Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia (PUC) envisions a world at peace, where non-violent means are used to resolve conflicts beginning with individuals, societies, governments, and extending to the community of world leaders in the context of international cooperation.

To fulfill this vision, the government and its public officers and those in positions of authority exercise their duties responsibly with compassion to defend and protect the people they serve, especially the poor, elderly, destitute, needy women and children as well as to protect environment and national resources.

Faculty of Law (FL) believes legal education is the key to realize this vision, as people are well-educated, they are empowered to participate and contribute more fully in the life of society. Education is the foundation of individual’s character building. Only education could provide professional skills and develop mental, intellectual, spiritual and wisdom, which will in turn generate genuine peace and sustainable progress for a prosperous nation.

To this end, FL strives to deliver high quality legal education that is attainable by, and responsive to, the needs of the people of Cambodia and that of the global community. FL places special emphasis on research and studies in law, ethics, human rights, public policy and environment.

FL, as a school of law, our mission is to produce a wide range of human resources for the 21st century grounded on pioneerism, multi-disciplinarism and internationalism by establishing law programs, internationally recognized in teaching law in English by qualified and experienced faculty members. 

FL uniquely offers a high-level Literally Legum Magister or Master of Laws (LL.M.) program for students, who aim to become successful and reputable professionals in different sectors regardless of legal profession.

PUC-FL uniquely offers a competitive Master of Public Administration for students who aims to serve society through public services and government careers, civic engagement non-profit service, and public communication. The Multidisciplinary public affairs areas of study will prepare students with competency, leadership and decision-making skills to manage and address public interest and social issues in order to build a better society.

The Master of Arts in Public Affairs is a credit-based program composed of 18 courses, which are taught through 2 consecutive academic years for full-time students using interactive, practical experience, problem-solving and clinical legal education methods.

Year One is a Foundation Year comprises of 6 foundation courses in public administration, public policy, laws, leadership, conflict resolution, and research.

Year-Two courses comprises of major courses and elective course in specific areas of public administration including human resource management; information and data management; finance and budgeting; public policy analysis; public service management, performance management and evaluation; laws, politics and bureaucracy; international relations; economics; communication; leadership; human rights; environment; and education as well as 3 graduation paths (choose 1).

Major: Public Administration

LAw 501        Cambodia law in Context

This course gives a general overview of contemporary laws in Cambodia. It covers the nature and sources of law, hierarchy of laws, legal and judicial systems, constitutional law, substantive and procedural civil laws, substantive and procedural criminal laws, alternative dispute resolutions, administrative law, employment and labor law, intellectual property law, environmental law, women and law, right of indigenous people, and relation between Cambodian laws and international law. The course aims to provide students with opportunity to review and discuss various legal topics and relation between existing laws and human rights.

MPA 501        foundation of public policy and administration

This course introduces students the foundation and value in public administration. Topics include approaches and process in public policy making, implementing and evaluating from legal, political, economic, and social institutionalism perspective. Students will learn how actors, competing values and interests influence policy making. This course also discusses the fundamental approaches and applications for effective and efficient management in the public sector. Topics highlighted in this course include organizational theory, budgeting procedures, intergovernmental administration, human resources, ethics of public services, and impact of information technology and data on public administration.

MPA 502        Research Methodology in public administration

This course provides students with skills in research design related to public administration. Qualitative and quantitative analysis as well as others research techniques and approaches that are appropriates to the applied research in public administration will be introduced. Basic descriptive and inferential statistical methods for public policy analysis and public program analysis will be also highlighted.

MPA 503        Group dynamic and conflict resolution

This interdisciplinary course examines issues, problems, various formal and informal methods of conflict resolution, which are often used in business, law, diplomacy, politics, public services and in everyday life. The course also focuses on developing effective strategies and techniques in negotiation for reaching different agreements. It emphasizes economic, cultural, psychological, and ethical areas essential to conflict resolution and negotiation.    The course compares and contrasts the traditional methods and styles of conflict resolution used in Cambodian those commonly used in Western countries.

MPA 504        leadership in public sector

This is an upper level course of management and leadership which looks at how managers and leaders behave and make a decision to deal with an organizational change and a crisis situation. Students will be expected to actively participate in the debate on studies relevant to the themes such as advanced management skills, leadership dynamics and leadership styles. The subtheme on Effective Governance is also introduced for the course followers in order for them to increase an understanding about responsibility, decision making and accountability in the field of management and leadership in public sector. A combination of readings and class discussions with hands-on exercises will familiarize students with the variety of approaches one might take to management and leadership. To advance the students’ knowledge in the discipline, case studies on corporations, business firms and public institutions are incorporated into the course.

