Since the early 1990s many short courses for working journalists have been provided by aid donors keen to advance their broader aims of supporting human rights and democracy. However, only more recently have Cambodians at home been able to undertake degree-level studies in journalism.

The longest-standing journalism training organisation in Phnom Penh is the Cambodia Communications Institute (CCI), which was established in 1994 with support from UNESCO and the Danish Government and was initially located within the Ministry of Information compound. Over the years it has offered a variety of skills-based short training courses in media and journalism for working journalists and media professionals, including courses on specialty areas such as AIDS, court reporting and environmental reporting.

In 2002 CCI became affiliated with the Royal University of Phnom Penh, becoming an integral part of the University’s new Department of Media and Communications. In addition to its ongoing workshops and seminars for practitioners, it has recently launched a one-year Diploma course in Journalism. UNESCO continues to provide assistance to CCI with equipment, techniques and finance.

The Royal University of Phnom Penh's Department of Media and Communications itself was set up in 2001 within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. It offers a four-year programme in Media and Communication, supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Since that time students in the programme have taken their internships in local radio and television stations, newspapers, wire services and other media companies. Through donor aid, some have served their internships overseas; two students recently went to Germany to spend three months at the German television station DWTV.

From 2002 to 2004, the New York-based Independent Journalism Foundation (IJF) ran a regional training centre in Phnom Penh, where working journalists from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Việt Nam took courses led by foreign trainers and conducted in English. The centre recently shut down, but IJF’s work in the region continues through programmes designed for specific media clientele. IJF courses have an emphasis on acquiring practical skills and are led by veteran journalists. Their training work in Phnom Penh continues through three-month in-service courses conducted in Khmer, led by chief instructor Reach Sambath, formerly of Agence France Presse (AKP).

Short-term journalism training programmes and fellowships have also been offered by various NGOs, including the Asia Foundation, IMPACS and InterPress Service.

In the absence of media technical training programmes at Cambodia's colleges and universities, most radio and television companies offer basic in-house training in radio and TV production to their own staff. Both National Radio Kampuchea (RNK) and National Television Kampuchea (TVK) have hosted occasional technical training programmes involving visiting experts from Europe (particularly Germany) and Asia (Japan, Korea, China, Việt Nam, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka), but such programmes are in short supply in relation to the actual need.