Effectiveness of bilingual education in Cambodia: a longitudinal comparative case study of ethnic minority children in bilingual and monolingual schools

There is little research in the developing countries of South East Asia on the effectiveness of bilingual education programmes that use first language instruction for ethnic minority children. This study investigated the effectiveness of a bilingual education programme involving ethnic minority children in Cambodia by comparing their performance in mathematics, Khmer literacy and oral Khmer to their ethnic minority peers whose education is in the national language only. The findings show that students in the bilingual schools performed better in mathematics than their peers in the monolingual schools, but the differences in Khmer literacy and oral Khmer test scores were statistically insignificant. The study suggests that bilingual education using first language instruction could benefit academic development among ethnic minority students in Cambodia, at least in terms of mathematics achievement

Extraversion strategies within a peripheral research community: Nigerian scientists' responses to the state and changing patterns of international science and development cooperation

Labelled ‘giant of Africa’ in the 1970s on account of its promising human and natural resources, Nigeria entered in the early 1980s in an unprecedented period of recession following the domination of corruption over government operations, the fall of the oil market price and the introduction of a structural adjustment programme in 1986. Despite its potential wealth, Nigeria is ranked today as part of the world’s thirty least developed countries. This has, of course, had severe repercussions on institutions of higher learning and the scientific community through the twin effects of the deterioration of working conditions and that of the purchasing power of the academic staff. However, our study, based on visits in nine of the most prestigious research institutions and interviews with forty five scientists working there, reveals that, contrary to all expectations, research has not died. It has, rather, been transformed in various ways along the survival strategies evolved by scientists and the needs of the international community