Comments on: Increasing access to higher education imperative for Singapore

By: Piaroh

Piaroh — Thu, 17 May 2007 09:23:00 +0000

I really like what you have said thus far, especially the rebuttal about Polytechnic education and I really await your next article with utmost eagerness.

By: Gerald

Gerald — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 02:13:00 +0000

I think this is true for top unis around the world. In the uni I went to in the US, I had some China lecturers whose English was quite lacking. But generally they turned out to be decent teachers. I also had a physics professor who was a decorated scientist in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, but was one of the most awful teachers I’ve ever had.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 12:23:00 +0000

There is a mismatch between the expectations of students versus the administration with regard to the quality of university lecturers. As University rankings are determined primarily by research output, a good researcher is more likely to be recruited by the university, rather than a good teacher. It does not matter that the prolific researcher with a paper in Nature once every three months has no time or inclination to teach basic concepts to undergrads. Unfortunately, it is the undergrad who pays his salary.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 06:51:00 +0000

I agree too. Not only the university education here is not cheap but the quality has fallen behind. Many of the lecturers and tutors in our universities have very low level command of english. But of course there are some excellent ones, but most of them are below par to even charge us this much.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 04:07:00 +0000

I agree with you that education in Singapore is certainly not cheap. Especially when they are not “good” enough to enter a local university. As a student from SIM, I can attest that it is certainly not cheap at all what with almost $60,000 in tuition fees and only Mendaki offering minimal loan to pay it off. And yes, I do have to work part-time for my own expenses. On top of that, I think that for private universities, there should be subsidies for our transportation fees – at least. I cost me $6 a day to travel to and from school. It is considered expensive for a working adult, what more for full-time students

By: Gerald

Gerald — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:09:00 +0000

Kevin – I think every Singaporean student should be given the opportunity to pursue at least a bachelor’s degree if their academic ability permits. There’s nothing wrong with a poly education, and I never implied that it was a “bad start”, but it is not a substitute for a university education. The thousands of poly grads who go on to pursue their bachelor’s degree would probably agree with my statement. For your info, my friend went on to earn her degree by studying part time while she worked to pay off her own fees — not an easy feat at all.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 06:56:00 +0000

I hope you don’t mean in any way that getting education in a Polytechnic equates to a “bad” start in life? Because in the stated example of that girl who had to give up the JC-Uni route, you seem to imply that a Polytechnic education is a bad idea. In which case, if you did mean it that way, then I would beg to differ…