qualify for scholarships.
Education Ministry Secretary General Koeur Naileang said there were 432 B’s, 3,269 C’s and 14,769 D’s. Two students received A’s.
According to the 2008-2009 scholarship guidelines obtained Monday, which were signed by Education Ministry Secretary of State Pit Chamnan in February, the Royal University of Phnom Penh will provide 920 scholarships, while the University of Health Sciences is offering 90, the Royal University of Agriculture is offering 28 and the National University of Management is offering 320.
The Royal University of Law and Economics has 330 spots, Moyarishi Vedic University has 270, the Institute of Technology of Cambodia has 80, and 90 are available at the University of Fine Arts.
Svay Rieng University is offering 270, Banteay Meanchey University is offering 300 and Battambang University has 250 openings.
Mekong University, the first private institution to make scholarships available, is offering 60. The guidelines specify that students who are in financial need or are from rural areas are more likely to obtain scholarships. Grades also matter, as does whether a student is female.
Only 2,383 scholarships were offered last year, according to Ngeth Sophalrith, the chief of admissions at the Education Ministry’s higher education department. He said the increase in scholarships is attributable to the growth of educational institutions in Svay Rieng, Battambang and Banteay Meanchey provinces, and because Mekong University started to offer them.
