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Public Consultation on Proposed Regulatory Regime for the Private Education Sector (Closed)

MOE would like to thank members of the public and stakeholders who participated in the public consultation exercise on the key features of the new regulatory regime which was conducted from 11 March to 6 May 2009.

In summary, respondents were generally supportive of the move towards enhanced regulation of the private education institutions which fall under the scope of the PE Bill. Many useful comments and suggestions have been received, and the necessary modifications will be made to the regulatory framework. The summary of responses to the feedback received from the public consultation exercise (1.2mb .pdf) is attached for your information.

Aim / Scope of Consultation

The Ministry of Education (MOE) is seeking feedback from the members of the public and the private education (PE) sector on the key features and provisions of the new regulatory regime for the sector. A mandatory enhanced registration framework and a voluntary quality assurance framework called EduTrust will be implemented under this new regime.

Background

The PE sector plays a complementary role to our public education sector in developing human capital. It provides opportunities for Singaporeans who wish to upgrade themselves. However in recent years, the private education landscape in Singapore has grown rapidly, leading to uneven standards across private educational institutions (PEIs).

A new regulatory regime is needed to address this uneven spread of quality. An improved and vibrant PE sector will also strengthen Singapore’s position as a global education hub and bring in economic benefits, including the creation of jobs and revenue growth in the education industry.

In this regard, MOE will be setting up a Council for Private Education (CPE) as part of the Government’s commitment to have a dedicated body to oversee the sector and provide better developmental focus. Beyond regulating the private education sector, the CPE will promote greater public and consumer awareness, and facilitate the development of the sector. These roles of the CPE will ensure that a balanced and holistic approach is taken towards developing a quality private education sector that benefits students and raises standards in the industry over time.

Proposed Regulatory Regime

The new regulatory regime seeks to uplift standards in the PE sector. A disclosure-based framework will be set up to foster greater consumer sophistication and knowledge of PE industry in order that students have access to the necessary information to make informed decisions. Beyond mandatory registration, a voluntary quality assurance mechanism will also be introduced to allow PEIs to further upgrade and differentiate themselves from the rest. There will also be an increased level of monitoring and enforcement to maintain consistent standards.

Coverage of PEIs

PEIs which MOE considers to have significant impact on the Singapore education brand will be required to be registered under the new Private Education Bill (PE Bill). These PEIs fall under the following three categories:

  1. PEIs offering education leading to the award of a diploma or degree, or full-time post-secondary education leading to the award of a certificate;
  2. PEIs offering full-time preparatory courses for entrance/placement tests for joining MOE mainstream schools, or for external examinations; and
  3. Foreign System Schools (FSS) offering full-time primary or secondary education wholly or substantially in accordance with a foreign or international curriculum.

The above 3 categories include PEIs that teach by classroom learning, correspondence (whether physical or electronic) or both. “Full-time” in the above means the provision of education for a duration of at least one month and that is conducted for 5 days of a week for at least 3 hours a day.

PEIs registered under the new PE Bill will not at the same time be required to be registered under the Education Act (which currently covers all PEIs). A transitional arrangement would be provided for PEIs already registered under the Education Act to cross over to the new regime under the PE Bill.

Key Features of New Regulatory Regime

The key features and elements of the new regulatory regime are as follows:

Inspection of PEI

Appointed inspectors will be empowered to periodically inspect any registered PEI for compliance with the new law. They will be empowered to enter the premises of any PEI, examine documents, and request for any information to be furnished.

Remedial Measures and Penalties

The regulatory authority will be empowered to direct remedial measures if it appears that any provision under the new law has not been complied with, or if it appears that any registered PEI is not being efficiently or properly conducted.

Contraventions that constitute criminal offences will generally relate to obstruction of investigation and inspection work, running un-registered PEIs, making false statements, and failure to comply with directions issued by the regulatory authority. Some of these offences will be compoundable. The new law will also contain provisions to penalise errant PEIs by canceling (or not renewing) their registration.

To provide graduated penalties that do not criminalise other contraventions and better match the severity, additional administrative punitive measures may be imposed on PEIs:

Contraventions that trigger the above will generally relate to false or misleading advertisements, offering courses without prior approval, failure to notify the regulatory authority of the qualifications, experience and other relevant details of teaching staff, and a PEI changing its name without prior approval.

Dispute Resolution Scheme

Dispute resolution schemes will be set up and administered by appointed third party operators for the resolution of disputes between any PEI and its students arising from or relating to the provision of services by PEIs. A set of procedures will be prescribed to govern the administration of the scheme, including standards or requirements of the operations, the fees that may be charged for dispute resolution services, and the records that must be kept.

A PEI may be directed by the regulatory authority to participate in an appointed dispute resolution scheme in the event that a dispute between the PEI and student complainant is not resolved.

Appeals

Parties aggrieved by the decision of the regulatory authority can appeal to an Appeals Board appointed by the Minister. The procedures for lodging and processing of appeals will also be set out.

Period of Consultation

MOE hereby invites members of the public and the PE sector to participate in this consultation. The consultation exercise will last for 8 weeks, from 11 March 2009 to 6 May 2009. MOE welcomes your views and comments on the proposed features and elements under the new regulatory regime. Additional consultation documents are attached below for reference (see Attachments 1 and 2). The consultation material and documents are also available on the REACH website.

Feedback channels

We seek your full support to ensure that the consultation exercise is productive and focused, and we would like to request that respondents follow these guidelines:

  1. Identify yourself and the organisation you represent (if any), so that we may follow up to clarify any issues, if necessary;
  2. Make your comments clear and concise;
  3. Focus your comments on how the provisions and features can be better improved or be made clearer; and
  4. As far as possible, explain your points with illustrations and examples.

Your feedback is important to us. Please send us your comments by:

We encourage comments by email as they will reach us faster and speed up the process of consideration.

Summary of responses

We regret that we will not be able to separately address or acknowledge every single comment we receive. However, we will consolidate and publish a summary of the key comments received, together with our responses, on this website following the close of the consultation exercise. The summary will not disclose the identity of person(s) providing the feedback.

Related Consultation Documents

The consultation documents are as follows: