The Foreigner's Guide to Getting A Subsidised University Education in Singapore

Found this in my inbox too. The writer requested for anonymity, hence I'll just call him Mr Chia:

"Hi Mr Wang,

A very good morning to you. I understand that you have stopped blogging on sociopolitical issues but there are some burning questions to ask which I don't really understand. I am aware of your busy schedule so I shall keep my questions short.

I am currently a student in one of the local universities. I was shocked to hear that foreign students who are not scholars are currently being granted the tuition grant at the same rate as Singaporean students. This came from a conversation between myself and a few foreign friends so I daren't say it is applicable to all.

Furthermore, the only obligation they are required to serve is that of working in Singapore for 3 years upon graduation. Isn't that ironic as Singaporean males have to serve National Service and continue with this liability upon graduation and etc.

I guess you know my point. I wish to clarify about the differences between being a Singaporean Citizen, a PR as well as a pure foreigner. What are the differences in terms of benefits (as well as the liabilities)?

These questions are fuelled from a conversation between myself and a few friends of mine who are high fliers from top schools too. Amongst them are scholars who don't think they'd be staying in Singapore upon graduation."

Nothing new here, so I won't say very much. The "same tuition grant, as long as you work 3 years in Singapore" rule has been around for ages. However, in bad economic times (and those are the kind of times we're currently heading into), a new ironic twist emerges.

The fresh grads (Singaporean as well as foreign) will all start looking for jobs in Singapore at the same time. There won't be enough jobs to go around. But the foreign grads will be forced to stick around and keep looking, because of the 3-year rule.

Finally their finances will be pushed to the breaking point, and they will appeal to the government: "Please exempt me from this rule, because I've tried my best for so long, and I still can't get a job here in Singapore. I want to go home to China / India / Malaysia / Vietnam".

Then the Singapore government will say, "Oh very well, I release you from this obligation." So the foreign chap packs up his bags and leaves Singapore for good.

The silver lining in his cloud is still very silver. In other words, the foreign student still gets a pretty good deal. After all, for 3 or 4 years, his university education was heavily subsidised by Singaporean taxpayers. After he gets his degree, he just packs up and leaves .... with the blessing of the Singapore government. Wowee.

When discussing such issues, some naive Singaporean will chirp out, "Oh, but this happens everywhere. For example, Harvard University would also give out bond-free scholarships to foreigners."

Yes, silly, but Harvard University doesn't make the American taxpayer pay for that. Harvard comes up with its money.

Little Ironies of Life in Singapore

From the Straits Times:

ST Oct 26, 2008
Investors flock to 3rd rally
By Gracia Chiang

Well-educated, English-speaking investors flocked to Speakers' Corner yesterday to make their frustrations heard.

For the third week in a row, about 500 investors gathered in Hong Lim Park eager to find out how they can seek redress for Lehman-linked financial products they claim were mis-sold to them.

Organised by former chief executive officer of insurer NTUC Income Tan Kin Lian, the rally was intended for those who had sunk their money into such products to band together and exchange suggestions ...

One year ago, if you had done a survey among those 500 Singaporeans and asked them, "Do you think that Singapore should allow public protests?", what do you think they would have said?

I believe that many of them would have gasped in horror and said, "Nooooo, certainly not! Rallies are dangerous and will lead to violence and bloodshed. The PAP is right to make them illegal."

The Astrologer Plays Ball

It must be fun being a politician. You can make rather meaningless statements and the media will report them quite seriously, as if you really knew what you were talking about.

MM Lee predicts a turnaround from the recession in as little as three to five years
October 25, 2008

THE current economic slowdown could last three to five years — if the banking system does not malfunction. This is the assessment given by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew at the Singapore Human Capital Summit on Friday.

MM Lee was speaking at a dialogue with summit participants facilitated by Insead’s Dean of Executive Education, Professor Narayan Pant.

“Nobody can say how long or how deep this recession will be,” said MM Lee. “... My own guess is, if the banking system does not malfunction, then in three, four or five years, the world economy will be restored.

If the banking system malfunctions, then I don’t know. It would be a very difficult process.”

What on earth does MM Lee mean by a "malfunction" in the banking system?

The bankruptcy of banks? Huge leaps in LIBOR? A global liquidity crisis? Governments stepping in to guarantee bank deposits? The death of financial engineering? Widespread retrenchments and redundancies in the banking industry?

All of the above have already happened. But from the way that MM Lee spoke, he doesn't seem to regard these events as constituting a "malfunction", LOL.

Which only leaves us to wonder what exactly MM Lee means by "malfunction". A mystery hedge word. I bet MM Lee himself doesn't know, haha. You are always right, if you just can't be wrong.

Wheeee!

The diagram illustrates the performance of the Straits Times Index over the past 5 years. The spectacular dive over the past 5 months takes us back to the levels last seen about 5 years ago.

The same things are happening to just about every stock market in the world. So much for diversification, LOL.

At some point in time, equities must become cheap enough to constitute a very good buy. As usual, the million-dollar question is - when?

Methinks, not any time so soon. I'm going to sit on my cash and come out to look around again - next year.

Students And Their Career Choices

Daphne Maia sees a problem with the Singapore education system. She thinks that our students lack career guidance and therefore often end up choosing courses for which they neither have aptitude nor interest.

While it's a good idea to have some kind of formal career guidance, I can see one difficulty. Teachers in Singapore are precisely that - teachers - and the majority of them don't know the working world, outside of the school environment. Thus they don't come with a wealth of career experience to share with their students (apart from a career in teaching).

My (mildly radical) suggestion is that schools heavily beef up their CCA programmes, and offer (1) a wider range of activities, and (2) more support and resources for each activity. The idea is to give students more room to explore their individual interests over a number of years.

This exploration is experiential - the student will actually do things, develop skills and have fun along the way. Through this process, the student gains some self-knowledge on the type of activities and environments (and by extension, the type of future career) that might appeal to him. Such self-knowledge, I believe, would go much deeper than what a student would most likely get out of a 30-minute, one-off session with a career counselor.

Many CCAs would not have a direct viable equivalent in the working world. Nevertheless the personal insights may be valuable. For example, as a student, my friend Adrian Tan joined the debating team and took part in many competitions. This eventually led him to choose a career as a litigation lawyer, where he makes a living by making arguments in court.

Another friend of mine (who shall not be named, because her current job is hush-hush) was the chairman / president type in school. She led various student committees in her secondary school, JC and university days. Now she holds a policy-making job within a certain government ministry, where she no doubt continues to lead her committees in her usual firm, no-nonsense style.

Some other examples. Joining a science club may help a student see whether R&D work would interest him. Joining the National Cadet Corps may help him to see whether a military career is a plausible option at all. Writing for a school publication may spark off an interest in journalism.

An art club may provide opportunities for students to test their interest in design-related jobs. Students involved in fund-raising projects may try their hand at marketing. The IT club allows students to see whether information technology appeals so much to them that they might one day pursue a career in it. And so on.

All of the above assumes that the student participates earnestly enough in his chosen CCAs, to gain such insights. It also assumes that the school allocates enough resources for the CCA activities to be carried out with some depth.

I end this post, by showing you an interesting student project - here it is. As NTU is not providing any financial support for this CCA, you might wish to make a donation to the students who are running it.