cambodian undergraduate students and aec 2015

Cambodian Undergraduate Students and AEC 2015 1

Awareness and Perspectives of Cambodian Undergraduate Students on the ASEAN

Economic Community 2015

KEO Nimol

LIM Muyngim

PHORK Visal

SITHIKUN Vandavid

SUOR Leangsronn

IS303, Introduction to Research

THEAM Sokvibol

January 27, 2014


Abstract

The upcoming ASEAN Economic Community, known as AEC, will significantly affect

Cambodia, particularly Cambodian undergraduate students who will be in the front line to face

the opportunities and challenges of ASEAN Economic Community in 2015. With this concern,

this research aims to study 540 Cambodian Undergraduate students from 8 well-known

universities in Phnom Penh, by cross tabulating their level of awareness and attitude toward AEC

according to their gender and major. The questionnaires distributed to the respondents are written

in English and are divided into three major sections, namely awareness or understanding,

perceptions, and channels they use to acquire knowledge related to AEC, as the three main

objectives of this written report.

Overall, according to the study, more male respondents are aware of AEC than female

respondents and IR respondents have more understandings about the issues than students of other

majors. Furthermore, perspectives of the majority of respondents toward AEC are positive

though many of them believe that Cambodia cannot compete with other senior member states in

terms of human resources and English deficiency of Cambodians will be a challenge for

Cambodian undergraduate students to join AEC. Hence, as most respondents do not prefer

reading books or newspapers as means to acquire information, increasing awareness and

enhancing English proficiency of Cambodian undergraduate students via websites and social

media are necessary for preparing them to join AEC.


Acknowledgement

First of all, we would like to express sincere gratitude to our families especially our parents who

offer us a good life, fulfilled by warmness and happiness. They always give helpful advices and

encourage us to study hard with all means of support.

In addition, we would like to thank our teachers who provide invaluable knowledge in order to

help us reach our goal. Particularly, we really appreciate our lecturer THEAM Sokvibol who has

spent his precious time sharing his research experiences and ideas and guiding us with close

attention. Without his guidance, this report would not have been completed.

Last but not least, we are thankful to all of friends and students from Institute of Foreign

Languages, Pannasastra University of Cambodia, Royal University of Law and Economics,

Economics and Finance Institute, University of Health Sciences, Institute of Technology of

Cambodia, Royal University of Phnom Penh and the University of Cambodia, who helped us

with the questionnaire distribution and spent their time filling our questionnaires without any

hesitancy. Their contributions have made our reports done with a fruitful result.


Contents

Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 2

Acknowledgement .......................................................................................................................... 3

I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 5

1. Research Questions (R), Objectives (O), and Hypothesis (H)............................................. 6

II. Literature Review................................................................................................................. 7

1. Awareness of ASEAN People on ASEAN Integration 2015............................................... 7

2. The Perspectives of ASEAN People toward ASEAN Economic Community 2015 ........... 8

3. How Do ASEAN People Expose to the Awareness of ASEAN Economic Community .... 9

III. Research Methodology ........................................................................................................ 9

IV. Findings.............................................................................................................................. 10

1. Awareness of Respondents toward AEC ........................................................................... 10

2. Perspectives of Respondents toward AEC ......................................................................... 13

3. Channels Used by Respondents to Acquire Information about AEC ................................ 17

V. Implications........................................................................................................................ 17

VI. Limitations and Recommendations.................................................................................... 19

VII. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 19

Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 20

Appendix ....................................................................................................................................... 22


I. Introduction

Post-Cold War, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly known as ASEAN,

has shifted much of its attention to economic development of its member states. In 1997,

ASEAN leaders agreed on a plan to turn ASEAN into a “stable, prosperous, and highly

competitive region with equitable economic development, and reduced poverty and socio-

economic disparities” (ASEAN Secretariat, 2008, p. 5). Later on, a clear goal was set forth

during the Bali summit in October 2003, where all the ASEAN leaders concurred that the

ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) would be the goal to be achieved by 2020 for the

realization of the regional economic integration (ASEAN Secretariat, 2008, p. 5).

Surprisingly, the deadline was changed to 2015 during the 12th ASEAN Summit in 2007

with the ASEAN leaders demonstrating their robust dedication to speed up the formation of

ASEAN Economic Community (ASEAN Secretariat, 2008, p. 5). With the deadline of the

ASEAN Economic Community in sight, the ten ASEAN member states are preparing

themselves to make certain that they are ready for the upcoming economic integration.

Yet, the challenge is all of the processes of the establishment of AEC are conducted through

government institutions; this means the information about AEC might not be well shared

among the people of each state, significantly the less developed nations in the region with the

likes of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV).

Like the other three nations in the CLMV, Cambodia will undoubtedly face both challenges

and opportunities once the integration takes place. Significantly, the minute the AEC kicks

off, the people of Cambodia are the one who are going to be confronting those challenges and

opportunities, while the government is merely going to play a facilitating role in easing the

integration. Therefore, it is pivotal to investigate the level of awareness on AEC of the

Cambodian people, notably University Students, who will not only be the one responsible for

bringing this country forward, but also the one who will be in the front line to face those

challenges as well as chances. Moreover, not only is their level of awareness vital, but their

perspectives toward the integration and channels they use to gain their awareness will also be

of significant importance, which this study is going to cover as well.