MPA 505        advanced administrative law and bureaucracy

This course discusses the advanced concept and process of administrative law and government regulation at national and sub-national level. It reviews evolution and practice of administrative authority, rule-making, enforcement, administrative dispute resolution mechanism, constitutional review of administrative regulation, structure and environment of modern bureaucracy, political and bureaucratic behavior, and complaint procedure against irregularities of administrative practice.

MPA 506        Public budgeting and financial management

Public finance is the study of the economic functions or role of a government and its associated institutions, analysis of government taxing and spending activities using theoretical, empirical, and institutional material. Topics include optimal provision of public goods, cost-benefit analysis, tax incidence, policies aimed at efficient level of externalities such as pollution, income redistribution, models of democratic and bureaucratic decision-making and the design of government procurement contracts.

MPA 507        human resources in public and non-profit sectors

This course explores and extrapolates issues and ideas of personnel management and development in public and non-profit sectors. Topics covered in this course includes but not limited to merit system of selection, pay, promotion, discipline and ethical problem, job assignment and deployment.

MPA 508        seminar in organizational theory and behavior

This course provides students and guest speakers the opportunities to research and present their finding and analysis of issues in authority, motivation, organizational behavior and leadership style for effectiveness and efficiency of organization as well as other factors affecting organizational behavior including people, structure, technology and environment.

MPA 509        advanced public policy analysis

This course provides students with advanced tools, techniques, skills and theoretical and practical knowledge for analysis and evaluation of public policy and public program in the context of complex socio-economic and political environment.

MPA 510        information and data managemet in public administration

This course provides students with theoretical understanding and application of information and data management techniques in public administration with special emphasis on the role of ICT and data sciences in public organization management, public services planning, implementation and evaluation as well as data analytics in public policy analysis.

MPA 511        Comparative studies in public administration

The course analyzes important issues in contemporary public administration from a comparative perspective of countries with similar legal, political, economics, or social institution and processes.

MPa 512        Bureaucracy and public service

The course examines mechanisms, assumptions, and measurement issues affecting public service delivery and responsiveness in relation to bureaucracy, political process and social conditions.

MPA 513        Performance measurement and evaluation

The course explores issues relating to process, outcome and impact of evaluation in monitoring and improving performance of public sector personnel in order to increase productivity in the public sector.

LAW 546        Comparative administrative law and procedure

The course examines the role of administrative law and procedure affecting public and private decision making. It also analyzes the relationship between public administrative law and judicial oversight of the executive orders in context of separation of power in a comparative democratic political system.

LEAD 600      organization development, institution building, change, & innovation

This course provides students with an overview of organization development and acquaints them with key theories, principles, practices, and values of organizational development.  It explores the process of managing change, including organizational assessment, motivating others, change strategies, change communications, and understanding one’s personal spheres of influences.

NATS 510      Global Environmental Awareness

This course introduces students to concepts and theories related to world environment. It discusses a natural process of an ecological system, economic and social development in equilibrium to environmental conditions. Importantly, it brings updates about human activities and environmental pollution causing major problems from draught, inundation, desertification, contaminated soil, air and water to ozone depletion. The course also raises awareness of essence in environmental preservation through various debates about climate change, natural resource protection and conservation and sustainable development from an environmental perspective.

MGT 505        Fundamentals of Management

This course will provide students with the fundamental principles and skills needed for the field of Management. It refreshes students in the process of accumulating managerial responsibility at their workplace with updated theories and managerial cases. The course also discusses various topics related to management theory, history of management, organizational culture, planning and practical applications for managers who work in small and large organizations. Finally, it enables students to learn how to use management and leadership skills in a decision-making process.

STAT 520       Fundamentals of Statistics

This course is designed for students who have never taken statistics before. It starts with the introduction of the elementary concept of statistics and descriptive statistics and ends with inferential statistics. By the completion of the course, students will learn how to present qualitative and quantitative data from using graphs to summary values. They also learn basic probability theory in order to understand the concept of inferential statistics. The students need to have an increased understanding of inferences, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing along with practices through the final step of the course, as these are vital for them to resume their studies in the field of academic research from Research Methodology course necessitating a requisite of Fundamentals of Statistics.

ECON 544      Economic development

Economic development is an endgame of any national economic interest in the pursuit of an increase in national wealth. The Development Economics course pays much attention to various concepts of economic development, Lucas’s development theory and dual economy. It also includes economic growth factors, such as population, production factors, trade, national income, agricultural policy and industrial policy. It tries to find out ways to break a cycle of national poverty from analyzing poverty theories and applying solution to the root cause of poverty, built upon from community development, transfer of financial assistance from the central government to the local community. It finally investigates the issue of economic sustainability from three pillars, i.e. social development, economic development and environmental preservation.

