MOE Speech - SPEECH BY MR THARMAN SHANMUGARATNAM, ACTING MINISTER FOR EDUCATION, AT THE UNIVERSITAS 21 GLOBAL INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS AWARD CEREMONY & INAUGURATION OF MBA PROGRAM

SPEECH BY MR THARMAN SHANMUGARATNAM, ACTING MINISTER FOR EDUCATION, AT THE UNIVERSITAS 21 GLOBAL INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS AWARD CEREMONY & INAUGURATION OF MBA PROGRAM ON 5 AUGUST 2003 AT 11.30 AM, RAFFLES HOTEL

1. I am delighted to be here today to present the International Headquarters Award to Universitas 21 Global as well as to witness the inauguration of its MBA program.

2. We are naturally very pleased that U21 Global has chosen Singapore for its global headquarters to develop and deliver online learning content. Your decision to base U21 Global here adds a new dimension to Singapore's efforts to meet the growing need across Asia for higher education and continual learning.

3. Education is the business of looking ahead and preparing for a different future. Wherever you go, it is a more fluid future. Certainties are fewer, uncertainties greater. But it is also a future rich with opportunities. We are at the cusp of a new wave of wealth creation in Asia, with China, India and the ASEAN nations opening up and growing faster than any other region in the world. Regional terrorism, the recent SARS episode and the temporary sluggishness in the global technology cycle have obscured this. But the signs of dynamism are unmistakable. New supply chains being set up across the region, new middle classes emerging and demanding new things, new openings for professionals, new opportunities for entrepreneurs, new research labs sprouting. Underlying it all, a yearning for better, more prosperous lives, and the sense that education, training and upgrading yourself will get you there.

4. In Singapore, this desire for learning is a key national asset. As we enter an environment where our competitive advantage lies in knowledge-based activity, our ability to succeed, as individuals and as a nation, will depend on our capacity to pick up or create new knowledge and skills before old knowledge is obsolete, and to apply it faster than others. Higher education and research has gained economic significance. And continual learning has become more important than ever before, across the workforce.

5. It is in this spirit that the Government accepted the recommendations earlier this year of the Committee to Review the University Sector and Graduate Manpower Planning to expand the university sector. We aim to provide more university places - to allow 1 in every 4 Singaporeans in future cohorts to enter our public university sector, compared with 1 in every 5 at present. We also aim to create greater diversity in the university sector, generate more competition and enhance and reinforce the international standing of our three public universities, which are the bedrock of the system.

6. In this more diverse landscape, private education providers provide a valuable role, in addition to a robust public university sector. By offering more choice and opportunities for students to fulfill their educational aspirations, at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, reputable private providers will offer healthy competition to the public university sector. They will also help grow Singapore's role as a hub for students from across the region. Our public universities are themselves continuing to forge linkages with top universities internationally, encouraging a regular exchange of faculty and students. NUS' participation in U21 reflects this desire to network with the right players, and expand its reach. Diversity, competition and collaboration across networks will spur our institutions onto greater heights.

7. Education is now a huge industry in its own right, and growing faster in Asia than elsewhere. It is an activity that builds on Singapore's strengths, and sits well with our broader economic strategies. Singapore institutions, from preschool providers to universities and to providers of technical and executive education, are extending their reach to markets abroad. Second, world renowned institutions are tapping on Singapore's infrastructure and strategic position in Asia to set up operations here. Together, they offer a distinctive mix of quality education services from Singapore. We have seen several leading universities from the United States, Europe and Asia locate here in recent years. There is also a whole range of other education providers, including brick and mortar schools, research institutes, e-learning and supplementary education providers. The EDB intends to further develop this sector. If we succeed, the education sector should in time contribute about five per cent of Singapore's GDP.

8. An increasingly important niche in this higher education business is e-learning. It is estimated that the e-learning market in the Asia Pacific will reach US$400 million by 2005 . But beyond economics, a vibrant e-learning environment will add in a meaningful way to the opportunities for numerous individuals to meet their aspirations for further education and a better life.

9. U21 Global is a pioneering venture. It pushes the boundaries of both cross-university collaboration and e-learning, by bringing together a whole network of highly reputed universities, developing new content and creating a new e-learning technology platform.

10. Let me extend my warmest congratulations to the management and staff of U21 Global, and all their stakeholders, for their sense of opportunity, their vision and their determination to make it happen. I wish all of you every success in this venture.