This study also possesses some limitations. Due to the time constraint and shortage of

financial resources, this study will only be conducted on undergraduate students from eight

universities in Phnom Penh, the name of which will be mentioned in the later part of this


paper. Furthermore, because this study adopts the cross-sectional study design, it does not

measure the changes in the level of awareness of the undergraduate students over time as the

questionnaire will be distributed only once.

This study will benefit several stakeholders, significantly the government. With the data

gained from this study on the level of awareness of Cambodia Undergraduate Students, the

government can establish the policies stimulating the understanding of AEC among

Cambodian Undergraduate students as well as other ordinary Cambodians especially those in

the rural areas accordingly to ensure the readiness of them once the integration takes place on

December 31st, 2015. Moreover, the findings from this study will demonstrate the level of

awareness of Cambodian undergraduate students, and the community can then prepare itself

accordingly in many aspects, significantly jobs. Additionally, universities and other

educational institutions can acknowledge the current level of understandings of Cambodian

Undergraduate students toward AEC and their academic needs to include necessary skills into

academic programs. Besides, this report will help to increase the awareness of Cambodian

Undergraduate students on AEC in order to prepare themselves in terms of skills and

understanding of other ASEAN member states for the upcoming integration.

1. Research Questions (R), Objectives (O), and Hypothesis (H)

R1: How much are Cambodian undergraduate students aware of AEC?

R2: In what way do Cambodian undergraduate students perceive AEC?

R3: What are the channels Cambodian undergraduate students use to acquire their awareness?

O1: To investigate the awareness of Cambodian undergraduate students toward the upcoming

AEC.

O2: To define the perspectives of Cambodian undergraduate students on the AEC.

O3: To find out the channels Cambodian undergraduate students use to acquire their

understanding on AEC.

H1: Male respondents have higher understanding than female respondents.

H2: Students majoring in International Relations have higher awareness than students of

other majors.

H3: Most respondents have positive perceptions toward AEC, while minority of respondents

regard AEC as a threat.


II. Literature Review

1. Awareness of ASEAN People on ASEAN Integration 2015

The awareness of ASEAN Undergraduate Students on ASEAN Integration 2015 varies from

countries to countries within ASEAN. According to Thompson & Thianthai (2008), in

Vietnam, more than forty percent of the students reckon that they are very familiar with

ASEAN (p. 10). More than 50 % of students in Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia claimed

that they were familiar with ASEAN, while the percentage of which in Brunei and Singapore

is 50%. Surprisingly, in Myanmar, 90 % of students responded as having a very little or no

familiarity and knowledge about ASEAN (Thompson & Thainthai, 2008, p. 10).

Subject of Studies and Genders also play some roles in determining the level of student’s

awareness of ASEAN. To demonstrate, a previous study proves that International Relations

students have some understandings on ASEAN Economic Integration and ASEAN in general.

According to the previous research conducted in 2012 by the Department of International

Studies’ students, studying at the Institute of Foreign Languages, Royal University of Phnom

Penh, on this issue of ASEAN integration proves that students studying IR major at the

Department of International studies have the average mean of 2.6 compared to 1.7 that of

Bachelor of Arts’ students when it comes to the awareness of ASEAN Integration. (Ly, Din,

Tem, Chhim, Sakhan, Sithikun, & Hong, 2012, p. 11). Furthermore, the findings from

Indraswari study proves that among the total of 451 Indonesian students majoring in

International Relations, 398 of them equal to 88.25% could correctly identify all the names of

the ASEAN member states (n.d., p. 5). Unexpectedly, only 375 of those IR students (83.1%)

were able to correctly answer what is the full term of ASEAN, and merely 339 of them

(75.25%) could accurately tell the year when ASEAN was established (Indraswari, n.d., p. 6).

Even fewer of them were able to answer what the three pillars of ASEAN consist of, with

only 310 students (68.7%) being able to answer correctly (Indraswari, n.d., p. 6).

When it comes to gender aspect, male students have a better understanding of ASEAN

integration than female students. The previous research conducted in 2012 by the Department

of International Studies’ students, studying at the Institute of Foreign Languages, Royal

University of Phnom Penh, on this issue of ASEAN integration proves the case; “Average

mean of male respondent is 2.27 while women’s average mean is only 2.09” (Ly, Din, Tem,

Chhim, Sakhan, Sithikun, & Hong, 2012, p. 11). Another study by Hang demonstrates male


students have the average score of 65 compared to female students’ score of 50 when they are

asked to answer questions about ASEAN (2012, p.21).

