Panel looking at 'work-study varsity' model
It'll help meet demands of economy, aspirations of youth: Minister of State for Education Lawrence Wong
By Sandra Davie, The Straits Times, 23 Mar 2012
SINGAPORE must develop a more diverse higher education sector to meet young people's varied career aspirations, Minister of State for Education Lawrence Wong said yesterday.
The country also needs a range of different types of graduates to meet the demands of an increasingly complex economy, he added.
To help achieve this, a high-level committee studying how to provide more degree opportunities for Singaporeans is considering the idea of what is known as a 'practice-oriented' university that is closely linked to industry.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Wong said the committee felt that there was scope to develop an institution which is 'teaching oriented, practice-based, which has very close links to industry and where the educational experience will be different'.
Fleshing out what such a university programme might entail, he said academic studies would be integrated with practical, hands-on work experience, and students alternate between semesters of full-time study and relevant paid work.
He cited Drexel University in the United States and Waterloo University in Canada as examples of such a model.
Most students in Drexel's more than 70 undergraduate degree courses alternate between periods of full-time classroom study and full-time professional employment. The private university's programme is so successful that a third of its graduates landed jobs with their 'co-op' employers even as they were studying.
Waterloo, a public university, is said to operate the largest cooperative education programme in the world with more than 13,000 students enrolled in it. Its programme is so well-known that it attracts international students and a growing number of global companies including Bloomberg, Deutsche Bank and Google.
The minister was speaking to the media after a meeting with about 400 junior college and polytechnic students, university graduates and parents.
The two-hour townhall meeting at Ngee Ann Polytechnic was called by the 15-member panel that was set up last year to study how more degree places and education pathways can be opened up for Singaporeans.
Singapore will reach a 30 per cent university cohort participation rate by 2015, but Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said more university places should be created as the economy will need more graduates.
Some participants at the meeting asked if graduates of such a practice-oriented institution will be considered inferior to those coming out of research universities such as the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University.
In response, Mr Wong conceded that this would be a challenge that the Government would have to overcome. But he emphasised that these institutions worked closely with industry and involved companies in the whole process from curriculum planning to teaching and internship programmes. 'By the time the students graduate, the employers have confidence that these are good quality programmes and that students are well prepared for the workplace,' he said.
Commenting on the proposal, Mr Lee Kok Choy, managing director at Micron Semiconductor Asia, who sits on Mr Wong's committee, said: 'Our local universities produce more research-trained engineers who work in research and development.
'But my company also needs maintenance engineers who come from a practice-oriented background and can service the expensive machines and equipment. At the moment we have to hire poly grads and train them to take on these positions.'
Value of varsity education will remain: Lawrence Wong
Govt to ensure quality of degrees even with more university places
By Amelia Tan, The Straits Times, 23 Mar 2012
AS THE Government expands the university sector to provide more university places for Singaporeans, it will ensure that degrees remain prized by employers.
Minister of State for Education Lawrence Wong gave this assurance yesterday after participants at a townhall meeting to discuss the expansion of the university sector expressed worries that their degrees could lose their value as more head to university.
Mr Wong is heading a 15-member committee which is studying how to provide more degree opportunities and education pathways to Singaporeans.
By 2015, 30 per cent of each yearly cohort of students will attend university. This is a proportion which the Government has said could increase further.
There are currently four publicly funded institutions here where students can pursue degrees: National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Management University and Singapore Institute of Technology.
Last year, about 12,000 Singaporeans made it to these four institutions but the number of students who can pursue degrees will go up to about 14,000 in 2015.
Mr Wong was speaking to about 400 junior college and polytechnic students, university graduates and parents at Ngee Ann Polytechnic yesterday.
National University of Singapore business undergraduate Alvin Lim, 26, wondered if 'academic inflation' was happening at universities overseas and cautioned that Singapore should avoid this.
'Ideally, Singapore should maintain the quality of university degrees to ensure that graduates get jobs. But I am not sure how this can be done as the places at the universities grow,' said Mr Lim.
In response, Mr Wong said that in adding university places, the Government must ensure that it does not lead to a high attrition of undergraduates. Nor should it lead to any unemployment or underemployment of graduates.
He noted that Finland, one of the countries that the committee had visited, provided a reality check. Its university cohort participation rate was 65 per cent, but in the end, one in four failed to graduate with a degree.
Mr Wong told reporters after the meeting that the aspirations of young people in getting a university degree, coupled with the need to maintain quality, 'reflects some of the tensions and the competing objectives we have to achieve'.
'So we will continue to take this feedback in, in considering how much we can go in expanding university places,' he added.
Young Singaporeans engaged Mr Wong on a variety of issues during the two-hour session yesterday.
Some asked whether it could be made easier for polytechnic graduates to enter the local universities. Others suggested that the committee look into providing degree courses in fields such as veterinary science and sports management, which are currently not offered by the local universities.
Mr Wong said the participants' views will help shape the committee's recommendations to be released by the end of the year.
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