Research Potentials of the National University of Laos and Research Institutes in Lao P.D.R. by Phommasone S, Chanming Ph, Wayakone S. ABSTRACT This research focuses on exploring potential research areas, identifying obstacles and facilitators in scientific research, and investigating incentive and supportive issues to enhance scientific research. It is a survey research, with empirical data obtained from responses of questionnaires from teachers in 5 public universities and researchers in various research institutes. The respondents hold Master’s Degree or higher. Data analysis is mostly descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the study are as follows: In the Lao PDR, there are researchers in various areas, the majority of whom work in university and some at the research institutes of specific sectors. Vast number of researchers is aged between 31 and 50 years old; yet the experiences in research areas are limited (mostly less than 10 years). The potential areas in scientific research are: agriculture, education, community health, IT-Computer Science, biology, economics, transportation engineering, linguistics, chemistry, development, business administration, environmental science, and physics. In order to promote scientific research, there need to be an increase in funding, training in scientific research, collaborating with international research institutes, information of funding sources, and an incentive on academic statuses. The most important factors affecting the scientific research in the Lao PDR is research skills, followed by the researchers regard research as contributing to the national socio-economic development. The last factor is funding. 1.

Introduction 1.1. Rationale It is universally accepted that research is very important for new knowledge creation, capturing important position in supporting the nation’s prosperity and increasing the wealth of the citizen in the knowledge economy era (Abbott & Doucouliagos, 2004; Etzkowitz, Webster, Gebhardt, & Terra, 2000). Scientific research is also regarded as an important measure for current and future national economy (Abbott & Doucouliagos, 2004). Nevertheless, only research capacity building will enhance national capacity to create knowledge, which is the key for countries around the world. (Conroy, 1989; Tanimoto & Fuji, 2003; Waworuntu & Holsinger, 1989). In 1986, the Lao people’s revolutionary party adopted new ideology, opening the country to the international community. In August 1991 the National Assembly approved the National Constitution, approving the shift towards economic oriented economic policy. Since then, the government has exploited all potentials in all areas for strengthening the Lao PDR’s economic development, bringing prosperity to the Lao citizen. In 2006, the VIII Party’s Congress created directives on scientific research development as: “we will continue to regards education as a focus in human resource development…, while at the same time, 198

we must develop the capacity in scientific research by establishing social and natural scientific research institutes, selecting and utilizing the research results in order to support national socio-economic development. Since the initiation of the new changes, the implementation on research development in different areas has shown the following progress: National Arts and Performance Research Institute was established since 1983. The name has been changed to Cultural Research Institute under the Ministry of Information and Culture, with the mission to conduct research in history, civilization, livelihood, tradition, belief, arts, handicraft, performance, music, and literature. In 2006, the politburo members issued a decree on the establishment of National Social Science Research Institute (NSSRI) by uniting the existing social research institutes and establishing new institutes. The NSSRI’s role is to organize and conduct social-political research in the Lao PDR, namely philosophy, economic, politics, history, linguistics, culture, ethnography, religion, human right, and others so that the institute provides information and consultation in the area of social sciences to support policy, strategy, master plan, and development plan generation in each period. National Economic Research Institute was established in 1997, with the mission of conducting researches concerning the long-term economic development strategy at provincial and national level; conducting research, analyzing and monitoring social economic development situation of the Lao PDR at macro and micro level. In education sector, when the National University of Laos (NUOL) was established in 1996, the scientific research under various previous institutions have been strengthened, and in 2009, the NUOL established Research and Academic Service Office with the mission in coordinating and supporting the scientific research and academic services to the society. Besides the NUOL is the institution developing researchers for the nation. In 1990, the Council for Medical Science was established as an organization providing consultation to the Ministry of Public Health in medical technology utilization and the result of scientific research in the area of public health. The institution is responsible for National Plan for conducting research in public health, proposing the direction and significant of the research area, coordinating the research activities in the area of national health science, support and promote the necessity in various scientific research, coordinating the researchers and fund providers in order to implement researches, stimulate the utilization of research results for the benefit of the citizen’s health. In public health sector, researches on some diseases were carried out for preventive and curative policy setting. There have been many research projects between 1991-1995, such as factors influencing child mortality, diarrhea, lung diseases, malaria, medicine quality control, new born baby treatment and prevention, health education, liver diseases, and others. Traditional medicine is another important section which has contributed to the treatment, in combination with the prescriptive medicine, which is a new medicinal research in nature. Besides, there is a research lab on various diseases. Several researchers as well as medical doctors have been trained. In agriculture sector, in 1985, Naphork Station was established in order to expand seedlings; Salakham Station was established in order to carry out researches on plant and plant diseases; and Nongtaeng Center was established to conduct research on fish breeding. In 1999, all these stations and centers were united to become Agricultural-Forestry Research 199