2. The Perspectives of ASEAN People toward ASEAN Economic Community 2015

Working on correlation between public opinions and European Integration, in 2006, Lauren

McLaren argued that the process toward the integration is mainly affected by what societies

think; in other words, a positive perception will be an advantage to the community building,

whereas a negative perception by the societies will be a hinder for regional integration

(Indraswari, n.d., p.4). Likewise, in the case of AEC, public perspective toward the

upcoming economic integration in the late 2015 has been one of the major studies for

ASEAN researchers. According to some studies, ASEAN people have contradictory

perspectives toward AEC.

In 2013, the ASEAN Secretariat released a publication, titled “Surveys on ASEAN

Community Building Effort 2012”. According to the publication, although the general public

perceive ASEAN integration as a chance that will create more employment opportunities and

allow them to travel more freely within the region, some of them concern that they will lose

job because of more competiveness in local job market due to labor migration (The ASEAN

Secretariat, 2013, p.1).

Despite that publication, there are some studies conducted in some countries of ASEAN.

Among those studies, there was a survey conducted in five major cities in Indonesia, which is

an important country for the development of ASEAN, both politics and economies, due to her

large population. Overall, about 84% of Indonesians hold positive perceptions toward the

creation of AEC, where they can take advantages from other ASEAN member states, while 3%

of them do not support and think of it as the declaration by ASEAN leaders, which does not

benefit general public, and another 13% of them neither support nor disagree toward AEC

(Benny & Abdullah, 2011, p.60).

In addition, surveys about perspectives toward AEC were also conducted on students. One of

the study about International Relations students’ perception towards ASEAN integration by

Ratih Indraswari found that most of Indonesian students believe that ASEAN integration is

needed and they express full support on the process to achieve an ASEAN Community

(Indraswari, n.d., p.11). Moreover, two surveys conducted in Cambodia in 2012 by a group of

juniors and another senior student from Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL) about


Cambodian students’ positions toward ASEAN Economic Integration. Both studies claimed

that the majority of respondents do agree that AEC is necessary for Cambodian economic

development and will benefit them as individuals. (Ly, et al., 2012, p.14, & Hang, 2012, p. 40)

3. How Do ASEAN People Expose to the Awareness of ASEAN Economic

Community

Another most important part is that which channels ASEAN people get this awareness from.

“Promote ASEAN identity building in support of an ASEAN Community by undertaking

initiatives and activities. The mission consist of various promotions such as interaction forum,

workshop and community immersion activities, scholarships and youth exchange programs,

skills improvement and outlook, development of youth website.” (ASEAN Foundation)

Specifically, looking to Thailand strategy, “The government has adopted the eight-point

strategic plan prepared by the National Economic and Social Development Council. The plan

outlines the strength and weakness of Thailand's overall capacity to engage the one ASEAN

community.” (Chongkittavorn, 2012) Both government and local social media are widely

known as the main actors in promoting the ASEAN Integration 2015 overall.

III. Research Methodology

The population of this study consists of all Cambodian undergraduate students in Cambodia.

Using the quota sampling design, 540 undergraduate students who are sophomore and juniors

from eight recognized universities in Phnom Penh, namely the Institute of Foreign Languages

(IFL), Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia (PUC), Royal University of Law and Economics

(RULE), Economics and Finance Institute (EFI), University of Health Sciences (UHS),

Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC), Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) and

the University of Cambodia (UC), are the subject of this research. This study will investigate

the awareness and attitude of respondents toward AEC based on their genders and majors,

namely International Relations, Business and Accounting, Education and Literature,

Information Technology, Engineering and Architecture, and Medicine.

Due to the time constraint and limitation of resources, cross-sectional study is the most

suitable design by only one time contact with the respondents. Furthermore, adopting

retrospective-prospective study design, respondents are required to recall their past

knowledge on AEC and their expectation of AEC once it arrives. Last but not least, non-


experimental design is preferred by observing the effect, level of awareness of people, and

tracing back to the causes, majors and genders.

The questionnaires are self-completion questionnaires that consist of four different sections,

the first section of which is about basic information of respondents, and from the second

section to the fourth section are about their awareness, their perspectives, and the channels

they use to acquire the information of AEC, respectively. 470 questionnaires are distributed

to students in different universities manually, and students will be asked to self-complete the

questionnaires right away and to hand in the questionnaires to the distributors once they

finish. Another 70 questionnaires are delivered via esurv.org and respondents are required to

complete and submit their answers online. After that, this study will employ SPSS Statistic

software to analyze data by adopting Frequency approach to study the popularity of channels

they use to acquire information of AEC and Cross-tabulation approach to study the impacts

of their genders and majors on their awareness and perspectives toward AEC.

IV. Findings

Table 1 Characteristics of Respondents by Major Categories and Gender

Major Categories Number &

Percentage

Gender

Female Male

International Relations (IR) 100 (25.71%)

175

(45%)

214

(55%)

Business & Accounting (B&A) 127 (32.65%)

Education & Literature (E&L) 115 (29.56%)

Information Technology (IT) 40 (10.28%)

Engineering & Architecture (E&A) 41 (10.54%)

Medicine (Med.) 54 (13.88%)

1. Awareness of Respondents toward AEC

Table 2 Awareness of Respondents by Gender

Statement Female Male Total

S A S A S A

1. There are three pillars of the ASEAN Community:

• ASEAN Political-Security Community

• ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)

• ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community

57 21 79 19 136 40

33% 12% 37% 9% 35% 10%


2. On December 31st, 2015, ten ASEAN countries will

come together to create a community, called AEC.

