12 July 2006

Absolutely Free University Education in Singapore!

pdv052004
Money falling from the .....

Funny. I thought we were only giving it to PRC and Indian nationals. Looks like we're giving it out to Vietnamese students too. The link is here.
Fifteen Vietnamese students receive Singapore scholarship
VietNamNet - Fifteen Vietnamese students have been awarded the Singaporean Scholarship, which is fully funded by the Government of Singapore, this year.

This is part of the Singapore Scholarship Programme which aims to help ASEAN countries ease difficulties in training talented youths.

Among the recipients, eight from Hanoi and seven from Ho Chi Minh City, will leave for Singapore in July to pursue three- or four-year undergraduate degree courses at either the National University of Singapore (NUS), the Singapore Nanyang Technological University (NTU), or the Singapore Management University (SMU).

Singapore's Ambassador to Viet Nam, Lim Thuan Kuan, on July 11 presented the scholarship to eight students from Ha Noi. On July 12, the scholarship will be awarded to the seven students in Ho Chi Minh City by Singapore's Consul General Jimmy Chua.

Since its inception, 102 Vietnamese students have received the Singapore Scholarship.

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29 comments:

Lucky Tan said...

It is for our own good that that the govt gives scholarship to foreign students who will later join the work market and compete for jobs with us. It is a way of improving the Singapore workforce.

I guess that is why the govt cannot afford to give much help to Mr. Brown's autistic daughter otherwise they would have to give out fewer scholarship to foreigners, that would have been unacceptable to our elite leaders.

Singaporeans are so lucky to have a govt that improve the population through the infusion of foreigners. It is done in our best interest and for our own good.

http://singaporemind.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

I wonder if they're really smarter than the average local JC student to be awarded 'free education.' Those scholarships come from us taxpayers after all..

Mezzo said...

Singapore's quite active in North Vietnam. Quite a few of the locals think LKY is the bee's knees. One of them extensively quoted his (or PM Lee's) speech made to the Vietnamese.

Might explain a lot, really. Bonus: Vietnamese look almost Chinese.

le radical galoisien said...

Naturalisation, diffusion etc. should be required before giving out such scholarships.

If anything they should write theses to be released to the public about their perspective.

That way we can kill two birds with one stone (ie. complain if their writing is not up to par.)

Anonymous said...

I think the journalist (probably Vietnamese) may be confused. The scholarship given to foreiners are from government linked corporations, instead of from the government itself. No difference you may say, but in black-and-white the government does not provide scholarship to foreiners.

If I remembered correctly, Steve Chia once raised this question in parliment, and was dismissed by the minister by one very simple statement: SG government does not provide scholarship to foreiners.

Nobody has shown us their books, so we don't know whether the money is from (or how much of it is from) tax payers in Singapore.

I hope we all be a bit more cautious in this discussion as probably none of us has a good knowledge on this topic (because the gahmen don't release sufficient information as they should have done). I'd be best if some one who knows more about it could tell us more related facts, before we haste to comment.

Anonymous said...

To be more accurate, scholarship for university educate was I talked about.

MOE has a list of scholarships it offers (http://www.moe.gov.sg/corporate/students_scholarships.htm).

Sleepless in Singapore said...

One generation ago, when Spore was poor, many of our students received scholarships from developed countries. Now that we can afford it, it is our turn to help others.

Anonymous said...

yeah, and i heard more places are being offered to those from china than anyway else. Wonder why?

wert said...

15 is a drop in the ocean....There are definately more than 15 vietnamese on MOE scholarship in my year and course alone. That is not counting the Indonesians,Malaysians,Chinese on free tution scholarships.

Anonymous said...

i can think of some benefits of a program like this:

1) it adds a little bit more diversity to our rather homogeneous bunch local students in local universities.

2) singapore being an expensive place compared to where they came from, a full scholarship allows them to concentrate on school

not meaty enough, i know but nevertheless valid.

simplesandra said...

sleepless in singapore wrote: "One generation ago, when Spore was poor, many of our students received scholarships from developed countries. Now that we can afford it, it is our turn to help others. "

Let's not forget that our size makes us different from developed countries. Countries like the US can talk of internal migration; it's not that easy for us, despite the government's repeated calls for Singaporeans to head overseas.

