Press Releases
Towards a Quality Private Education Sector
Pro-tem Council for Private Education
To build a quality private education sector to support Singapore’s position as a global education hub, a pro-tem Council for Private Education (CPE) has been set up to oversee the implementation of a new regulatory regime for the private education sector. 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.
The Pro-tem Council is chaired by Mr Lin Cheng Ton, CEO of Nanyang Polytechnic International, and comprises experienced individuals from the fields of education, quality assurance, business, as well as economic agencies overseeing the promotion of the private education sector. The Chief Executive Officer of the CPE, who also heads its Secretariat, is Mr Henry Heng, who has held senior appointments in the public, private and education sectors. The list of Council members is at Annex A.
The new regulatory regime will comprise mandatory registration and a voluntary quality assurance scheme called EduTrust. It seeks to strike a balance between ensuring a reasonable level of standards as a mandatory requirement, and incentivising players to upgrade and set higher standards through the voluntary scheme.
As announced during the Ministry of Education (MOE)’s 2009 Committee of Supply Debate, a Private Education (PE) Bill will be moved in Parliament to institute the new regulatory regime and to establish the CPE.
New Regulatory Regime
The PE Bill will cover private education institutions (PEIs) that fall under three broad categories: (1) PEIs offering degree, diploma or full-time certification programmes at the post-secondary level; (2) PEIs offering full-time preparatory courses for the purpose of preparing students for entrance/ placement tests for joining our mainstream schools, or for external examinations; and (3) Foreign System Schools (FSS).
The new regulatory regime comprises:
- Mandatory registration framework — This is the basic tier that would ensure minimum standards for PEIs. Statutory obligations and requirements will be clearly spelt out so that PEIs know what practices are considered unacceptable. PEIs would need to align their business practices and internal processes to the new requirements under this enhanced framework.
- Voluntary EduTrust scheme — This involves a more stringent assessment process, which looks at academic quality, student welfare, soundness of finances and school administration of the PEIs. Similar to the CaseTrust scheme which it will replace, EduTrust will offer protection of fees paid upfront by students as a contingency against school closure.
Enhanced Registration Framework
The enhanced mandatory registration framework seeks to address existing industry problems relating to poor administration, misrepresentation and even “selling” of qualifications. Apart from revising and updating statutory provisions relating to courses, managers and teachers, the following new provisions would be introduced and clearly defined:
Renewable registration will replace the one-off registration under the current regulatory framework;
- Academic governance by academic and examinations boards;
- Control of false and misleading advertisements;
- Disclosure of key information by PEIs; and
- Annual update of information
The enhancements to the registration framework are in four broad areas, each of which corresponds to a set of statutory obligations for the PEIs.
Registration Approach
To encourage PEIs to constantly maintain their standards and obligations under the regulatory regime, registration will be renewable at regular intervals of between one to six years, depending on the extent of the PEI’s compliance with statutory obligations.
The new registration framework places the onus on PEIs to internalise clearly stipulated statutory obligations. This would be coupled with an increased level of monitoring and enforcement activities to ensure that consistent standards are maintained.
Corporate Governance
Managers of PEIs must meet prescribed roles and responsibilities such as keeping proper records and making arrangements for affected students to complete the enrolled course or a similar one offered by another PEI in the event of closure.
PEIs must set up an independent academic board consisting of at least three members, whose responsibilities include, among others, developing a set of academic standards to assess the rigour of courses proposed and ensuring the quality and requirements for teachers.
PEIs must also set up an independent examination board made up of at least three members, whose responsibilities include developing an accountable and transparent framework on developing, implementing and reviewing examination policies and procedures.
Quality of Provisions
PEIs are required to ensure that they adhere to provisions relating to courses, and teachers teaching in these courses.
Under the provisions, PEIs have to seek permission before being able to offer courses. The criteria for offering external degree programmes will be tightened to ensure that they are bona-fide and of reasonable standards. For instance, the foreign university in question will have to affirm that the programmes offered by the PEI are subjected to the same academic approval and assurance process as those offered at the home campus, and that equal recognition will be given to students here.
PEIs are required to ensure that teachers are qualified, with relevant qualifications and/or working experience, before being deployed for teaching, and that proper premises and adequate facilities are provided.
