14 April 2006
Government Committed to Top Quality Varsity Education for Singaporeans
- We would like to assure Mr Choo Thim Heng (“Questions over Saudis bound for S’pore Varsities”; ST, 6/4) that welcoming a larger intake of foreign students will not detract from the Government’s commitment to providing sufficient opportunities for a quality university education to Singaporeans.
- Our three local universities – National University of Singapore (NUS), the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the Singapore Management University (SMU), are already admitting one in every five local students for their undergraduate programmes. By 2010, the three universities will increase the number of university places to one in every four local students, or 25% of each cohort. The Government is committed to ensuring that there are sufficient places for our local students in these three universities, even as they admit foreign students from all over the world, including Saudi Arabia.
- As we expand our universities, we are mindful that there should be no compromise in the quality of their education. Hence, all three universities will continue to apply stringent admission criteria to select eligible students, be they local or foreign.
- Foreign students have a choice of studying in our three local universities. In recent years, our private tertiary education sector has also expanded, giving both local and foreign students more options to pursue further studies in Singapore. Besides the many existing external degree programmes, in the next few years, students can look forward to more foreign universities such as the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Digipen Institute of Technology and the soon-to-be-opened University of New South Wales (Asia campus) offering degree programmes here, alongside the Singapore Institute of Management University (or UNISIM in short). Our polytechnics will also be collaborating with foreign specialised institutions to offer degree programmes in selected niche areas.
- Altogether, these universities will provide more degree places and choices for local and foreign students, including those from Saudi Arabia.
Lim Chee Hwee
Director,
Higher Education
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