59 40 84 63 143 103

34% 23% 39% 29% 37% 26%

3. The main purpose of AEC is to combine the markets of

the ten ASEAN countries together to become one market.

66 51 72 67 138 118

38% 29% 34% 31% 35% 30%

4. ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) is a trade agreement

by the ASEAN supporting local manufacturing in all

ASEAN countries.

64 25 86 15 150 40

37% 14% 40% 7% 39% 10%

5. The purpose of AFTA is to increase trade and investment

among ASEAN member states.

67 22 78 30 145 52

38% 13% 36% 14% 37% 13%

6. The Initiative of ASEAN Integration (IAI) was created

to make all ASEAN countries develop equally.

60 17 75 27 135 44

34% 10% 35% 13% 35% 11%

7. When AEC is established, businesses in ASEAN can

export their products to any country in ASEAN without

restriction and with low or no Tariff (a form of tax).

59 39 80 45 139 84

34% 22% 37% 21% 36% 22%

8. AEC will allow ASEAN investors come to invest in any

country in the region freely and they (investors) will be

treated like the local investors with the same set of

domestic regulations.

56 30 78 30 134 60

32% 17% 36% 14% 34% 15%

9. Skilled labors (Accountants, doctors, engineers…) can

travel freely to find jobs across the ten ASEAN nations.

57 49 87 55 144 104

33% 28% 41% 26% 37% 27%

10. Unlike skilled labor, labors that have no or low skills

are not able to travel to find jobs freely in other ASEAN

countries once the AEC 2015 arrives.

47 12 57 22 104 34

27% 7% 27% 10% 27% 9%

11. ASEAN will introduce e-ASEAN in the community to

improve the communication between government officials

and the public and facilitating the business activities of

businesspersons.

47 10 61 17 108 27

27% 6% 29% 8% 28% 7%

(S: Some Knowledge, L: Lots of Knowledge)

Illustrated in table 2, among the total respondents of 389 undergraduate students, 175 of

whom are female and the remaining 214 are male. Surprisingly, when asked about the issue

relevant to the free flow of skilled labor (Q9), only 33% of female respondents responds as

having some knowledge on the issue, while the percentage for that of male respondents is

41%. However, when it comes to the classification of “A lot of knowledge” female students

respond as having a superior understanding on the definition of AFTA (Q4), with the

percentage of 14%, while that of man’s is merely 7%. Overall, both male and female

answerers reply as having a lot of knowledge the most on the main purpose of AEC (Q3)

with the proportion of 30%, the highest figure among the other questions.


Table 3 Awareness of Respondents by Major (S: Some knowledge, A: A lot of knowledge)

Statement IR B&A E&L IT E&A Med.

S A S A S A S A S A S A


• ASEAN Political-Security Community

• ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)

• ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community

49 17 52 22 32 11 9 1 11 3 8 1

49% 17% 41% 17% 28% 10% 23% 3% 27% 7% 15% 2%

2. On December 31st, 2015, ten ASEAN countries will

come together to create a community, called AEC.

41 34 40 45 40 21 17 7 18 13 22 8

41% 34% 31% 35% 35% 18% 43% 18% 44% 32% 41% 15%

3. The main purpose of AEC is to combine the markets of

the ten ASEAN countries together to become one market.

38 37 52 43 46 26 16 8 7 17 17 15

38% 37% 41% 34% 40% 23% 40% 20% 17% 41% 31% 28%

4. ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) is a trade agreement

by the ASEAN supporting local manufacturing in all

ASEAN countries.

44 18 48 20 39 12 12 3 18 1 19 1

44% 18% 38% 16% 34% 10% 30% 8% 44% 2% 35% 2%

5. The purpose of AFTA is to increase trade and

investment among ASEAN member states. 44 21 60 19 34 12 10 5 15 3 19 4

44% 21% 47% 15% 30% 10% 25% 13% 37% 7% 35% 7%

6. The Initiative of ASEAN Integration (IAI) was created

to make all ASEAN countries develop equally.

42 13 46 10 37 11 14 2 13 6 13 8

42% 13% 36% 8% 32% 10% 35% 5% 32% 15% 24% 15%

7. When AEC is established, businesses in ASEAN can

export their products to any country in ASEAN without

restriction and with low or no Tariff (a form of tax).

41 26 49 33 39 22 11 6 19 8 14 10

41% 26% 39% 26% 34% 19% 28% 15% 46% 20% 26% 19%

8. AEC will allow ASEAN investors come to invest in any

country in the region freely and they (investors) will be

treated like the local investors with the same set of

domestic regulations.

