Employability skills development in Cambodian higher education: A case study of English education

Understanding the Cambodian labor market where a high level of English proficiency is an important employability skill, this paper examines how curriculum in English education has changed in the wider contexts of globalisation and knowledge-based economy. The case study informing this paper investigates how the Department of English (DoE) of a top university in Phnom Penh revises its curriculum for enhancing the employability skills of its students. The paper begins with an examination of how the DoE management understands the relevance of employability skills to its curriculum and implements corresponding revisions. Then, framing the process of enhancing employability skills as a student engagement process, the paper describes how various antecedents, like institutional, classroom and personal factors, affecting students’ learning experience and learning outcomes, thereby impacting their employability skills. The study draws on semi-structured interviews with 29 stakeholders in the DoE: 5 members of the management, 9 faculty members and 15 students and graduates. The findings of the study suggest that active learning is a significant way to develop employability skills. Classroom activities, such as group discussion, group presentation and application-based assignments, are important elements of the active learning. Based on the findings, this paper suggests that reducing lecture-based teaching and increasing the elements of active learning provides key directions to decision makers for the curriculum revision. Copyright © 2021 Symposium on Internationalisation and Quality Management in Higher Education.