Interview with Ms. Thy Sofy, Communication & Public Relation Coordinator of Cambodia Academy of Digital Technology (CADT)

 

This week, we met with Ms. Thy Sofy this week to learn more about the CADT's vision and mission to promote digital technology innovation, as well as the approaches to supporting digital talent and innovators and what Cambodia's digital transformation looks like.


1. Can you tell us more about the Cambodia Academy of Digital Technology (CADT) and its program?

CADT mission is to provide education, training, R&D and promote innovation in digital technology to students, civil servants, and innovators to contribute to the development of digital government, economy, and society. We not only aim to provide high-quality education and training, but also to promote and support the R&D in digital technology to nurture students as well as to improve the quality of civil servants, professionals, and innovators for contributing to the development of digital government, economy, and society. 

To fulfill its vision and mission, the Cambodia Academy of Digital Technology is home to three subordinate institutes:

  1. Institute of Digital Technology, an engineering school specialising in digital technology, provides excellent bachelor's programs in software engineering, telecoms, and network engineering as well as in digital business and e-commerce, to foster digital talents indispensable for the development of the digital economy and society.
  2. Institute of Digital Governance, a first-of-its-kind to provide digital skill training for civil servants and promote technology transformation in government agencies, as a driving force of digital governance development in Cambodia,
  3. Institute of Digital Research and Innovation, a unique research organization to conduct R&D in digital technology, and drive digital innovation and entrepreneurship in Cambodia

2.  How has CADT supported Cambodia’s digital transformation?

CADT has been nurturing and producing young talent in digital technology skills through our bachelor’s program and we want to make it accessible as much as possible for the student who wants to pursue this skill by having Digital Talent Techno Scholarship, Women Scholarship, and even establish a loan program.

It allows students to study without paying tuition for 4-years, so it helps them not to have any financial issues throughout their academic year. The student will pay once they graduate and receive a good salary. We also have a certified training program to help government leaders and officials in building the foundation and thrive more professionally in digital technology skills. CADT is also a frontline in promoting and supporting the start-up ecosystem in Cambodia by producing accelerator programs essential for them.

3. Based on your research how many Cambodian students are currently studying in the digital-related field, and will this amount respond to the current market demand?

Based on our research, among 70,000 of grade12 graduates, roughly about 7-8% of students choose to study in a digital technology-related field, I believe this amount is still not enough to respond yet to the current market demand.

4. Cambodia is rapidly evolving in the digital technology sector, where do you envision the country in term of technological in the near future?

I believe we can expect more innovative projects coming up shortly, more start-ups, more technology that use to solve real problems...etc. As we try to invest and nurture students not only in software learning but also in hardware, we expect to see robotic-related products, machines, and technological tools that will use as extra service to humanity.

5. What do you think are the barriers that usually block the path to digital transformation?

Tertiary enrolment in STEM majors including ICT remains low, male-dominated, and geographically concentrated. Curricular is mainly devoted to general subjects and lacks subjects on new technologies (i.e. machine learning, artificial intelligence, fintech, and data science).

Lack of subjects devoted to soft skills: critical thinking and problem-solving. Several challenges HEIs and TVET institutions are facing such as

  • Limited support from the government
  • Limited financial and human resources
  • Uneven ability and preparedness of students who enroll in the STEM programs in mathematics and digital literacy.

6. In the next 5 to 10 years, what will be the most in-demand digital skills in Cambodia?

The demand for ICT and digital skills is expected to grow. There have, however, been mismatches and shortages of the qualified digital-skilled workforce (ICT included).

Occupational demand for digital skills, including ICT sales professional, software, application, and web developer, as well as multimedia and graphic designers (including e-marketing professionals) and 4. programmers.

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