46 17 43 25 38 15 16 2 13 5 17 6

46% 17% 34% 20% 33% 13% 40% 5% 32% 12% 31% 11%

9. Skilled labors (Accountants, doctors, engineers…) can

travel freely to find jobs across the ten ASEAN nations. 34 35 45 47 39 27 17 7 22 4 19 12

34% 35% 35% 37% 34% 23% 43% 18% 54% 10% 35% 22%

10. Unlike skilled labor, labors that have no or low skills

are not able to travel to find jobs freely in other ASEAN

countries once the AEC 2015 arrives.

31 11 39 10 28 7 7 2 11 4 10 6

31% 11% 31% 8% 24% 6% 18% 5% 27% 10% 19% 11%

11. ASEAN will introduce e-ASEAN in the community to

improve the communication between government officials

and the public and facilitating the business activities of

businesspersons.

31 10 38 9 28 3 10 0 8 4 14 6

31% 10% 30% 7% 24% 3% 25% 0% 20% 10% 26% 11%


According to table 3, among the 389 respondents consisting of 6 majors, students majoring in

Engineering and Architecture have the lowest percentage of awareness when it comes to the

issue relevant to the main purpose of AEC (Q3) under the classification of “Some Knowledge”,

with the proportion of just 17%, by far the lowest percentage across the six majors. When asked

about their level of understanding of the free flow of investment (Q8), 46% of International

Relations’ Students, the top percentage, responds as having some knowledge, while only 31% of

students majoring in Medicine has some knowledge on the same issue. Furthermore, 54% of

Engineering and Architecture’s students has some knowledge on the subject of Free Flow of

Skilled labor (Q9), the highest amongst the six majors. Moreover, under the classification of “A

lot of knowledge”, 17% of students from IR and Business and Accounting majors reply that they

have a lot of knowledge on the matter of the Three Pillars of ASEAN (Q1), whereas only 2% and

3% of Medicine and Information Technology students respond as having a lot of knowledge on

this issue, respectively. Surprisingly, Business and Accounting students have a lot of knowledge

on the Deadline of AEC (Q2), with the highest proportion of 35% compared to just 15% of

Medicine students’. Additionally, 20% of Business and Accounting students demonstrate that

they have a lot of knowledge on the free flow of investment (Q8), while merely 5% of IT

students indicate their strong awareness on the same subject. When questioned about the free

flow of skilled labor (Q9), Business and Accounting students share the highest percentage of

37%, with Engineering and Architecture Students having the least proportion of having a lot of

knowledge on the issue, the percentage of whom is just 10%. Last but not least, Medicine

students respond as having a lot of knowledge on the issue of e-ASEAN (Q11) having the

percentage of 11%, while none of IT students answer as having a lot of knowledge of this issue.

2. Perspectives of Respondents toward AEC

Table 4: Perspectives of Respondents by Gender

Statements Female

(Agree)

Male

(Agree)

Total

Agree

The establishment of AEC was just an initiative of ASEAN leaders that

do not think about public opinion.

71

(41%)

108

(50%)

179

(46%)

AEC will boost up Cambodia’s economic development and diversify its

economy.

136

(78%)

155

(72%)

291

(75%)


Cambodia can attract more Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) when

AEC comes to existence.

151

(86%)

170

(79%)

321

(83%)

AEC will discourage Cambodian domestic producers to invest. 80

(46%)

106

(50%)

186

(48%)

Cambodia can increase the quantity of rice export to other ASEAN

member states when AEC is established.

148

(85%)

162

(76%)

310

(80%)

When AEC is created, Cambodia can get more tourists to visit

Cambodia.

157

(90%)

176

(82%)

333

(86%)

AEC will help increase more jobs for Cambodians. 117

(67%)

132

(62%)

249

(64%)

AEC can help generate more tax revenues for government. 97

(55%)

123

(57%)

220

(57%)

AEC will help improve human resources of Cambodians 137

(78%)

159

(74%)

296

(76%)

When Cambodia joins AEC, Cambodia will be more easily affected by

the regional crisis, especially financial crisis.

137

(78%)

147

(69%)

284

(73%)

Free flow of skilled labors from other ASEAN member states will make

Cambodian’s job market become more competitive and increase

unemployment.

147

(84%)

155

(72%)

302

(78%)

Cambodia’s human resource still cannot compete with other ASEAN

member states.

122

(70%)

156

(73%)

278

(71%)

English proficiency of Cambodia is still low, which will be a threat or a

challenge for Cambodia to join AEC.

125

(71%)

145

(68%)

270

(69%)

AEC is more like an opportunity than a threat for you personally. 131

(75%)

157

(73%)

288

(74%)

You support Cambodia to join AEC. 140

(80%)

157

(73%)

297

(76%)

You are ready for AEC. 102

(58%)

147

(69%)

249

(64%)

Universities in Cambodia should include ASEAN course in the

curriculum of all majors to make students understand more about

ASEAN.

157

(90%)

187

(87%)

344

(88%)

Table 5: Perspectives of Respondents by Major

Statement IR

(Agree)

B&A

(Agree)

E&L

(Agree)

IT

(Agree)

E&A

(Agree)

Med.

