The Official Newsletter of the University of Puthisastra (UP)-Vol.99 November 2022 Download
More Success On The Global Stage For The University of Puthisastra, Once Again The Only Cambodian University In Elite Times Higher Education Tables!
As a leading Cambodian university, the University of Puthisastra (UP) is delighted to announce that once again, we are the only university in Cambodia to be listed within The Times Higher Education Global Impact Ranking Tables. The ongoing inclusion of UP cements the university’s status amongst the global elite in Higher Education and it marks a further step forward for the international status of Cambodian Higher Education.
Having once again successfully achieved this recognition on the global stage, UP will be continuing its progress in the months and years ahead, to further cement both our own place and reputation, and also Cambodia’s place and reputation within the Higher Education industry globally, on a permanent basis.
Less than 18 months after achieving its first ranking place in The Times Higher Education (THE) ‘Impact’ Rankings, the University of Puthisastra, it is a remarkable feat to remain there as the first and only university in the history of Cambodia to do so.
The Times World University League Table is the most prestigious and internationally recognised Higher Education league in the world. Entry into the world league is conditional on universities like UP providing only the most comprehensive, rigorous and well-validated data to evidence our track record of growth and academic excellence across a wide range of performance indicators.
This year’s World University League Table features elite universities from 104 countries around the world, including the USA, the UK, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, India and China, to name just a few. And now, Cambodia! Each university in the rankings has a detailed profile, with a breakdown of its overall scores. The rankings are available here: World University Rankings 2023 | Times Higher Education (THE). To find UP, simply choose Cambodia in the ‘country’ drop-down box.
This joint achievement of joining both the Impact Rankings and the Worldwide University League Table is a stunning breakthrough, not just for UP, but for Cambodia as a whole. This recognition is a formal acknowledgement of how we are helping to lead the way both nationally and internationally, at the very highest echelon of Higher Education, thanks to our dedicated focus on health science education. With our excellent staff and students working in partnership, there is nothing in the world beyond our grasp as Cambodia’s leading health sciences university!
UP launches the 1st Annual Teaching Conference 2022!
October 26th, University of Puthisastra organize the first ever Teaching conference. The conference was presided by Prof. Ian Findley, President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Puthisastra along with our three distinguished speakers including H.E., Prof. Hor Bun Leng, Dr. TJ Moore and Dr. Kaing Sopheap.
This year’s conference theme is “The Teaching of Tomorrow: Innovation, Enhancement, and Excellence”. Some topics include:
• Developing yourself as an educator.
• Redesign Teaching Methods and Assessments.
• Increase Student’s “Active Learning”
• and more!
This important conference is crucial to upskill UP teaching staff to maximize the best ways possible for better outcomes and to improve the teaching method for the best!
MD Students Study Tour, General Health Check-up and Health Education in Remote Area of Siem Reap Province
Five Faculty of Medicine staff and 43 medical students visited Siem Reap Province for a study trip from 26th to 28th October 2022. The purposes of the trip are:
(1) to visit Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap;
(2) to provide general health check-up to villagers in Srok Prasat Bakong, Kompong Phluk Commune;
(3) to provide health education related to acute diarrhea in children and adults.
The Faculty of Medicine acknowledges the sponsorship of the following companies:
– Chea Ry. Co., Ltd
– Pharmaproduct Manufacturing (PPM)
– Aruna, Cambodia’s Natural Water
– American Intercon School (AIS)
– Angkor Thom Bookstore
– Para Plus Pharmacy
We are confident that the study trip will be useful and successful.
The 3rd UP Pharmacy Conference
UP’s Faculty of Pharmacy organized the 3rd Pharmacy Conference, from October 22 to 23, 2022. The conference was chaired by HE Ban Botta. Undersecretary of State, Ministry of Health and Chairman of the Pharmacy Council of Cambodia, Prof. Ian Findlay, President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Puthisastra, and Dr. Chea Sin, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Puthisastra.
The conference brings together about 150 pharmacists from all pharmacy field to share and learn about their work, experiences and successes in their current workplace, and to discuss ways to move forward in the purpose of leverage the pharmaceutical profession in Cambodia. Many speakers were from the Ministry of Health, the private sector, community pharmacies, pharmaceutical distributors, pharmaceutical industries, educational institutions, NGOs and other institutions.
The third Pharmacy Conference was held for the following purposes:
• Share knowledge, experience, success and good practice
• Get up-to-date information on pharmacists’ core competencies to respond to the current job market
• Share recommendations, opinions and the latest information to improve the pharmaceutical profession in the Kingdom of Cambodia and keep up with other countries in the region and the world.