LAW 522        cambodina constitution and human rights

This course provides students with background on the methodology of comparative constitutional law and experience in comparing the two leading constitutional traditions, the common law and the civil law systems. The comparison is conducted by reference to three key features of all constitutional arrangements: constitutional foundations (constitutions and constitutionalism); organization of power (separation of powers, parliamentary or presidential systems, unitary and federal states); rights of citizens (models of rights protection; judicial review). The course explores the extent to which law and history are essential to proper comparison and adequate understanding of constitutional systems.

LAW 555        Human Rights and Environment

This course introduces students the relationship between human rights and environment. The course examines human rights issues related to the environment under the international law and Cambodian law. This course discusses about the relationship between human rights and environment. It begins with the general concepts of substantive and procedural rights that are related to environment, and it also explains how economic development and environmental damages may have impacts on those rights. Students will have opportunity to understand about the development of international legal frameworks and policies related environment, and how States have taken step to incorporate those laws and policies into their domestic legal system. This course also outlines national laws and policies related to environmental issues, and the roles and responsibilities of national and international institutions that work on the protection of environment and human rights.

LAW 543        Rights of persons with disabilities

This course provides students with Clinical legal Education (CLE) skill and substantive knowledge of rights of the persons with disabilities. This course is divided into four modules: 1) development of the capacity of the students as legal clinicians in a community education legal clinic for rights of persons with disabilities, 2) building students’ understandings of the applicable instruments related to the rights of persons with disabilities, 3) developing of the capacity of the students as legal clinicians in preparation of lesson plan for rights of persons with disabilities and 4) building students confidence and enrich them in order to provide legal training to the community. 

LAW 521        Human Rights of Women

This course will examine the development of international women’s human rights in its legal, political, and cultural dimensions and the application of critical gender analyses and contemporary human rights thoughts and practices. The concepts include the UN human rights mechanism, Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); key conceptions of human rights and gender issues; the possibilities and challenges of the notion of human rights and women’s rights; transnational feminist advocacy and contestations in regard to the state, sovereignty, law, policy, human  rights  culture, and  global  governance.  Religion, nationality, race/ethnicity, class, disability status, age, sexuality and transgender issues will be incorporated in the exploration of women’s international human rights.

LAW 523        Human Rights and Good Governance

This course begins with developing a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of good governance, and in particular the relationship between good governance and 1) public administration, 2) the legal and judicial sector, 3) anti-corruption and transparency, and 4) the military / armed forces. Then, this course will examine the linkage between human rights, public administration and effective and responsible governmental service delivery. The class will also examine contemporary issues in related to human rights and good governance, such as globalization, trade, labor, economic, budgetary, and fiscal policy, health policy, sustainable development, gender, leadership and ethics.

LAW 512        Comparative studies of labor law

This course will introduce the student to the key aspects of comparative studies on labor laws of selected countries and ILO Conventions, including its historical development and key moments in case law and legislative reform, as well as the theoretical and philosophical debates that have shaped the model over time and at present.

LAW 508        International trade law

This course includes legal principles of WTO, AFTA and NAFTA and it aims to understand the global and regional trade legal systems and practice.

LAW 514        ASEAN: Institution and legal framework

This course is an advanced discussion and analysis of principles, mandates, role and function of ASEAN institutions and legal framework and its implication or relationship with Cambodian administrative, legal and judicial institutions.

POL 540         Seminar in Comparative Politics

The course is an interdisciplinary seminar with Political Science MA students elaborating on comparative politics questions from a political science and international relations perspective. Participants are familiarized with major political systems in Asia and the West in comparative perspective including past and present authoritarian, totalitarian or semi-democratic and democratic political systems. The course aims to deepen participants understanding of types of political systems (classifications), respective political processes (political continuity and change) and structures (government systems, party systems, etc.) and elaborates on political change, political transitions and conflict in these political.

POL 556         The United Nations System: Missions and Achievements

The course provides a comprehensive overview over the United Nations, its mission and achievements. The course will elaborate first on the UN system and its five principal organs focusing on the question how those institutions have evolved and what role they play in the contemporary international system.

POL 530         Fundamental Theories of International Relations

The course will describe main theories of international relations and discuss strengths and weaknesses of these theories. Another focus of the course is the relevance (or lack thereof) of such theories in the era of globalization and rapidly changing relations among states and non-state actors.

