Opportunity

Harpswell Foundation

The Harpswell Foundation (មូលនិធិហាប់ស្វែល) gives Cambodian women free housing, meals and leadership training while they attend university in Phnom Penh.[1] Girls in their last year of high school in the provinces apply for a place, and those chosen live at one of the foundation's two leadership centers for four years.[2][1] As of July 2025 the program had 269 graduates, starting with the class of 2010.[1]

Sponsorship

The foundation is a tax-exempt nonprofit based in the United States, and it registered as a nongovernmental organization in Cambodia in May 2007.[1] Alan Lightman, a physicist and writer, founded it after a first trip to Cambodia in December 2003, and he left its board in May 2025 after 20 years.[3][4] He and Veasna Chea, a university graduate who had lived in a crawl space under her university building because there was no housing for women students, planned the first dormitory together.[3] In May 2008 the Cambodian government gave the foundation a gold medal for its work in the country.[1]

The first dormitory opened in 2006 in Boeng Trabek, near the Royal University of Law and Economics, and was the first dormitory for university women in Cambodia.[5][3] Its first 32 students arrived in August 2006, chosen after the dormitory's manager visited 25 high schools in 11 provinces.[6] A second dormitory followed in Teuk Thla, in Sen Sok district; the foundation's program page dates it to 2009, while its founding story and a 2025 news post give 2010.[5][3][4] The foundation also runs a five-month leadership summit for young professional women from Southeast Asia and Nepal, and it brings in international women as Leadership Residents, who live at the centers and teach.[3][7]

Award and support

Students live at a leadership center for four years and pay nothing for their room, meals or internet.[1] The foundation's cooks make lunch and dinner, and students cook breakfast together and share the cleaning.[1] Each center has a library and a computer room, and together the two can house up to 76 women from as many as 18 universities.[5] Students share rooms in groups of four.[5]

On top of their university courses, students take in-house classes in English, French, computers, debate, critical thinking and analytical writing, and some learn piano, guitar or violin.[1] Three times a week they hold critical-thinking sessions in Khmer and English on current events, and once a month a guest speaker leads a Sunday leadership seminar.[5] After graduation, the foundation offers one more year of housing.[1]

Every year, two or three graduates receive a full scholarship for one year of study in the United States as U.S. Scholars.[5] Partner universities include Agnes Scott College, Bard College, Bowdoin College, Christian Brothers University, Northeastern University and Rhodes College.[5] By 2025 the foundation counted 56 U.S. Scholars.[4]

Eligibility

The scholarship is for female students in grade 12 at high schools in Cambodia's provinces who want to go on to a university in Phnom Penh.[2] The foundation looks for students with good grades in class and on the national high school exam, good English, an active interest in social issues and a clear vision for their own future and the nation's.[2] Students may choose any university in Phnom Penh but may attend only one, and they agree in writing to live at the dormitory for the full four years until they graduate.[1] Places are limited: the foundation says it can accept fewer than 12% of qualified applicants each year.[5]

Application

For the 2026 to 2027 school year, applications were accepted from April 15 to May 15, 2026.[2] Staff contact shortlisted applicants to set a date for a written exam and an online interview, which began in June 2026.[2] The names of applicants who pass the first round are posted on the foundation's Facebook page, and the final choice is made once the 2026 national high school exam results are out.[2] The foundation's program page describes the same steps, with a short essay in English or Khmer before semi-finalists are chosen.[5] As of October 7, 2026, the scholarship notice still showed the 2026 to 2027 intake, with no dates for the next one.[2]

Recipients

The foundation counted 269 graduates as of July 2025, and 114 of them had won scholarships for master's or doctoral study in Cambodia or abroad.[1] A 2025 post put the wider community of young Cambodian women in the program at 356.[4] Graduates keep in touch through the Harpswell Alumnae Association, and more than 40 recent graduates have lived at the Alumnae House since it opened in 2017.[8]

Graduates named by the foundation, with their field and university:

  • Yim Kalyan, law, Royal University of Law and Economics (2010); a master's in social work at Columbia University as an Open Society fellow[8][5]
  • Khourn Chantevy, sociology, Royal University of Phnom Penh (2010)[8]
  • Kaing Menghun, computer science, Royal University of Phnom Penh (2011); a master's in international development at the University of Chicago[8]
  • Yang Leaphea, law and international relations, Royal University of Law and Economics (2011)[8]
  • Kim Sokngim, mathematics, Royal University of Phnom Penh (2012); civil engineering at the University of Georgia (2017)[8]
  • Leng Len, media management, Royal University of Phnom Penh (2014); a master's in media and communication at Syracuse University as an Open Society fellow[8]
  • Mam Sopheng, medicine, University of Health Sciences (2015)[8]
  • Ly Sereyrath, law, Royal University of Law and Economics (2016)[8]
  • Davith Eang, international relations, Zaman University (2017)[8]
  • Hor Sreyden, chemistry, Royal University of Phnom Penh (2017); a master's in industrial biotechnology at Khon Kaen University[8]
  • Huot Kimhuoy, engineering, Institute of Technology of Cambodia (2018); a master's in engineering at Chulalongkorn University[8]
  • Oul Salav, psychology, Royal University of Phnom Penh (2019)[8]
  • Duong Sovathana, media and communications, Royal University of Phnom Penh (2020)[8]
  • En Malen, international relations, University of Cambodia (2021)[8]
  • Then Yanuth, international relations, Institute of Foreign Languages (2022)[8]
  • Chheang Sreylin (class of 2022), a medical student at the University of Puthisastra; the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative at the University of Nebraska Omaha in October 2024[9]
  • Chea Sreymach, economic development, Royal University of Phnom Penh (2023)[8]
  • Chhit Yarida (class of 2024), information program management, Paragon University; a U.S. Scholar at Christian Brothers University in 2024 to 2025[10]
  • Taing Molika, computer science, Cambodia Academy of Digital Technology (2024)[8]
  • Kroch Srey Touch (class of 2025), a U.S. Scholar at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Harpswell Foundation, About the Harpswell Foundation (Khmer)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Harpswell Foundation, Harpswell Foundation Scholarship, 2026 to 2027 school year (Khmer)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Harpswell Foundation, About Harpswell
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Harpswell Foundation, With Deep Gratitude: Celebrating Dr. Alan Lightman's Retirement and His Legacy at Harpswell (2025)
  5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 Harpswell Foundation, Cambodian Women's Leadership
  6. ↑ The Cambodia Daily, Dormitory Allows Female Students From Provinces To Study (2007)
  7. ↑ Harpswell Foundation, Leadership Residents
  8. ↑ 8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 8.14 8.15 8.16 8.17 Harpswell Foundation, Alumnae
  9. ↑ Harpswell Foundation, Leadership Beyond Cambodia and ASEAN (2025)
  10. ↑ Harpswell Foundation, Reflections on Community and Courage: Harpswell Scholar Yarida (2025)
  11. ↑ Harpswell Foundation, Kroch Srey Touch: My Year Abroad (2026)
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This page was last edited on 7 October 2026, at 20:25.