Royal University of Agriculture (RUA) has collaborated with the Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) to organise the Workshop on Developing Fundable Research Project Proposals in Agricultural and Rural Development with an aim to build capacities of Cambodian higher education institutions.
According to a press release of SEARCA AKP received yesterday evening, the five-day workshop kicked off early this week in Siem Reap cultural province under the presidency of Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) H.E. Touch Visalsok.
Addressing to the opening ceremony, H.E. Touch Visalsok cited his ministry's partnership with SEARCA and RUA as a good model on capacity building for Cambodian academics.
Jointly funded by SEARCA and MoEYS, through its Higher Education and Coordinator of the Higher Education Quality and Capacity Improvement Project (HEQCIP), the workshop was attended by 50 officials, faculty, and staff from 11 higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country.
HEQCIP Deputy Director General Dr. Nith Bunlay said his project supported the logistics and administrative arrangements, while SEARCA provided the technical inputs.
Dr. Nith Bunlay thanked RUA, a partner-beneficiary of SEARCA's Institutional Development Assistance Program, for serving as a bridge between MoEYS and SEARCA.
RUA Rector Dr. Ngo Bunthan said SEARCA helped his university develop its strategic plan for 2010-2015, which focuses on capacity building. He said RUA is gearing up to be a research university by the end of 2025. Meanwhile, SEARCA continues to provide institutional development assistance to RUA through graduate scholarships for its faculty members and short technical courses for its teaching and research staff.
SEARCA Director Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit Jr. thanked RUA and MoOEYS for drawing in SEARCA to organise such a highly relevant workshop, which SEARCA is looking to offer to neighbouring transition economies with the same partnership modality.
A team of professors from the University of the Philippines Los Baños-College of Public Affairs and Development led by Prof. Wilfredo Carada conducted the workshop, which featured lectures, and small group exercises to enhance the participants' skills on the use of different tools in the management of research projects in agricultural and rural development. They kept the participants busy identifying and analysing ARD problems; deliberating on objectives, interventions, and prioritising these; packaging fundable project proposals; and deliberating on actions for their future projects and university research and extension programmes.
Now in its 50th year, Philippines-based SEARCA supports and organises capacity-building workshops to provide opportunities for policymakers, researchers, academicians, trainers, and other key champions and stakeholders in agricultural and rural development to update themselves as well as discuss contemporary issues and science-based perspectives on inclusive and sustainable agricultural and rural development (ISARD), strengthen their leadership competencies, and hone their research capabilities.