COM 503       Mass Communications: Theory and Practice

This course is designed to develop an understanding of the interrelationship and future of the mass media in a rapidly changing world.  The course provides an overview of the traditional mass media—print, broadcast, film—as well as the related fields of advertising, photography, public relations, and publishing.  The course will also examine the impact of new media technologies on these respective fields.

COM 502       Fundamentals of Public Relations

The study of public relations as a management science.  This course focus on such areas as employee communications, media relations, investor relations, governmental relations, issues management, and community relations.

COM 560       Strategic Communications Management

Generating public support through effective communications is as essential to the success of nonprofit and public organizations as it is to for-profit organizations. Concepts and skills developed in this course will help students approach communications in a way that builds commitment to their organization’s mission, strategic initiatives, and fundraising activities.

EDUC 560      Educational Administration and Leadership: Theory and Practice

This course discusses the basic principles, theories, and practices of leadership and management that are applied in an educational setting. A particular attention is given to leadership traits and ethics, leadership behavior and motivation, influencing, contingency leadership theories, team leadership, and organizational leadership. It also examines organizational structures and roles, organizational culture, and decision-making.

MPA 534        ADVANCED RESEARCH METHODS AND WRITING IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

This course is an advanced course in research methodology designed to ensure students have the necessary research and writing skills to complete a rigorous and relevant final thesis or report. The course focuses equally on the needs of those students electing to undertake a practical (as opposed to theoretical or doctrinal) piece of research (perhaps work-based) and submit a report thereon and those wishing to prepare an in-depth theoretical or applied thesis. More in-depth research methodology teaching and training will be provided along with more specific teaching on research project and thesis planning, execution and writing in an academic context. Students will be supported in the development of viable and detailed research proposals and literature reviews, the foundation for their final report or thesis.

MPA 536        MASTER’S THESIS

This Master’s Thesis is recommended for those students who wish to pursue the Ph.D. Degree or have life goals in working on research. Under the guidance of supervisors, students will conduct research on an approved topic, submit a complete thesis to the university and pass the thesis examination. The complete thesis evidences originality, critical and independent thinking, appropriate theoretical and logical framework (rationale, organization and format), and with a thorough documentation. The complete thesis will require an evaluation by a committee and an oral defense to be evaluated by an examination committee.

MPA 534        ADVANCED RESEARCH METHODS AND WRITING IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

This course is an advanced course in research methodology designed to ensure students have the necessary research and writing skills to complete a rigorous and relevant final thesis or report. The course focuses equally on the needs of those students electing to undertake a practical (as opposed to theoretical or doctrinal) piece of research (perhaps work-based) and submit a report thereon and those wishing to prepare an in-depth theoretical or applied thesis. More in-depth research methodology teaching and training will be provided along with more specific teaching on research project and thesis planning, execution and writing in an academic context. Students will be supported in the development of viable and detailed research proposals and literature reviews, the foundation for their final report or thesis.

MPA 535        APPLIED REPORT

This option is recommended for those students who anticipate the Master's degree to be their final degree or whose life goals are primarily oriented toward professional practices in general rather than research. A project report is a significant undertaking appropriate to the fine and applied arts or to the professional fields. It evidences originality and independent thinking, appropriate form and organization, and a rationale. The project report will require an evaluation by a committee and an oral defense to be evaluated by an examination committee.

MPA 534        ADVANCED RESEARCH METHODS AND WRITING IN PUBLIC              ADMINISTRATION

This course is an advanced course in research methodology designed to ensure students have the necessary research and writing skills to complete a rigorous and relevant final thesis or report. The course focuses equally on the needs of those students electing to undertake a practical (as opposed to theoretical or doctrinal) piece of research (perhaps work-based) and submit a report thereon and those wishing to prepare an in-depth theoretical or applied thesis. More in-depth research methodology teaching and training will be provided along with more specific teaching on research project and thesis planning, execution and writing in an academic context. Students will be supported in the development of viable and detailed research proposals and literature reviews, the foundation for their final report or thesis.

MPA 533        SEMINAR IN CONTEMPORARY PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION ISSUES

This course is designed for students who opt for a Comprehensive Exam Path. This course helps students to review three (03) subject areas of laws, participate in class activities, conduct research in the library and write a short paper of 3,000 words.

[1] Equivalent to RESR 525: Research Methodology

[2] Equivalent to LAW 570: Negotiation and Conflict Resolution

[3] Equivalent to MGT 530: Governance, Advanced Management, and Leadership Dynamics

[4] Equivalent to FIN 708: Modern Public Finance

[5] Equivalent to POL: Public Policy Analysis