Enhancing Information Transparency
Currently, students may not have sufficient access to information regarding the quality of the PEIs’ offerings. To aid prospective students in making informed choices on the appropriateness of a PEI to meet their needs, PEIs will be required to disclose relevant information, such as registration and course details.
Steps will also be taken to curb false and misleading advertisements. PEIs must ensure that accurate and non-misleading information is given in their advertisements, such as the use of the properly registered school name and the provision of accurate details on the courses they are offering.
To ensure that PEIs are committed to maintaining their standards and are transparent in their operations, they will also be required to provide an annual update to the regulatory authority.
EduTrust Certification Scheme
The EduTrust certification scheme is a quality assurance framework introduced to complement the mandatory registration framework, so that the better PEIs can differentiate themselves from the rest of the players.
The EduTrust Certification Scheme consists of the following criteria:-
Management commitment and responsibilities;
- Corporate governance and administration;
- Student protection;
- Student welfare and support services;
- Academic processes and assessment of students; and
- Quality assurance and audit requirements
To help students make informed choices, PEIs will be scored based on how well they meet each of the EduTrust criteria. These scores will subsequently be used to place the PEIs into award categories which will be made public.
PEIs under Gold, Silver and Bronze Award categories will be conferred a four-year certificate. To ensure that PEIs maintain consistent performance, they are required to undergo an interim assessment at the end of the second year in order to retain their award status.
Graduated Regulatory Levers
A full range of regulatory responses, where penalties are graduated to match the severity of the contraventions, will be introduced. Imposing penalties that are in proportion to the severity of the breaches would serve as useful deterrence against poor standards or behaviours, while giving errant schools the opportunity to rectify their violations.
New measures such as financial penalties, imprisonment for criminal offences, censure of the PEI, and the imposition of additional conditions of registration on errant PEIs will be introduced. The EduTrust certification of a PEI could be suspended or revoked if it does not adhere to the terms and conditions under the scheme. Schools that have repeatedly violated conditions will risk being de-registered and will not be allowed to operate.
Public Consultation
Public consultation with industry players and members of the public on the key features of the new regulatory regime will take place from 11 March to 6 May 2009. The public are invited to give their feedback at the Public Consultation webpage ( http://www.moe.gov.sg/private-education-public-consultation/ ).
Focus group discussions will be conducted to seek feedback from relevant stakeholders such as PEIs and students. An industry briefing has also been scheduled to facilitate the understanding of regulatory provisions by the PEIs that fall under the scope of the new regulatory regime. Relevant input and feedback arising from the consultation exercise would be considered in the drafting of the PE Bill. Details of the industry briefing can be found at the Industry Briefing webpage ( http://www.moe.gov.sg/industry-briefing-registration/ ).
(Please click on image to enlarge.)
Annex A — Pro-tem Council for Private Education
- Mr Lin Cheng Ton
Chief Executive Officer, Nanyang Polytechnic International - Mr Choe Peng Sum
Chief Executive Officer, Frasers Hospitality Pte Ltd - Mr John Gregory Conceicao
Director, Strategic Planning, Singapore Tourism Board - Ms Choy Sauw Kook
Group Director, Enterprise Capabilities, SPRING Singapore - Mr Khoo Chin Hean
Deputy Chairman, National Institute of Education Council - Mr Edmond Khoo
Deputy Principal, Temasek Polytechnic - Assoc. Professor Joel Lee Tye Beng
Lecturer, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore - Mr Leong Keng Thai
Deputy CE & Director-General (Telecoms), Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore - Professor Lim Mong King
Senior Advisor on Globalisation, Nanyang Technological University - Ms Kristin E. Paulson
Chairman, Asia Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce and Principal, KPaulson Associates - Ms Tan Gee Keow
Director, Higher Education, Ministry of Education - Mr Toh Wee Khiang
Director, Education & Professional Services, Economic Development Board - Dr Gary Willmott
Executive Director, Workforce Development Agency and Institute for Adult Learning - Mr Zainudin Nordin
Mayor, Central Singapore District, and Executive Secretary, Education Services Union - Mr Henry Heng
Chief Executive Officer, Council for Private Education