Impact & Outcome
The impact will be stronger links between higher education services and socioeconomic needs. The outcome will be improved quality of higher education services. The project will provide support to four public HEIs (Champassak University, NUOL, Savannakhet University, and Souphanouvong University), and improve the regulatory framework for HEIs.
Adapting to new paradigms
The time-honored purpose of universities has been teaching and research; in the traditional model of HE, new knowledge or understanding is sought through intellectual inquiry and research, and is then transmitted to the next generation through the teacher–student relationship. The new knowledge is safeguarded within the academic institutions. The advent of the knowledge-based economy has shaken this traditional model, and created a new paradigm for HE. “Today its purpose is increasingly to craft job-ready graduates, produce problem-solving research, and partner with industry and government in productivity-enhancing undertakings. In essence, the university is becoming a ‘knowledge conglomerate’.”