SPEECH BY MR CHAN SOO SEN, MINISTER OF STATE FOR EDUCATION, AT NTU GLOBAL IMMERSION PROGRAMME SEND-OFF CEREMONY, ON FRIDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2004, AT 10.00 AM AT THE NANYANG EXECUTIVE CENTRE, NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, 60 NANYANG VIEW

Professor Su Guaning
President, NTU

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good Morning

I am pleased to join you this morning at this send-off ceremony. In just a few weeks, 184 of you making up the inaugural batch of students under NTU’s Global Immersion Programme, will be making your way to China and the United States to study at some of the world’s best universities, or get some work experience with companies there.

2. Allow me to congratulate the students who have been selected to pioneer this programme. You will soon have the first hand experience of living and learning in a very different culture and environment. Your journey will no doubt be an exciting and memorable one, one that would make a significant impact in your lives.

Global Education – The world-sized classroom
3. Education as a concept has undergone some change over the past decade or so, along with fundamental shifts in society due to globalization. The conventional view that educating someone means putting him through 10 to 20 years of classroom teaching is an outdated one. Where once a child read about the world through books and the stories shared by his teachers, the child today knows that most parts of the world are within reach via a few hours’ commercial flight, or a few clicks of the mouse. Education today embraces a spirit of exploration and adventure. There is a curiosity that compels the student to get out of the classroom, seek out a place to find out about how the people in that locale live, and what they live for.

4. To echo Shakespeare, “The world is [your] oyster”1. Let me urge you to truly step into this new learning experience and savour it. The Global Immersion Programme will prepare you to respond to the new challenges, responsibilities and opportunities of living as global citizens. It provides you with the opportunities to examine your own values and attitudes, to appreciate and respect the similarities and differences between people of different cultures and build friendships in an increasingly interdependent world.

5. You cannot learn everything you need to know in the lecture theatres, laboratories or classrooms. The most valuable lessons in life are often best acquired through actual personal experience. Hence, for the 130 of you going to study at Tsinghua University, Beijing University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, or to work as interns in the Chinese companies, do actively open your eyes to the various aspects of the culture and way of life in China. Delve into the psyche of the Chinese people. Get up close and personal with their much-trumpeted hunger for success and their determination to better their lot in life. Similarly, for the 54 of you headed for University of Washington or Georgia Institute of Technology, do not be satisfied with just attending their lectures, but make every effort to get to know the Americans and seek out the dynamism that defines them. That is when you learn invaluable lessons about life.

Building Global Capacity, Global Talents
6.      In a global environment where traditional competitive advantages have shifted, companies face the pressure to reposition themselves, restructure, outsource non-core operations or face imminent collapse. Other companies ride on the opportunities thrown up by globalization, by creating new industries and entering new markets. And when they do, they scout for talents globally. The new reality for prospective employees looking to make inroads into multi-national companies is this: In the global marketplace, companies are looking for people with overseas experience who can lead or work with a multicultural workforce, and yet understand local operating conditions.

7.      Hence, for Singapore to remain viable as a source of such talent, and build on her strength of having a highly-skilled and literate workforce, our people need to build global capacity, and be equipped to wheel and deal in a global environment where cultures, values and languages crisscross. That is one reason why NTU has gone to great lengths to put you on the Global Immersion Programme – so that you may acquire these global skills.

Establishing Connections
8. The next question may well be this. What would be expected of you, after your stint in your host country? After you return, you can contribute by sharing your experiences and encouraging other students to go for the programme. Having gone through the challenges of living in a foreign environment yourself, you can also help the foreign students and workers assimilate into Singapore’s culture, our values and our way of life.

9. Many Singaporeans are studying, working and living overseas. About two years ago, a group of like-minded overseas Singaporeans established the Majulah Connection, to link up Singaporeans working in major cities around the world. They recognized the value of community although they lived in disparate locations. On a personal level, the friendships you forge and acquaintances you make will plug you automatically into this connection – it is the relationships that would make your stint truly meaningful.

10. At a more macro-level, recognize also that you are developing a network of global connections. When NTU sends out the first hundred students, each student may establish tens of valuable contacts. The next hundred heading out will do likewise in a different country. When we link up the first hundred, the second hundred, and then the third hundred, we have thousands of connections through the multiplier effect. We can then harness the energy of this global network of contacts, and create a very potent resource pool that can be tapped on for jobs, businesses and other matters.

Conclusion
11. Beyond providing Singapore students with the opportunity for a global education, I could like to commend the organisers of the NTU Global Immersion Programme for further strengthening Singapore’s vision to be a vibrant global education hub.

12. Finally, I would like to wish all the students a safe and fruitful journey abroad. As NTU students, you have an important role in promoting the understanding of Singapore and NTU overseas. I encourage all of you to have an open and enquiring mind when in your host country. Try to understand issues from the local cultural perspective instead of grumbling that things are not done the way you have experienced in Singapore.

13. I believe that you all will find this overseas immersion to be one of the best investments of your time.

Thank you.

___________________________________________________________________

[1] “Why, then, this world’s mine oyster/ Which I with sword will open it.” William Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, Act I Scene ii.