Study hard and enter a local university, and if your grades don’t qualify you for admission, we’ll send you overseas; and if we don’t have the funds, come out and work for several years before furthering your studies.
This is a common train of thought of concerned Singaporean parents looking into providing a bright future for their child.
However, is this conventional mindset about to be challenged by up and coming collaborative universities such as Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD)?
The recent SIT Open House held at *SCAPE on 19 and 20 January was thronged with polytechnic students seeking a relevant degree course to enter in the upcoming academic year.
A video featuring what pleased students have to say about their experience in SIT
No doubt it was quite a promising sight, with visitors exploring an array of booths set up by reputable overseas universities that SIT is joining hands with to award undergraduate degrees; catered for the engineering, design, sciences, hospitality and interactive digital media industries. Prospective students seemed spoilt for choice when it comes to taking their next step in life.
However, how many of these students would actually go on and pursue a degree in an overseas university located in Singapore?
Brenda Choong, 19, a third year undergraduate studying Hospitality and Tourism Management in Temasek Polytechnic, is not one of them. With eyes set on Cornell University, which is a time-honoured specialized business school for hospitality management in New York, she said, “The whole purpose of studying in an overseas university is to experience life overseas.”
Even with doors open wide to University of Nevada, an established hospitality management school in collaboration with SIT, she has her doubts about pursuing the degree locally, as distance-learning degrees are presumably a far cry from the “real deal”.
Vincent Tan, 20, a third year Malaysian undergraduate studying Space and Interior Design in Nanyang Polytechnic also finds no appeal in furthering his studies locally. After studying for three years in Singapore and obtaining a GPA of 3.9, he now qualifies for entry to NUS Department of Architecture upon graduation from polytechnic. Then begs the question: Why not pursue a degree overseas?
Besides wanting to be immersed in a completely different culture, he feels that living alone in an unfamiliar place would mould his character.
“My lecturer who is an architect trained in London did say that the experience of living alone, tending to himself and juggling the impossible workload, did make the man he is today,” he recalls.
Youths know the challenge they are in for, and are still enticed by it. However, as mentioned, the hefty overseas expenses are an issue to many households. Wong Suet Far, 21, a Victoria Junior College graduate, was offered a place at Imperial University, England. Despite scoring straight As for her GCE A Level examinations, she did not manage to earn a scholarship to cover her expenses while studying in the UK, and is now pursuing a degree in Life Sciences in National University of Singapore (NUS).
Suet Far in Shanghai for an overseas immersion programme
“Even my lecturer finds it a pity,” she chuckled. “Many of my friends and relatives asked why I’m not studying law or medicine overseas instead.”
“If it was a reasonable sum of money, I would definitely study abroad. But we’re talking about triple the cost of studying here in Singapore.”
Even though this is not her most favored outcome, the last of her choices would be to study in an overseas university in Singapore. For her, it is all about gaining exposure.
“Studying overseas would be a completely different experience. Just imagine; you can make direct connections with people from other countries which would help greatly in the future.”
Vincent echoes these sentiments and reinforces the importance of connecting to a global society.
“While Singapore is looking to be a creative hub for Southeast Asia, I don’t see why connecting to the art scene of the world stage being not encouraged?”
Nas, 22, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Interior Design in SIT, has a very different standpoint.
“I entered SIT because the Glasgow School of Art (GSA) is one of the best arts universities in England. So to many aspiring designers, the collaboration between SIT and GSA is a golden opportunity.”
An alumnus from Temasek Polytechnic (TP) Interior Design himself, he is pleased with the convenience of this tie-up as GSA is located within TP premises. “I enjoy the privilege of getting to use TP facilities, and I’m already familiar with the place.”
Indeed, recent and forthcoming liaison between Singapore and overseas institutes provide a golden opportunity for fresh graduates at their doorstep, and quite literally. Perhaps, this would draw a noticeable amount of attention from fresh graduates, and cause a paradigm shift in the way Singaporeans view studying locally after all.
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