General Background
There are 10 institutions at the tertiary level in the Jesuit Conference of East Asia and Oceania. Two of these are colleges and the others, universities. Of the latter, two--Sophia in Tokyo and Elisabeth University of Music in Hiroshima--are on the island of Honshu in Japan. Sogang is our university in Seoul, Korea. Fu Jen University--near Taipei in Taiwan--is jointly run by the Society of Jesus, the SVD fathers, and the diocesan clergy. Five of the 10 schools are in the Philippines. In Manila there is the Ateneo de Manila university, while two other universities--Xavier in Cagayan de Oro and the Ateneo de Davao in Davao City - are on the southern island of Mindanao. In the Bicol region of Luzon, the Ateneo de Naga and--on the southwestern tip of Mindanao--the Ateno de Zamboanga are two colleges that will soon become universities. Further south--in the city of Yogyakarta on the Indonesian island of Java--is Sanata Dharma University. A quick look at a map will remind us that these ten schools are spread over a vast, culturally diverse geographical area. Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Indonesia all represent different Asian languages and cultures. The Philippine schools in themselves represent another five different subcultures and dialects or languages.

The Project
Fr. General has emphasized the need for our universities and colleges to collaborate more than they have in the past. Going back to the formation of the assistancy there were efforts to work together. Lack of manpower, regional differences, and the necessity to confront very different types of problems have been factors inhibiting cooperation. All of the schools are aware of the need to collaborate and are eager to find ways in which we can work together with the other Jesuit schools. In the past few years improvement in transportation, electronic communications, and the general economic situation in the countries of the assistancy have all made finding common projects more feasible.

This brief article describes one concrete effort that, though small, is particularly meaningful. It began with a meeting of the presidents of Sophia, Sogang, Fu Jen, the Ateneo de Manila, Xavier University, the Ateneo de Davao, and Sanata Dharma in Manila in August 1994. A major topic at this meeting was collaboration. Several prospects were discussed and one joint project was decided upon. The Ateneo de Manila was at that time already providing some training for future teachers at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. The poverty of Cambodia and the recent history of that country point out the obvious need for help from the international community. The presidents meeting in Manila thought that it would be particularly meaningful for our Jesuit schools to collaborate on a project to help train teachers for this government school in Cambodia.

They decided that they would provide financial support for this project and bring Cambodian teachers to the Ateneo de Manila for a six-month retraining program. This was deemed a better solution than spreading the teachers out over different schools in different cultural and language areas. English could be used more easily in Manila, and the Cambodians would more easily form a group that could work together when they returned to Phnom Penh if they went through retraining together.

Scholarship money was provided by the different schools. It should be noted that Cambodian teachers are forced to supplement their salary of U.S.$20 to U.S.$25 a month by various part-time jobs in Phnom Penh. They would be without this income during the six months in the Philippines. For this reason the scholarships have to include a stipend for the families of the teachers.

As a result of this cooperation, the Ateneo de Manila was able to broaden and formalize its program. The first six Cambodian teachers began the program in September 1995 and returned to Phnom Penh in early 1996. As a result of an evaluation at that time, we decided that the project should continue for another year. The same schools repeated their contributions, and a second group of six teachers is now finishing up its six months at the Ateneo.

Plans are now under way to continue the program for next year. It has turned out to be an invaluable contribution to the upgrading of the faculty at the Cambodian university. We judge the second year of the program to have been even better than the first. This is because those running the project have been able to build on their experiences. Teachers from the Royal University of Phnom Penh will soon be chosen and begin a special English-language training course in Phnom Penh before leaving the country. The third year of the program will begin in September 1997.