(Agree)

The establishment of AEC was just an initiative of

ASEAN leaders that do not think about public

opinion.

29 60 55 13 24 29

(29%) (47%) (48%) (33%) (59%) (54%)

AEC will boost up Cambodia’s economic

development and diversify its economy.

74 100 74 31 33 39

(74%) (79%) (64%) (78%) (80%) (72%)


Cambodia can attract more Foreign Direct

Investments (FDIs) when AEC comes to existence.

83 104 92 32 34 45

(83%) (82%) (80%) (80%) (83%) (83%)

AEC will discourage Cambodian domestic

producers to invest.

40 57 62 21 25 23

(40%) (45%) (54%) (53%) (61%) (43%)

Cambodia can increase the quantity of rice export

to other ASEAN member states when AEC is

established.

78 102 89 30 35 42

(78%) (80%) (77%) (75%) (85%) (78%)

When AEC is created, Cambodia can get more

tourists to visit Cambodia.

88 111 92 35 35 46

(88%) (87%) (80%) (88%) (85%) (85%)

AEC will help increase more jobs for Cambodians. 62 90 68 26 24 34

(62%) (71%) (59%) (65%) (59%) (63%)

AEC can help generate more tax revenues for

government.

49 83 60 26 22 30

(49%) (65%) (52%) (65%) (54%) (56%)

AEC will help improve human resources of

Cambodians.

80 97 85 29 28 42

(80%) (76%) (74%) (73%) (68%) (78%)

When Cambodia joins AEC, Cambodia will be

more easily affected by the regional crisis,

especially financial crisis.

72 89 86 31 31 42

(72%) (70%) (75%) (78%) (76%) (78%)

Free flow of skilled labors from other ASEAN

member states will make Cambodian’s job market

become more competitive and increase

unemployment.

80 101 84 33 29 39

(80%) (80%) (73%) (83%) (71%) (72%)

Cambodia’s human resource still cannot compete

with other ASEAN member states.

72 92 80 33 30 36

(72%) (72%) (70%) (83%) (73%) (67%)

English proficiency of Cambodia is still low,

which will be a threat or a challenge for Cambodia

to join AEC.

67 88 86 28 28 31

(67%) (69%) (75%) (70%) (68%) (57%)

AEC is more like an opportunity than a threat for

you personally.

71 99 76 32 31 43

(71%) (78%) (66%) (80%) (76%) (80%)

You support Cambodia to join AEC. 89 105 79 29 30 33

(89%) (83%) (69%) (73%) (73%) (61%)

You are ready for AEC. 61 93 67 24 29 30

(61%) (73%) (58%) (60%) (71%) (56%)

Universities in Cambodia should include ASEAN

course in the curriculum of all majors to make

students understand more about ASEAN.

90 113 92 36 38 50

(90%) (89%) (80%) (90%) (93%) (93%)

According to the table 4, in overall, majority of respondents have positive perspectives toward

the establishment of AEC although about 46% of all respondents believe that it was just an

initiative by the ASEAN leaders that do not involve public opinion. While 83% of respondents

think that AEC will help Cambodia attract more FDIs, 48% of them reckon that AEC will


discourage Cambodian domestic producers to produce and 43% of them believe that AEC will

not help the Cambodian government generate more tax revenue.

More female respondents are positive about the impacts of AEC toward Cambodia than male

respondents. As seen in table 4, 78% of female respondents agree that AEC will help boost up

Cambodia’s economy, but only 72% of male respondents have the same idea. In addition, over

85% of them believe that Cambodia can attract more FDIs and increase quantity of rice export to

other member states, while less than 80% of male respondents do have the same perceptions on

these statements.

Defining their perspectives based on their majors, more respondents from the major of Education

and Literature seem to have negative views on AEC than respondents of other majors. Only 64%

of them agree with the statement that AEC will help boost Cambodia’s Economy, whereas at

least 70% of respondents from all 4 other majors and up to 80% of respondents majoring at

Engineering and academic programs are all about improving English proficiency, they have the

highest percentage of respondents (75%) who believe that English proficiency of Cambodia is

still low to compete with other Architecture do. Similarly, while 80% of respondents of IT and

Medicine students perceive AEC as an opportunity, there are only 66% of Education and

Literature respondents not perceiving it as a threat, which again has the least percentage of

respondents that have positive perspective. Surprisingly, even though respondents from

Education and Literature whose member states, when Medicine respondents who are studying in

French have the highest percentage of respondents (43%) that do not believe so.

As mentioned earlier, female respondents have higher percentage of respondents perceiving AEC

positively. However, talking about their readiness, more male respondents are ready than female

respondents. About 69% of male respondents think that they are ready for the upcoming

economic integration, whereas only 58% of female respondents confirm their readiness since 84%

of them are fear that AEC will make Cambodia’s job market becomes more competitive and

increase unemployment due to free flow of skilled labors from other member states. Studying

about their readiness according to the major they are currently pursuing in their university, as

illustrated in table 5, more respondents who are majoring at Business & Accounting (73%) and

Engineering & Architecture (71%) are ready than respondents of other majors, particularly


respondents majoring at Medicine (58%) have the least respondents who believe they are ready

for joining AEC in 2015.

