.png)
Op-Ed: Vocational and Technical Education Reform to Develop High-Technical Skills for Cambodia’s Industry Upgrading and Women’s Participation
- Mar 31
- 6 min read
Junior Research Fellow
Future Forum's research fellow Saly Mikavaty was published in Cambojanews on March 31st, 2026. Check out the original article HERE, and read it below!
To prepare for its graduation from a Least Developed Country (LDC) and in line with the government strategy of the 7th Legislature of the National Assembly and the new investment law in 2021, as well as sustained economic growth of approximately 7% annually, Cambodia needs to upgrade its industrial base to diversify its exports to international markets. This policy commentary argues that strengthening technical and vocational education and training (TVET), with a strong emphasis on practical, industry-relevant skills, is essential for industrial upgrading, workforce development, and inclusive socio-economic growth in Cambodia.
Industrial Skill Constraints and the Exclusion of Women from Technical Fields.
The Cambodian government has adopted many proactive strategies and policy reforms and improved TVET in Cambodia to provide specific skills to Cambodian people. However, when it comes to industrial upgrading or high technical skills, workforce capacity is still limited, and most students graduate with theory only and lack real practical experience due to the weakness of policy ideation and implementation within national institutions. Significantly, women are over-represented in low-skilled and informal employment, particularly in the garment, footwear, and services industries.
This makes it harder for women to participate in the higher-skilled workforce in technical fields, thus exacerbating the inequality in socio-economic development, bearing in mind that in many developing countries, including Cambodia, the number of women exceeds the number of men. In this regard, to improve skills development for the workforce in Cambodia, while making it more inclusive for women to be involved in technical skills, requires relevant partners to strengthen their capacity in practical matters. TVET plays a significant role in bridging the gap between formal education and labor market needs, as it equips young people, especially women, with relevant jobs and enhances labor productivity in key sectors. For developing countries such as Cambodia, strengthening TVET is essential for improving skills productivity and maintaining Cambodia’s competitiveness within the ASEAN region.
The Burden of the National TVET Policy
TVET in Cambodia is currently operated under the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MLVT), to which the Cambodian government made significant reforms to improve the TVET curriculum in line with the national strategy and was rewarded with a notable improvement in many sectors. However, the new Industry 4.0 required Cambodia to transform a lower-skilled workforce to a higher-skilled one to make a significant increase in production lines and value-added products, as well as to attract more foreign direct investment to invest in heavy industries, such as electronics, automobiles, and machinery manufacturing. The lack of a higher-skilled workforce in industrial sectors makes Cambodia suffer in terms of competitiveness with other ASEAN countries like Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, which have reformed their TVET policy and strategy to attract more direct foreign investment, thus stimulating economic growth and increasing value-added products. Reforming TVET institutions does not only attract foreign direct investment; beyond that, these countries also receive technical skills development from those foreign direct investment enterprises, and in Vietnam women are increasingly involved. The Cambodian government should reform its TVET strategy by strengthening TVET institutions and relevant university partners in line with relevant national policy, namely by promoting and upgrading industry while ensuring socio-economic development.
Policy Suggestions
Strengthen TVET Policy for Women Inclusive
The Cambodian government should consider the following policy steps to ensure that the TVET curriculum reforms have long-term impacts and are inclusive socioeconomically, since the market trend in Cambodia is increasingly pointing towards the need for technical skills. Therefore, Cambodia should increase the engagement of women in relevant TVET programs to ensure that they are included in the higher-skilled workforce in Cambodia. Importantly, these partnerships should promote equal access for women, whereby they are encouraged to join, be involved, and work in technical fields as well as have the benefit of gender-sensitivity training and female mentorship initiatives (if possible). Furthermore, all internships and apprenticeships should involve a fair selection process.
Institutionalize Formal University-TVET-Industry Partnership
The following stepsinstitutionalize formal partnership. Strengthening collaboration between relevant universities or educational institutions, TVET institutions, and private companies is crucial for developing a skilled workforce that meets industry demands and aligns with national development goals by signing formal memoranda of understanding (MOUs) between parties to define clear responsibilities such as curriculum input, supervision, skill assessments and student training placements. This curriculum reform allows parties to integrate practical, relevant industrial competencies into academic programs to ensure that students are equipped with the relevant skills for each industry. These partnerships should actively encourage women’s engagement in technical fields, provide female-focused mentorship opportunities, and integrate gender-sensitive training into the curriculum. This guarantees that women are truly encouraged and have equal access to industrial and practical skills as their male colleagues.