Institute. In 2009, the name was changed to National Agriculture-Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI). NAFRI’s roles were to be a focal point on administration and Implementation of technical and policy research on agriculture and forestry policy to ensure the agricultural and forestry production efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability. The researches on agriculture and forestry have focused on selection, combination, and production of plant, animal, fish, tree species as well as trees for animal feed and non-timber forest products for human and animal food. In order to promote the agriculture and forestry production sustainability, the research also looked into the research on reforestation, soil analysis, and bacteria in soil, water, fertilizer, plant and weather conditions in order to prevent diseases. Research in agricultural machinery and agricultural handicraft tools were also conducted. The research in transportation and commutation resulted in the construction of many bridges and roads connecting between districts, provinces in order to facilitate merchandize distribution, tourism as well as improving communication. Despite of low quality and incomplete connection, there have been great improvement on travelling and improvement of livelihood. At the same time, telecommunication network has been developed in a relatively fast speed, enabling data, picture, and voice transmission digitally. At the moment, the Lao people are using 3G mobile phones, and being able to call to 238 countries worldwide through fiber optic cable. Mobile 4G was used in the ASEM summit. Besides, the internet access speed is currently up to 512 Kbps. In 1982, State Scientific-Technology Committee was established, and in 2003, the agency was named Science, Technology, and Environment Agency (STEA). In 2007, the agency was split into two: Science and Technology Agency, and Water Resources and Environment Agency. These two agencies are responsible for researching policy, strategy, law, constitution, decree, and order regarding science, technology, water resources, and environment. In 2012, the two agencies were upgraded into a Ministry. Science and technology sector under the State Scientific-Technology Committee, since 1984-1985, conducted researches, experimentation, and adaptation of tools and machinery such as: rice harvesting machine, rice mills, corn cob extraction machine, water pump, oil extraction machine, weeding tools, seedling tools, water channeling in garden, weaving machinery parts and household wooden utensils. There have been experimentations on solar energy in order to produce purified water, vegetable production and dried food, cooling system, electricity production and pump, biogas generation facility and bio fertilizer for household consumption, economical stoves for firewood and coal, experimenting cars running and electricity production by charcoal, conducting researches on hybrid machinery with water energy in order to produce electricity, rice mill, grinding, oil extraction and others. The agencies also conducted researches on biotechnology in tissue plantation to extract needed plant species, diseases free, tolerable, and speedy growth such as: rice, teak, fast growing trees, flower plants, and utilizing bacteria in producing new breed. Other researches include computer system and information technology for data collection; disseminating information on science, technology and natural resources in various forms: CD, Internet, balloon photos, satellite photos, distance communication, administration and information services to the society. In addition, series of training courses in the area of computing and research were delivered to staff within the organizations and other organization. The agencies promote the trademark 200

registration from countries in America, Europe, and Asia continent as well as neighboring countries and domestic companies. Rules, regulations, laws regarding the administration of science and technology in various areas were inaugurated such as: Environmental Protection Law, and Decree on Intellectual Property in the area of trademark and Decree on Administering Standards and Quality of Products. Regarding the expenditure on research and development in sciences and technology, the Lao government spent 0.036% of GDP in 2002 and 0.038% in 2010. The government increases the budget to 1% of Public Investment (roughly 0.04% of GDP). The National Strategy on Science and Technology from now to 2020 target 1.5 to 2% of GDP in 2020. Currently, scientific research is carried out in universities and research institute of ministries. Nevertheless, research capacity strength has not been reported, including the obstacles, facilities, and other factors relating to the promotion of scientific research results acknowledgement, quality, and the utilization of the research into national development. 1.2. Research Objectives This research paper aims at: • Exploring the potential research areas • Identifying obstacles and facilitation in scientific research • Identifying factors promoting and providing incentives to enhance scientific research. 2.

Research Methods Survey is used as a research method, the population of which is Master’s Degree and Ph.D. degree holders in 5 public universities (National University of Laos, Champasack University, Souphanouvong University, Savannakhet University, and University of Health Sciences.). In addition, five research institutes in the ministries (National AgriculturalForestry Research Institute, National Economic Research Institute, National Social Science Research Institute, Science and Technology Research Institute, and Health Science Research Institute) are covered. The population is shown in the following table. Table 1. Number and Percentage of Researchers

Name of Institute National University of Laos Champasack University Souphanouvong University Savannakhet University University of Health Sciences National Agricultural-Forestry Research Institute Social Sciences Research Institute National Economic Research Institute Health Science Research Institute

Number of Researchers (Master’s and Ph.D. holders) 634 48 51 25 81 103 21 19 22

Percentage 60.50% 4.58% 4.87% 2.39% 7.73% 9.83% 2.00% 1.81% 2.10% 201

Science and Technology Research Institute Total

44 1,048

4.20% 100.00%

The data used in this research is a primary data collected from 510 samples, with the survey conducted between May and August, 2011. The questionnaires were distributed to the whole population with qualification of Master’s Degree or Ph.D. Degrees. Yet, only some of the informants return the questionnaires. The data analysis looks into frequency, percentage, average, and regression. 3.