3. Channels Used by Respondents to Acquire Information about AEC

Table 6: Channels of Information

Channels Kinds of Sources

(%)

The most Useful

Sources (%)

Website 56.6 63.8

Social Media 53.7 56.8

Television 42.9 35.2

Newspaper 25.7 17.5

Books 29.8 16.2

Words of Mouth 28.0 15.4

As research question 3 asks in what ways that Cambodia’s undergraduate students use to acquire

the knowledge of ASEAN Integration 2015. The study shows that the most preferable ways for

students are through websites (56.6%), through social media (Facebook) (53.7%), and on

television (42.9%). Notably, there are a comparable percentage of students utilizing books

(29.8%), newspaper (25.7%), and words of mouth (28.0%) to acquire their understanding of

AEC. The study also proves that the most useful sources among the sources that they are using

are through television (35.2%), website (63.8%), and social media (56.8%). In contrast, the least

useful sources are books (16.2%), newspaper (17.5%), and words of mouth (15.4%). The other

result from the study also proves that most of the students are willing to know more about

ASEAN Integration with the percentage of 96.1%, while few other students (3.9%) are not

interested in the matter. (See table 6)

V. Implications

When it comes to awareness based on gender, male has a better awareness than female students.

The study also proves that students majoring in international relations have the highest

understanding on the ASEAN Economic Integration 2015. These findings is in line with the

previous finding of the research conducted in 2012 by the Department of International Studies’

students, studying at the Institute of Foreign Languages, Royal University of Phnom Penh, on

this issue of ASEAN integration. Information Technology’s students, in contrast, have the least


awareness on AEC, while Medicine Students have the slightest of edge over IT students on the

comprehension of AEC. Furthermore, Hypothesis 1 and 2 of this study are supported based on

the findings. In accordance to this study, it is recommended that Cambodian Universities having

majors other than international relations should include more courses about ASEAN to boost the

awareness of the undergraduate students as their understandings of this significant issue are still

limited proven by the findings of this study.

According to this study, similar to other ASEAN people, majority of respondents who are

undergraduate students in Cambodia perceive AEC as an opportunity more than a threat, which

is parallel to the previous two studies conducted in Cambodia. Nonetheless, this study also finds

that most respondents think that Cambodia’s human resource cannot compete with other senior

member states and free flow of skilled labor will increase unemployment in Cambodia.

Moreover, most of them think that the English proficiency of Cambodians are still low compared

to other member states, which prove the validity of the findings of the publication by the

ASEAN Secretariat that English deficiency is still a problem for Cambodia to join AEC.

Noticeably, even most of respondents who are majoring in Education and Literature do not

believe their English Proficiency can compete with citizens from some member states in ASEAN.

As a result, advancement of skills needed to join ASEAN and English proficiency improvement

should be one of the most important agendas that universities and the Cambodian Government

should take into account in order to prepare Cambodian undergraduate students for maximizing

their opportunities to join AEC in the late 2015.

The fact that the channels used to acquire the understanding about AEC seem to stand out the

most through technology. As now, the technology advancement, using television, websites, and

social media are very popular. Furthermore, the most significant part to look at is that the desire

of Cambodian undergraduate students wanting to know more about ASEAN Economic

Integration is almost at the top of the edge. This shows positive attitude that Cambodian

undergraduate students are so keen on learning more about AEC, which will come into existence

in 2015. However, students prefer to just being reluctant and having fun while they are learning

about AEC. Students are way less interested in going to search and learn about AEC by reading

books and newspaper, and students do not even like to share the knowledge from words to words

by talking.


VI. Limitations and Recommendations

This research study has several limitations and challenges. First, the limitation on the sample size

population. The study is conducted on only groups of undergraduate students at eight universities

in Phnom Penh, which means it cannot be generalized to all Cambodian undergraduate students

toward their awareness and perspectives on the AEC in 2015. Thus, the latter study should better

conduct on the similar topic for the population of all undergraduate students as a whole. Second,

this research study is conducted within limited timeframe of one semester and with our group

lacking of experience relating to research techniques, the result from this survey would be

analyzed according to those limitations with the report that cannot assume to the awareness and

perspectives on the AEC 2015 of all undergraduate students with such a short time period. Hence,

the next study should have longer time period to produce a well complete report. Third, some

respondents from RUPP, RULE, UHS, and ITC have low English proficiency, so they could not

understand some of technical terms used in our questionnaire, which requires our distributors to

translate one by one. Therefore, any future study should try to design the questionnaire both in

English and Khmer version.

VII. Conclusion

In brief, based on the study, more male respondents are aware of AEC than female respondents.

This study also proves that International Relations respondents have more understandings about

the issues than students of other majors, while respondents of Medicine and Information

Technology. In addition, perspectives of majority of respondents toward AEC are positive

though they, at the same time, possess some negative aspects. Many of them believe that

Cambodia cannot compete with other member states in terms of human resources, and low

English proficiency of Cambodians will be a challenge for them to join AEC.