• Build good relationships among pharmacists
• And provide pharmacists with training opportunities for further development.
This conference is supported by the Cambodian Pharmacists Association and sponsored by: PillTech Solution CO., LTD
UP Health Sciences and Biotechnology Participated in UP Research Conference
Faculty of Health Sciences and Biotechnology participated in the 1st Research Conference: “Improving Cambodia Health and Wellbeing – Ways Forward” that held on October 13 – 14, 2022 at Hall B, University of Puthisastra. There were 9 posters and 1 oral presentation presented by faculty members.
Two faculty staff
(1) Mr. Hem Chanvatanak with the title “Strengthening Pathology Services in Cambodia” won 3rd place for best poster presentation as awarded by the judging panel and
(2) Mr. San Techly and Mr. Sorn Virak with the title
“Potential use of Laccases in Decolorizing Synthetic
UP Pharmacy team joined the UP Research Conference
On October 13-14, 2022, staff and students from Pharmacy conducted 6 poster presentations at the UP Conference 2022. During our poster presentation, participants, lecturers especially, the Minister delegate and Secretary of State of Ministry of Technology, Science and Innovation was very impressed and he also encouraged our staff and students to continue their research to develop research in Cambodia.
The posters presented is as follows:
1. DETERMINATION OF VITAMIN C CONTENT AND PROXIMATE ANALYSIS OF FRESH JUICE OF HIBISCUS
SABDARIFFA L. FLOWER CALYX ORIGINATED IN CAMBODIA.
2. USE OF MEDICINAL PLANTS AMONG WOMEN IN SIEM REAP PROVINCE, CAMBODIA
3. VITAMIN AND DIETARY SUPPLEMENT USED AMONG ADULTS LIVING IN PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
4. THIN LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY ( TLC) STUDY OF JUSTICIA GENDARUSSA BURM.F UNDER DIFFERENT MOBILE PHASE SYSTEM AND ITS PHOTOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES.
5. ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITIES OF SELECTED MEDICINAL PLANT EXTRACTS HARVESTED IN CAMBODIA
6. ABTS RADICAL SCAVENGING ABILITY, FERRIC REDUCING ANTIOXIDANT POWER, AND PHYTOCONSTITUENTS OF HIBISCUS SABDARIFFA L. ORIGINATED IN CAMBODIA.
First Aid Course in Foundation Year
The First Aid Course is a new experience for Foundation Year students, and one that they are excited for. Every student is eager to learn how to intervene in medical emergencies and provide care until an ambulance arrives. They learn both theory and practical skills, so that they are able to perform in real situations.
FY First Aid includes:
• First aider roles and responsibilities
• Handwashing
• Infection control & PPE
• Assessing the scene
• Assessing victims
• Choking
• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
• Dressing for severe bleeding
• Dressing for broken bone
• Venoms, bites, and stings
We are proud of all that our students have accomplished in this class, and our students will be able to take this skill and knowledge with them into their programmes and daily life!
Pharmacy team joined the 8th International Mediterranean Symposium on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MESMAP-8) at Izmir, Turkey
On 20-23th October 2022, Mr. So Vissesakseth, Head of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy University of Puthisastra led a staff and seven pharmacy students to attend the 8th International Mediterranean Symposium on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MESMAP-8) at Izmir, Turkey. Mr. So Vissesakseth was honorably invited to be the chair of oral session during the event. This symposium was joined by many scientists and researchers from many countries around the world.
Moreover, under his supervision, 4 researches were accepted to be the oral presentations and 5 were poster presentations. During the event, there were many appreciative and positive feedback to our pharmacy students for their research works and presentations. Those researches were the scientific evidences for human health and society.
This trip was financially supported by University of Puthisastra, V.S Medicial lab, City of Sprouts and other in-kind sponsors.
After the events, our students received their certificates of appreciation from the conference’s committee. They were invited to join this kind of scientific conference again soon. This great achievement was incredibly valuable to the improvement and development of research capacities to our staffs, students and our faculty.
This is really appreciative and thankful to their great accomplishments for Faculty of Pharmacy and also Cambodia to the international stages.
The Faculty of Medicine Provided Lecturers Orientation for the First Semester of the Academic Year 2022-2023
On 24th October 2022, the Faculty of Medicine organized an online Lecturers Orientation session for the Semester I of the academic year 2022-2023. 25 part-time lecturers attended the session. The Dean of the Faculty, Professor Sandro Vento, gave an opening speech and stressed the need for a serious and reliable assessment of the students in all exams, including the ones that take place after the so-called course review sessions.