Research Results 3.1. Overall Information and Research Potentials in Laos PDR. The majority of respondents are females, covering 69.6%. The largest age group is between 41 and 50 years old, followed by 31 and 40 years old. It is shown that most researchers are aged between 21 and 50 years old. The Master’s Degree holders covered 89.2%. Some 73.6% have research experience of not more than 5 years, followed by experiences of between 6 and 10 years (19.5%). More than half (51%) of the respondents do not have their research result published in academic journal, among them 39.8% have publication between 1 and 3 articles, and 14.9% have published articles between 4 and 6. The research results published were mostly from the National University of Laos, followed by National Agriculture-Forestry Research Institute and University of Health Sciences. With reference to the research result publication and number of researchers, the potential research capability is the area of: agriculture, education, community health, ITcomputer sciences, biology, economics, Public Work Engineering, linguistics, chemistry, development, business administration, environment, and physics. 3.2. Obstacles, Facilitation, and Factors to be Facilitated and Incentives When observed from the quantity, the majority of the researchers hold 3 duties: administration, teaching, and conducting scientific research. Analyzing the percentage of researchers responding to the questionnaires, the researchers with highest research output are the ones who only focusing on research. In general, the obstacle of scientific research is the scarcity of budget, equipment, not knowing funding sources, overloaded teaching hours, and low level of research skills. In order to facilitate the research, therefore, it is necessary to increase the budget, provide research method training, collaborating with international research institutes, provide information on funding sources and acknowledging the results through offering academic status. The highest incentives for scientific research are to explore new knowledge/method, contributing to the economic and social development of the nation, and improving the image of the nation. 3.3. Correlation among research publication and other factors Publication Number = -0.246 – 0.260 Not knowing funding sources + 0.529 Research skills + 0.212 Knowing funding sources - 0.332 Recommendation by concerned people + 0.420 contributing to national social and economic development. The above formula from regression analysis shows that the most important factor affecting the scientific research in Laos is research skills, followed by the researchers 202

regarding research as contributing to the national social-economic development. The regression analysis also indicates that the level of significance factor “recommendation by concerned people” has negative result, which means that the concerned people do not promote scientific research. The last factor is budget. 4.

Conclusion There are researchers in various subjects in the Lao PDR, the majority of whom work at universities and some in sectored research institutes. The majority of the researchers are aged between 31 and 50 years, yet the experience is limited (the majority have experience less than 10 years). The potential areas are: agriculture, education, community health, ITcomputer sciences, biology, economics, public work engineering, linguistics, chemistry, development, business administration, environment and physics. In order to promote researches, it is necessary to increase budget, training on research methodology, collaborating with international research institutes, providing information on funding sources, and acknowledging the research result through the academic status. The most important factors affecting the scientific research in the Lao PDR is the research skills, followed by the researchers regarding their research as contributing to the national social-economic development. The last factor is budget. Recommendation With reference to the research potential and the characteristics of the Lao PDR, it is important to pay attention to the followings: • Conducting research in agriculture, including the enhancement of farmers’ production efficiency, commercial production and production for export. In order to achieve good and integrated results, it is important to combine researchers from various academic background such as biology, chemistry, physics, IT, development, business management, and environment. • Conducting research in the area of human resource development, including education (Teaching method and education management), nutrition and community health. • Conducting research in economics, including macroeconomics and microeconomics in order to project and set Lao economic driver mechanism. • Researches in the area of public work engineering to support the policy of EastWest Transit Corridor. In order to conduct comprehensive research in this area successfully, it is recommended that multi-disciplinary researchers work together particularly in the area of economics, IT, development, business administration, and environment. In order to promote the scientific research to move forward, attention shall be paid to: • Raise capacity in scientific research concerning education quality improvement, focusing on creating bachelor and Master’s degree through research and at the same time increase Ph.D. holders. Besides, training on research methods, writing research result articles for journal publication, promoting researchers to participate in academic conferences at various levels. 203

• • • •

Constantly enhance patriotic ideology and self-reliance for researchers. Utilizing and acknowledging the significance of scientific research in all areas, such as: policy setting, production and services. Increase funding, may be from government budget, production unit, service unit, individual or organizations both domestically and abroad. Establish research network, including strengthening domestic network, focusing on efficiency and effectiveness, as well as selectively create network with international research institutes.

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