As a result, the Cambodian government should play a role in increasing the awareness of

Cambodian undergraduate students, especially women, through sharing more information about

AEC via websites and social media. Educational institutions like universities should include

ASEAN course into academic program and enhance English proficiency of students to prepare

them for future challenges when AEC comes into existence.


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Appendix

Questionnaire (Instrument)

We are the juniors of Department of International Studies (DIS) at Institute of Foreign

Languages (IFL), who are taking Research course this semester. Currently, we are conducting

the research related to Cambodian Undergraduate Students and ASEAN Economic

Community (AEC), as the fulfillment of our course. We hope you can spend some of your time

to complete this questionnaire since your participation can help us to finish our research. At last,

we sincerely appreciate and thank for your participation.

1. Gender:

Female Male

2. Where are you studying? (Can be more than 1)

EFI: Major: _________________________________ Year: __________

IFL: Major: _________________________________ Year: __________

ITC: Major: _________________________________ Year: __________

PUC: Major: _________________________________ Year: __________

RULE: Major: _________________________________ Year: __________

RUPP: Major: _________________________________ Year: __________

UHS: Major: _________________________________ Year: __________

Others: Universities: ____________________ Major: _______________ Year: _______

3. Your English Proficiency Level:

Advanced Upper Intermediate

Intermediate Pre-Intermediate

Elementary Beginner

4. Have you ever taken ASEAN course at your university?

Yes No

To what extent you know about the following statements.

1 = No Knowledge on the issue 3 = Some Knowledge on the issue

2 = Little Knowledge on the issue 4 = A lot of Knowledge on the issue


Do you know about the statements? 1 2 3 4


ASEAN Political-Security Community

ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)

ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community

6. On December 31st, 2015, ten ASEAN countries will come together to

create a community, called AEC.

7. The main purpose of AEC is to combine the markets of the ten ASEAN

countries together to become one market.

8. An important objective for the establishment of AEC is to reduce the

economic gaps between the ASEAN member states.

9. ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) is a trade agreement by the ASEAN

supporting local manufacturing in all ASEAN countries.

10. The purpose of AFTA is to increase trade and investment among ASEAN

member states.

11. The Initiative of ASEAN Integration (IAI) was created to make all

ASEAN countries develop equally.

12. When AEC is established, businesses in ASEAN can export their products

to any country in ASEAN without restriction and with low or no Tariff (a

form of tax).

13. AEC will allow ASEAN investors come to invest in any country in the

region freely and they (investors) will be treated like the local investors

with the same set of domestic regulations.

14. Skilled labors (Accountants, doctors, engineers…) can travel freely to find

jobs across the ten ASEAN nations.

15. Unlike skilled labor, labors that have no or low skills are not able to travel

to find jobs freely in other ASEAN countries once the AEC 2015 arrives.

16. ASEAN will introduce e-ASEAN in the community to improve the

communication between government officials and the public and

facilitating the business activities of businesspersons.

To what extent you agree with the following statements.

(SA = Strongly Agree, A = Agree, D = Disagree, SD = Strongly Disagree)

Do you agree to the statements? SA A D SD

17. The establishment of AEC was just an initiative of ASEAN leaders that

do not think about public opinion.

18. AEC will boost up Cambodia’s economic development and diversify its

economy.


Please answer the following questions.

34. What kinds of sources do you use to get the information of AEC? (Can choose more than 1

answer)

Books Television Newspaper Website Social Media

(Facebook)

Words of Mouth Others __________________________

35. Do you want to learn/know more about AEC?

Yes No

19. Cambodia can attract more Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) when

AEC comes to existence.

20. AEC will discourage Cambodian domestic producers to invest.

21. Cambodia can increase the quantity of rice export to other ASEAN

member states when AEC is established.

22. When AEC is created, Cambodia can get more tourists to visit

Cambodia.

23. AEC will help increase more jobs for Cambodians.

24. AEC can help generate more tax revenues for government.

25. AEC will help improve human resources of Cambodians

26. When Cambodia joins AEC, Cambodia will be more easily affected by

the regional crisis, especially financial crisis.

27. Free flow of skilled labors from other ASEAN member states will make

Cambodian’s job market become more competitive and increase

unemployment.

28. Cambodia’s human resource still cannot compete with other ASEAN

member states.

29. English proficiency of Cambodia is still low, which will be a threat or a

challenge for Cambodia to join AEC.

30. AEC is more like an opportunity than a threat for you personally.

31. You support Cambodia to join AEC.

32. You are ready for AEC.

33. Universities in Cambodia should include ASEAN course in the

curriculum of all majors to make students understand more about

ASEAN.


36. What kinds of sources do you get the most useful and the quickest on information of AEC?

(Can choose more than 1 answer)

Books Television Newspaper Website Social Media

(Facebook)

Words of Mouth Others __________________________

cambodian undergraduate students and aec 2015

Documents