AKP Phnom Penh, August 18, 2025 --

Cambodia and Australia held talks here yesterday on education cooperation though exploring Western Australian education system and curriculum, sharing experience in educational affairs and progress, and reviewing possibilities to further beef up education cooperation between the two countries.

The discussion was held between H.E. Dr. Hang Chuon Naron, Minister of Education, Youth, and Sports, and H.E. Derek Yip, Ambassador of Australia to Cambodia, with the participation of Ms. Melissa Kelly, Associate Director of International Education at School Curriculum and Standards Authority of Western Australian Government; Mr. Colin Glass, Founder and Board of Advisor of SpringBoard4Education; and Mr. Sen Pidet, Managing Director of SpringBoard4Education.

On the occasion, H.E. Derek Yip appreciated and expressed thanks to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) for always supporting and facilitating all kinds of education cooperation with Australia, and shared the progress of achievements emerging from education cooperation between Cambodia and Australia.

Ms. Melissa Kelly said that Western Australian Curriculum is an international standard curriculum of the Department of Education of the Western Australian Government with worldwide recognition, adding that students will have opportunity to obtain the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) issued by Australian Government to pursue their studies at all universities in the world after their graduations.

Mr. Colin Glass thanked the MoEYS and the Embassy of Australia in Cambodia for their cooperation so far, and cherished the rapid development of the education sector in Cambodia. 

According to Mr. Colin Glass, SpringBoard4Education is an international investment institution that focuses on the promotion and investment in education field in countries around the world with branches in Asia, Arab and Africa. 

“With collaboration and support from the Western Australian Government through the Department of Education, the SpringBoard4Education has linked education sector between Cambodia and Australia with the goal of educational development and opportunity provision for students to study with Australian international curriculum. Currently, there are 15 international schools in Cambodia implementing the Western Australian General Knowledge Curriculum, with a total of 4,000 Cambodian students,” claimed Mr. Colin Glass.

For his part, H.E. Dr. Hang Chuon Naron valued and thanked the Australian Government for its continued contribution to the development of Cambodia's education sector, especially for scholarship provision to Cambodian youths and collaboration in Exchange Programme and Dual Degree, which has provided many and richer opportunities for Cambodian students to further enhance and expand their knowledges and skills widely with a universal citizenship for national and international competition for job markets.

The minister also appreciated the SpringBoard4Education’s efforts in linking education domain between Cambodia and Western Australia by bringing Western Australian international standard curriculum to the Kingdom, emphasising the MoEYS’s readiness in collaboration provision to support all types of initiatives aimed at education advancement in Cambodia. 

He also thanked the Embassy of Australia to Cambodia for its continued support and facilitation for this cooperation to succeed subsequently so far.

By L Vy