A Comparative Study of IT Workforce Preparedness in Cambodia and the Czech Republic with a Focus on Software Quality and Development Practices

This thesis explores how IT education in Cambodia and the Czech Republic prepares graduates for software-related work, with a focus on software quality assurance, testing, automation, and modern delivery practices. Using a mixed-methods design, it combines survey responses from recent graduates, curriculum analysis, job advertisement analysis, and interviews with lecturers, graduates, and hiring managers. The findings show that graduates in both countries feel moderately prepared for general software work, but less confident in practical QA tasks such as test case design, bug reporting, prioritisation, and workflow-based testing. Cambodian curricula show broader visible QA or process-related content, while Czech programmes show narrower but sometimes deeper and more embedded QA exposure. However, in both contexts, formal curriculum presence does not always translate into practical readiness. Overall, the thesis concludes that the education–industry gap is not mainly the absence of QA content, but the limited translation of that content into clear, repeated, practical, and job-ready QA workflow competence. It recommends stronger practical QA integration, more realistic project work, better exposure to tools, and closer cooperation between universities and industry.