Investigating 21st-century skills of Cambodian university students: Insights from a survey study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62037/cjer.2026.06.01.06Keywords:
21st-century skills, 4Cs skills, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity, Cambodian university studentsAbstract
This study aims to examine the levels of 21st-century skills among Cambodian university students. Adopting a quantitative approach, the study employed a cross-sectional survey design and collected data through an online questionnaire using a five-point Likert scale. A simple random sampling technique was utilized to recruit the participants. Based on responses from 232 Cambodian university students (female = 67.67%) enrolled in Years 1–4 at a private university in Siem Reap, the study showed high levels of collaboration skills (M = 4.32, SD = 0.76) and critical thinking skills (M = 4.02, SD = 0.79). The participants also reported moderately high levels of creativity skills (M = 3.74, SD = 0.81) and communication skills (M = 3.69, SD = 0.81). Further analysis showed no significant gender differences in critical thinking, collaboration, communication, or creativity skills among the participants. An ANOVA analysis revealed statistically significant differences among students across year levels in critical thinking, F(3, 228) = 7.62, p < 0.05; communication skills, F(3, 228) = 4.77, p < 0.05; and collaboration skills, F(3, 228) = 3.01, p < 0.05, with fourth-year students having higher mean scores, particularly in critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. However, no significant differences were found in students’ creativity skills across the different years of study. The study concludes with a discussion of its limitations and suggestions for future research.
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