Exploring the Impacts of Study Abroad Experiences of Cambodian Faculty Members: Comparing Study Abroad and Study at Home

To promote national development, highly skilled human resources must be cultivated. In Cambodia, talented young people have been actively encouraged to study abroad through financial aid from donor countries and international organizations. People who have studied overseas are now taking up leadership roles and participating actively in the government, educational institutions, and businesses. This study focuses in particular on university faculty members who have experienced studying abroad. To elucidate how their study abroad experiences affect their careers and work, we carried out an online questionnaire survey to learn more about their current research-, education-, social contribution-, and university management-related activities. Accordingly, in terms of research-related activities, the Study Abroad group and the Study at Home group showed a clear difference in all items. Conversely, there was no clear difference in social contribution-related activities. Semistructured interviews and discussions conducted according to the results of this survey presented a common belief that an environment that enables devotion to research is crucial to be able to engage in research activities and that research is the primary goal of studying abroad. The results of the above-mentioned questionnaire survey were found to be impacted by these perceptions.