Preah Sihamoniraja Buddhist University in Phnom Penh has received the Excellence in Education Award for 2026–2027 from the International Association for Quality Assurance in Pre-Tertiary & Higher Education (QAHE). The award follows an evidence note submitted on 27 September 2026 and signed by Ngoun Sdechpheakdey, Vice Rector. It recognises a model built around weekend classes, full scholarships for students from Cambodia’s outer provinces, visiting international teachers, online delivery and an internal quality team. It is not a Cambodian government licence, and it does not by itself authorise the University to award qualifications.
The University sits at Svayporpe Pagoda, in front of the Russian Embassy, Sangkat Tonle Basac, Khan Chamkarmorn. Its international office uses inter.psbu.edu.kh, with contacts at info@psbu.edu.kh and inter@psbu.edu.kh. On its own letterhead it appears both as Preah Sihamoniraja Buddhist University and under the shorter public name PSB University Cambodia. The file sent to QAHE describes a Buddhist university that has pushed teaching beyond a weekday timetable: flexible classes, community outreach, scholarships, digital learning, visiting academics, faculty training, and technology-enabled work with partners abroad. The stated aim is access to study that is flexible, internationally connected and usable in working life, for students held back by distance, cost or a job.
QAHE is an independent quality-assurance body. Its full name is the International Association for Quality Assurance in Pre-Tertiary & Higher Education. It reviews institutions against its own published standards and lists those that meet them. An institutional listing is a quality-assurance decision. It is not a ministry accreditation, not a substitute for national higher-education law, and not a separate accreditation of every programme an institution offers. The Excellence in Education Award sits beside that work. It is given for a documented contribution to access, teaching and institutional practice. Holding it does not convert a professional or religious designation into a state degree, and it does not extend a listing to activity in another country unless QAHE says so.
That last point is in the University’s own note. PSBU has technology-supported teaching links with learners and partners in Sri Lanka, including an online Executive MBA pathway in logistics and supply-chain management. It told QAHE that this work must follow the rules of the country concerned, and that the Sri Lanka activity is not submitted as covered by its existing QAHE institutional accreditation. The award committee was asked to treat it as evidence of innovation, not as an extension of the listing.
What the note does put forward is a set of arrangements already running in Phnom Penh. Weekend and flexible classes are aimed at students who cannot keep a full-time weekday timetable, including those who live well outside the capital or who are combining study with work and family. The University says the point is not convenience alone. It is a way to widen participation while keeping a structured class, contact with staff, and access to specialist teachers.
The access argument is sharper in the scholarship section. PSBU says it offers 100 per cent scholarships aimed at at-risk and under-represented students from Cambodia’s outer provinces, where cost, distance and thin local provision can keep people out of higher education. The intended effects listed in the file are higher participation, lower financial barriers, a route into an internationally staffed campus, and a longer contribution to the communities those students come from. The University ties the scheme to Sustainable Development Goal 1, on poverty, and Goal 4, on quality education.
International teaching is described as regular, not ceremonial. Steve Cochrane, based in Bangkok, travels to Phnom Penh about twice a month for IELTS preparation, English and other classes, including weekend sessions. Kraiser Gilitwala comes about once a month for business classes; the file also includes a poster for a Career Excellence Development Program on communication, scheduled at the University’s Independence Hall. Dr Amir Taghipour teaches entrepreneurship and sits on the Internal Quality Assurance Team. Dr Karl Meneghella, Director of International Academics, advises that team and fronts two public series, Coffee with Karl and Education is a Garden – Dig It. A Coffee with Karl episode, “Balancing life’s demand,” is cited on the University’s own channel.
Between visits, teaching continues online. The note calls this a blended international environment: a physical class, follow-up online, and an academic who is not resident in Cambodia. Faculty development is internal. Workshops, rubrics, templates and guidance are meant to make training a standing practice rather than an occasional event. The quality team’s brief covers programme review, standard documents, staff training, monitoring, feedback and preparation for external benchmarking. The line the University uses is that quality assurance should produce better teaching, better learning and better student outcomes, not a file for its own sake.
Taken together, the submission groups the work under six headings: access, flexibility, internationalisation, technology, capacity building and outreach. QAHE’s award is for that combination, as set out in the September evidence note. Readers who want the scope in one sentence can take it from the University’s own caveat and from QAHE’s standing rule. The Excellence in Education Award records a judgement on educational practice at Preah Sihamoniraja Buddhist University. It does not replace Cambodian or foreign recognition of a qualification, and it does not cover the Sri Lanka delivery.
