How is the Structure of Higher Education in Singapore?
With the 3rd highest GDP per capita, Singapore holds the 9th rank on the UN Human Development Index. The success is largely due to the strict education system of the country. Singapore has 19 Junior Colleges (JCs) and one Centralised Institute (CI), the Millennia Institute (MI) which was established in 2004, National Junior College (NJC) which is the oldest college of the country established in 1969 and Eunoia Junior College (EJC) the most recent college which was established in 2017.
Importance of education in Singapore
As mentioned earlier, Singapore is dedicated in providing quality education to its students for the development of the nation. How is the education curriculum designed in doing that? Let’s have a glance in some of the key education establishments and education facts of Singapore and decide whether Singapore education is actually worth or not?
Junior Colleges in Singapore
Singapore has junior colleges which are designed to provide two-year academics programme to university students. In the latter half of 1960’s, junior college was first introduced with the aim to provide students with academic and non-academic education. Based on the merit in GCE “O” level result, students get admission in a junior college for a 2 year course which guides and prepares them for Singapore Cambridge GCE Advanced Level (“A”) examination. Each and every student is required to participate in co-curricular activities as the performance in these activities determines the university admission. These pre-university centers of Singapore (Junior Colleges and Centralized Junior Colleges and Centralized Institutes) educate the students for local university degree in the coming two to three years.
Polytechnic and Arts Institution in Singapore
Apart from the junior colleges, there are polytechnic and arts institutes which are involved in shaping a student for tertiary overseas or local university education. With good grades in polytechnic students get a chance of studying in top Singapore universities and also have the chance for opting abroad education in countries like Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The polytechnic and arts institutions communicate regularly with overseas universities so that students who are unable to relocate in foreign countries get a chance of studying the courses locally. In the recent times, Ngee Ann Polytechnic has collaborated with Chapman University of the United States for providing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Producing for graduates of the School’s Film and Media Studies department. The Nanyang Polytechnic has also tied its strings with the University of Stirling in Scotland to provide its students with a course in Retail Marketing. The polytechnic and arts institutions furbish industry ready students as well as university ready students.
Universities in Singapore
Here is a list of universities in Singapore. The country has six autonomous local universities which are National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Management University, Singapore University of Technology & Design, Singapore Institute of Technology and Singapore University of Social Sciences. In National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University there are about 30,000 students and both of the universities provide a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes which includes doctoral degrees. National University of Singapore and Nanyand Technological University are famous research universities of the country. Both of the universities secured a rank among the Top 13 universities in the world by QS World University Rankings for two consecutive years in 2015 and 2016. National University of Singapore and Nanyand Technological University were also among the Top 54 globally ranked universities determined by THE World University Rankings.
Another university, Singapore Management University, widely known as SMU was inaugurated in 2000 housing 7,000 students and has six schools offering undergraduate, graduate and PhD programmes in Business Management, Accountancy, Economics, Information Systems Management, Law and the Social Sciences. The university also has an office of research and various institutes & centers of excellence and also provides public and customized programmes for working professionals via office executive and professional education.
Foreign Education in Singapore
What are the advantages of studying in Singapore? It provides foreign education to its students and has set up universities like Chicago Business School and Technische Universitat Munchen in its soil. Also, James Cook University, University of Adelaide, Southern Cross University University of New Brunswick, Queen Margaret University, Temple University, The City University of New York, Baruch College, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Aventis School of Management, Curtin University of Technology & Cardiff Metropolitan University have their distant campuses in Singapore which provides students the option of studying in a western university education with minimum fees.
