Near Angkor Wat, a devotion to learning

Millions of tourists come here every year to visit the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat, an influx that has helped transform a tranquil village into a thriving, cosmopolitan town with thumping nightlife and more than 10,000 hotel rooms.

But the explosion of tourism here has also done something less predictable. Siem Reap, which had no universities a decade ago, is now Cambodia's second-largest hub for higher education, after the capital, Phnom Penh.

The sons and daughters of rice farmers flock here to work as tour guides, receptionists, bartenders and waitresses. When their shifts are over, they study finance, English and accounting.

"I never imagined that I could go to university," said Hem Sophoan, a 31-year-old tour guide who is now studying for his second master's degree. "There's been so much change and opportunities for young people."

The establishment of five private universities here is helping to transform the work force in this part of Cambodia, one of Asia's poorest countries and a society still in the shadow of the genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge.

Khim Borin, a 26-year-old tour guide by day and law student by night, says he wants to become a lawyer. But he has trouble staying awake in class during the high tourist season, when he spends hours scaling temple steps.

"I tell my friends, 'Hit me if you see me falling asleep,'" he said.

The five universities in Siem Reap currently enroll more than 10,000 students. Most of the campuses are quiet during the day but come to life at night.

The United Nations and aid organizations have had an oversize role in helping steer the country since the Khmer Rouge were driven from power more than three decades ago. But the symbiosis of work and study here came together without any master plan.

It was driven largely by supply and demand: universities opened to cater to the dreams of Cambodia's youth. University administrators say 80 to 90 percent of the students hold full-time jobs.

Most students pay the annual tuition of $400 themselves, said Rous Bunthy, vice president for administrative affairs at the University of South-East Asia here.

Luckier students get sponsorship from foreigners. On a recent evening, an Argentine insurance saleswoman on vacation here, Maria Theresa Landoni, went to the university to pay the tuition of a young woman who wanted to study tourism.

Ms. Landoni struck up a friendship with the driver of her motorized rickshaw and met his daughter. "They were very, very, very poor," Ms. Landoni said. "This is a country that has suffered a lot."

Ms. Landoni said she agreed to pay one semester's worth of fees for the daughter: $180.

Many graduates seem to have stayed with their employers and moved up, now having better prospects for managerial roles. But it is too early to draw conclusions. The six-year-old University of South-East Asia, for example, has had only two graduating classes, and they were small.

Chan Sreyroth, a 29-year-old manager at a company that owns restaurants in Siem Reap, says she sees a big difference in employees who attend universities.

"The difference is that they have a dream," said Ms. Chan Sreyroth, who oversees around 250 employees, many of them students. "After they study, they are not scared anymore. They want to be something."

Source - chinadaily.com.cn