Introduce a Dual Training System to strengthen Practical Skills
Next, the Cambodian government should establish a dual training system. Currently, many current graduate students lack hands-on experiences because of the weakness of institutionalized partnerships between university, government and industry. “Partnership” here means that besides learning in classes, students should be involved in obtaining hands-on experiences with TVET institutions or industrial firms, especially in electronics, machinery, automotive and agro-processing industries, such as research collaboration activities between university and industry or private companies. These potential fields require hands-on experiences to provide students with long-term competitiveness and the opportunity to become part of a highly productive workforce. Moreover, women’s participation in these sectors should be encouraged by special measures such as targeted outreach initiatives (scholarships) and safe workplace environments (security facilities), which boost their skills and inclusion in the high-productivity industries.
Provide Incentives to Encourage Private Sector Participation
Moreover, the government should provide incentives for private sectors. Providing incentives and tax reductions to the private sector is necessary to encourage and to promote formal partnerships between the parties involved. Tax deductions and government incentives serve as the bridge connecting stakeholder engagement and long-term commitment to skills development, while increasing the willingness of firms to invest in human capital. Furthermore, the involvement of private companies in developing the TVET curriculum and supporting on-the-job training programs could reduce government spending. This initiative should be implemented to ensure that private companies hire and train women in technical roles, increasing workforce diversity and the quality of human capital that supports Cambodia’s industrial upgrading and economic development objective, as mentioned in the national policy on the development of the electric vehicle sector in 2024–2030.
Pilot University-TVET-Industry Models in Key Industrial Zones
In addition to making this policy more effective and practical, the government should consider adopting a pilot program in its industrial zone strategy. This should involve testing the university-TVET-industry connection projects in special economic zones as well as in significant industrial hubs in the country, such as in Kratie and Kampong Spue provinces, while ensuring women’s participation. By indicating useful coordination strategies, collaborative curriculum development, and efficient work-based learning arrangements that include women, successful pilot programs can operate as scalable models for national implementation. Evidence from these pilots, such as productive increases, employer satisfaction, graduate employment rates, and female participation, can help clarify policy and support more public and private funding. Over time, these pilot programs would improve Cambodia’s competitiveness in regional value chains, decrease skills mismatches, and strengthen the relevance of skills for both males and females.
Enhance Inter-Ministerial Coordination for Cohesive Implementation
Last but not least, strengthening coordination between ministries is crucial to making each of these policy steps feasible. State-led coordination and effective linkage require effective coordination between relevant ministries such as the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training and the Ministry of Youth Sport and Education. Strengthening coordination would help to avoid policy fragmentation and assist policy implementation, ensure a consistent curriculum standard of certification, and facilitate resources. Moreover, this initiative also ensures the efficiency of program implementation, strengthens monitoring and evaluation processes, and ensures that skill development initiatives are aligned with national industrial and investment priorities.
Challenges and Cost Considerations for TVET Reform
Strengthening intergovernmental coordination and reforming TVET may face challenges, and indeed, despite gradual improvements, they have not yet been highly effective. For example, limited administrative capacity, governance policy, and the inconsistent institutional responsibilities of relevant ministries might be obstacles to strengthening interministerial coordination and modernizing TVET. Sustained public resources are necessary for investment in monitoring systems and training facilities. Nevertheless, better coordination can ensure long-term productivity advantages that offset short-term costs by reducing inconsistency of policy, improving implementation efficiency, and aligning skills development in line with relevant industrial and investment policies.
Final Policy Reflection
In order to facilitate skills development in Cambodia for the purpose of creating a higher-skilled workforce, Cambodia should also draw lessons from some successful models from regional countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand, whose reform model policies have stimulated economic growth. Strengthening partnerships between relevant ministries is key to ensuring that collaboration is effective and consistent. Developing a skilled workforce is increasingly needed in the era of Industry 4.0 and particularly by developing countries that aim to improve socioeconomic conditions while sustainably growing their economies. Weakening development partners, especially by state ministries, indicates a failure of policy and of implementing theory in practice. Therefore, strengthening key partnerships and establishing a dual training program, while actively promoting women’s participation at all levels, should be an effective mechanism to improve skills development in Cambodia.
Comments