Chhouk Chhay Horng ? A Life in Civil Engineering

• 7 July 2017
• Local News
• 1579 Views

Many people feel trapped in jobs that are routine and uninteresting, but Chhouk Chhay Horng is not one of them. The head of the Civil Engineering and Architectural Department at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC) has spent more than three decades in his field, and he still finds it fascinating.

Born in Kandal province in 1956, Chhay Horng’s first job was teaching at a local public school. But his life changed when he won a government scholarship to study civil engineering in the Soviet Union. From 1981 to 1984, he braved the cold to learn skills that would last him a lifetime.

After graduation, he returned to Cambodia where he started his career at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC). He first served as one of the general assistance staff in the Construction Lab Department, but soon began climbing the career ladder. In 2000, Chhay Horng was chosen to lead the Civil Engineering and Architectural Department, a position he still holds today.

Chhay Horng firmly believes that it’s the education he gained abroad which put him on the path to success. He is where he is today, he says, thanks to the government’s focus on the human resource development policy in 1979, after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. The program sought to provide badly needed skills to the decimated population by providing scholarships to talented students to study abroad, especially in the Soviet Union.

It wasn’t easy. Classes were in Russian, and Chhay Horng had to get familiar with the language in a hurry. But he did, and his efforts paid off handsomely.

“If I hadn’t had the opportunity to study civil engineering in the Soviet Union, I would still be teaching at a school in my home province,” he says. “I would not have the life I have today.”

Throughout his professional life, Chhay Horng’s ambition has remained strong. Despite a busy schedule and the demands of family life, Chhay Horng has never stopped learning. He began studying engineering at ITC in 1986 and got a diploma in 1991. He obtained a master’s degree in civil engineering from a university in France in 2012, when he was already in his mid-50s. Those additional degrees were largely made possible through government scholarships.

Many people believe that education for young and single people, and Chhay Horng can certainly see the thinking behind that idea. But he believes married or middle-aged people can also pursue a higher education if they are committed, just as he did.

Although he now teaches full time, he has never stopped learning. “Teachers need to study all the time,” he says.

He has passed along his love of civil engineering to both his sons, who also pursued post-graduate studies abroad in the field. Today, his 37-year-old son is employed by a road construction company while his older son, 34, teaches at ITC.

To those wishing to emulate his success, Chhay Horng says a real investment in education is essential. He also has words of warning to young engineers in the Kingdom, saying they need to upgrade their skills and broaden their knowledge in order to complete in the broader professional market that will be created aftr ASEAN economic integration in 2015.

After more than three decades in civil engineering, Chhay Horng has seen a lot of development in the sector, evidenced by the changing landscape of Cambodia and the many new buildings, roads and bridges that dot the country. He is also impressed by the nation’s civil engineering curriculum, saying Cambodians educated at home can largely keep pace with those educated abroad.

He does complain about that fact that most buildings in Cambodia are designed without much thought to the needs of disabled or elderly people, and access can be difficult. Other countries make that part of any initial design. He also says the country needs more skilled workers, better construction safety standards and a strong building code.

For the future, this man who has seen so many changes in his lifetime would like to watch the capital develop further. He is happy about the increasing number of skyscrapers that characterize the city’s skyline, although he warns about overcrowding. He also says the capital needs better infrastructure development in the form of more expressways and bridges.