Mr. Kham Sokheng, IT Manager, explained the use the UP platform called UPERP, and in particular he explained how to check the schedule, take student attendance, grade the assessments, request a make-up class.Mrs. Ken Prohmvibossny, Senior HR Officer, illustrated issues related to work contract, payroll policy and national social security fund. Dr. Chhim Sarath, Deputy Dean for Research of the Faculty, explained the criteria used to appoint thesis supervisors and examiners.
The session ended with questions and answers from the lecturers.
The Faculty of Medicine Provided Three Orientation Sessions for Medical Students for the New Academic Year 2022-2023
For three consecutive days in the third week of October, the Faculty of Medicine provided Orientation sessions for MD students in year 2 and year 3, year 4 to year 6, and year 7. These important sessions provided essential information for the students. For year 2 and year 3, assessment plans and laboratory practice were highlighted. For years 4, 5 and 6 pre-hospital training and hospital clerkships were illustrated. For year 7, internship regulations and thesis process were detailed.
The Faculty of Medicine welcomes MD students to the upcoming semester I of the new academic year!
UP WELCOMES STUDENTS WITH UPGRADED LABORATORIES
During the semester break, UP organized all laboratories, cleaned all glasswares and machines, prepared necessary documents such as SOPs for machines in the labs, labeled reagent cabinets and materials, updated inventory lists, and arranged for disposal of liquid and glass waste.
In particular UP five labs used for pharmacy, including Medical Biology Laboratory, Pharmaceutical Technology Laboratory, Pharmacognosy Laboratory, Organic Chemistry Laboratory, and Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, for students to practice their knowledge and skills, and conduct research study.
For the new Academic Year 2022-2023, the Faculty of Pharmacy will welcome the first intake of students on its two-year Master’s Degree programs in Medical Biology and Pharmaceutical Science.
We believe that new facilities together with the preparations we have been making for over a month will be able to offer the very best practical classes for our students in both Bachelor programme and Master’s Degree programmes.
2nd Midwifery CPD Training
Department of Midwifery from faculty of Nursing and Midwifery have provided CPD training to all interested midwifery in Cambodia. The topic of training on our 2nd CPD training was Syphilis and Treatment Management during Pregnancy, which have attracted a lot of people interested. With less than 24 hours of announcement on Facebook, we have received 266 participants to join our training on 29th October 2022.
Among those participant 40% of them are from Phnom Penh, 13% from Siem reap Province, 10% from Kandal Province, 7% from Battambang Province, 5% from Kampong Speu Province, and the last 25% are from the other provinces across Cambodia.
We are able to provide the training successfully and for free by received support from
1. the Midwifery Council of Cambodia, who have kindly approved our workshop, and
2. Dr. Cheng Chanrey, Vice-Chief of Duty Team at the Maternity at JAYAVARAMAN 7 Hospital, also known as KUNTHA BOPHA III, at Siem Reap province. We thank Dr Cheng for spending her precious time to be our speaker for free in the workshop despise her busy time at the hospital in order to help in promoting knew knowledge to all midwife for better and effective health care in Cambodia.
Get to Know Science Research” Workshop
On Tuesday, October 11, 2022, the Faculty of Health Sciences and Biotechnology of the University of Puthisastra organized a “Get to Know Science Research” workshop specially designed for high school students who are preparing for the National Exit Exam. The main purpose of this workshop was for students to gain a deeper understanding of the Science Research Program of the University of Puthisastra. In addition, during this workshop students not only learned about the Science Research program, but also participated in real practice in the laboratory with the teachers and faculty staff.
Signing Ceremony of Memorandum of Understanding between the Faculty of Pharmacy and Our Pharmacy
On Friday, October 22, 2022, Faculty of Medicine, University of Puthisastra and Pharmacy and Yoeung Pharmacy signed a Memorandum of Understanding on some cooperations, especially on the internship program for pharmacy students of Puthisastra University.Mr. Sor Sampisith, Founder of Our Pharmacy, said that Yoeung Pharmacy provides guidance and knowledge sharing of community pharmacist skills to students who wish to do an internship at his pharmacy. He added, “This is Yoeung Pharmacy’s first signing ceremony with the University, and Yoeung Pharmacy is committed to making this partnership a success in order to develop Cambodia’s pharmaceutical resources”.
In addition to giving a speech on this special occasion, Dr. Chea Sin, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Puthisastra, also expressed his thoughts and commitments to organizing this cooperation. It should be noted that this cooperation will mainly focuses on providing job opportunities and internships to pharmacy students in accordance with the university curriculum and the actual resources of the pharmacy.
This cooperation will help strengthen the capacity of current and recent graduates to gain work experience as well as practical skills in their field of study and in line with current labor market needs.
Pharmacy students join the exchange program with the Lokun project at National University of Singapore
Project Lokun is a bi-annual medical humanitarian project, started in 2006, serving the villages in Pursat Province, Cambodia. We are driven by our mission to Cultivate, Connect and Care. Project Lokun is a leadership and service mission, which is a partnership project between the University of Puthisastra (UP) and the National University of Singapore (NUS), School of Medicine Yong Loo Lin students and Singaporean doctors, to provide health education and cooperate with non-governmental organizations supporting the work of the Provincial Health Department to improve the health of isolated, disadvantaged villages, and support the health of living conditions.
My name is Soeng sorphorn year 5 pharmacy student and currently, I’m a senior marketing head in Project Lokun. Project Lokun is a humanitarian project initiated by medical students cooperating between Cambodian students and Singapore students as well as professional doctors aiming to continue namely Development, Education, and Clinic services.
We also seek to further develop the current projects we run in Pursat that ultimately would serve to be sustainable. It was such an eye-opening experience for me that I had a chance to exchange program to the National University of Singapore. I can share my experience between Project Lokun Cambodia side and Singaporean students. Also, I had a chance to visit Singapore General Hospital and I am so impressed with their good environment, and high standard of equipment in the hospital too. One more thing, we had a National University of Singapore tour in which we can see their learning environment such as their learning hall and practicing room too. It’s such a good place to learn new things. Last but not least I can gain more experience by adapting to a new environment here and enjoying this exchange program’s journey.
The Departme nt of Laboratory Sciences Arranged Second Digital MCQs Examination
To strengthen the students’ capacity and BE READY for the Internal Exit Exam in Medical Laboratory Technology, on Saturday, 22nd October 2022, the Department of Laboratory Science, University of Puthisastra conducted their second MCQs Mock Internal Exit Exam for year-3 students, batch 9th of the Medical Laboratory Technology program. The purpose of the mock exam is to enhance quality outcomes and measure students’ abilities.
The mock exam is also designed to explain the procedures of the exam by using a computer-based system, learning methodology and to get students ready for the upcoming Internal Exit Exam.
UP Health Sciences and Biotechnology Visited Cyto-Pathology Laboratory of Hebron Hospital
The Faculty of Health Sciences and Biotechnology was invited to visit the Cyto-Pathology Laboratory of Hebron Medical Center on October 21, 2022. The main purpose of this visit was (1) to enhance and expand the cooperation between the University of Puthisastra and partner hospitals, and to strengthen and enhance the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the institutions, and (2) to observe and understand the process of setting up a Cyto-Pathology Laboratory.
The staff of the Hebron Medical Center gave a warm welcome to the Faculty of Health Sciences and Biotechnology with a tour of the hospital’s Cyto-Pathology Laboratory. Broadening the scope of the MOU and possible future research collaborations between the institutions and the students’ clerkship-internship were also discussed.
Book Your IELTS Test with UP to Kickstart Your Future Medical Study & Career
The University of Puthisastra & IELTS have launched a new promotional campaign around the UP campus to encourage those studying English and dreaming of a further international study or careers to prepare for and sit an IELTS test.
UP is proud to be a valued member of the global IELTS Alliance Program after signing an MoU in January 2021. If you want to book your IELTS test, you simply need to speak with the UP English Department and they will work with IELTS to organise your test registration. IELTS provides all test takers with over 200 hours of free online IELTS Preparation courses to help boost their scores.
In some ASEAN countries such as the Philippines, the majority of IELTS test takers need a score to be able to work overseas in the nursing, elderly care and medical sectors in countries such as Australia, the UK, Canada and the United States.
The cooperation between IELTS and the University of Puthisastra reflects the growing awareness of the importance of benchmarking English language capacity for study and career advancement at leading education institutions in Cambodia. For those UP students who wish to further their studies overseas via scholarships or being self-funded, or apply for professional employment positions, IELTS is the passport that will help achieve their dreams.
IELTS is the world’s most popular high stakes English language test with over 4 million tests taken in the last year and over 11,000 institutions worldwide – including universities, schools, employers, immigration authorities and professional bodies, including medical and nursing associations globally – recognise IELTS as an international benchmark of English language capacity.
The IELTS Cambodia Official Test Centre offers 12 Computer-delivered IELTS tests per week and 2 Paper-based IELTS tests per month. We also offer IELTS for UKVI for those wishing to study or work in the UK and now also offer IELTS Online.
You can find out more about IELTS and access the free IELTS Prepare portal with a huge range of preparation materials at https://ielts.idp.com/cambodia.