When there's limited opportunities and choices, free scholarships like these to foreigners (or as you put it, such kind of "charity") aren't likely to go down well with locals who are struggling to gain a foothold in their own country. :)

simplesandra said...

tsw wrote: "1) it adds a little bit more diversity to our rather homogeneous bunch local students in local universities."

That'll depend on whether these students choose to mix around with the locals or hang out with their own ethic cliques instead.

Anonymous said...

Go to NUS and NTU and look at their Masters programs. Will see many PRCs and Indians, at least one third or nearly half. A lady aquaintance told me this is the main reason why she turned down the NUS MBA. Not exactly the kind of network opportunities she is looking for.

le radical galoisien said...

I *want* diversity, and to mingle.

Surprisingly enough, despite a superficial "racial harmony day", we end up stressing membership to an existing classification instead, and maybe some dabbling in others to remind ourselves of race-consciousness.

In any case, these students should at least be required to contribute back in terms of research and theses towards Singapore, as well as integration.

Surprisingly enough, I don't seem to see a lot of them.

However, I remember there were a group of very friendly students from India who stayed in my HDB block, and personally assisted me in several of my own endeavours. Their attitude is quite preferable.

I don't know whether this is true of the majority of the students.

Anonymous said...

It's all part of the master plan. Singaporeans are emigrating. Singaporeans remaining are having fewer children. Singaporeans who are eligible to vote are clamoring for the opposition. No point having a country to rule when the people don't want you, right? So, bring in the mainland Chinese, the Indians, the Ang Mohs, now the Vietnamese. Soon, the "bumi" Singaporeans will be phased out, and the remaining population will be a compliant grateful lot for all the financial largesse. What the MIW doesn't realise is that the foreigners are not dumb either - they use our country (and the taxpayers' money) as a stepping stone. Why escape an oppressive government in exchange for another one? Any doubts? Look at the number of PRs taking up citizenship (and NS liability).

Anonymous said...

There goes 15 places in local Unis for Singaporeans......who pay taxes.

Poor Singaporeans will continue to take LOANS from banks to pay for their fees and instead of paying the same fees as the rich they end up paying more because of interest. This is how the garmen assist by lending you $ to study......And that's if they get into local uni in the 1st place.

The Tarot Apprentice said...

Seems like no second chance for those who doesn't perform well during their 'A' Levels and Polytechnic students.

No choice but to loan money and fly away for their tertiary dreams.

Anonymous said...

This is PAP's objective of an Education Hub, bring in as many foreign students as possible. Not all will be on scholarships and they will pay full fares. There will be spillover benefits to other sectors of the economy. Of course the students who could afford it would have gone to Australia, USA, Japan, etc instead. Singapore is seen as a cheap alternative and a springboard, hence the large number of PRCs, Indians, Burmese, Indochinese students.

The other objective, mentioned by a anon above, is the opportunity to network and foster friendships with these students from 3rd world countries, to eventually target their "emerging markets". The thinking is that these students on scholarships when they go home to become future leaders etc they would remember their alumni and bonds with S'pore, and translate that into biz dealings. How wishful is this thinking we shall see. However remember that our own scholars and elites (read: future leaders) etc are sent to unis in America and so on. So where the networking is with our asian neighbours i dunno.

Anonymous said...

scholarships may be given out by GLCs, but don't you remember a law that allows money from national reserves to be siphoned to GLCs?

Anonymous said...

anonymous post above (reserves -> GLCs):

It wasn't the law until some laws were amended that allowed it to happen not too long ago.

The law amendment was, IIRC, just announced a small article in the newspaper. NO big fanfare. NO debates.

George Orwell would be so proud of Singapore.

Anonymous said...

it was a change in constitution. you are right, it wasn't debated at all.

i really don't mind giving out scholarships to bright foreigners, provided that they are better than singaporeans. But judging by the quality of foreigners in the universities, the problem is really identifying the smartest ones. or maybe the smartest ones don't want to come.

the question is not really whether we should give out scholarships to foreigners. it's whether we can find the best and how to make sure that they will stay to contribute to singapore after their studies.

Even america has to do it, can we afford not to?

Anonymous said...

Taken from: http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/iej/articles/v3n2/sandersn/paper.pdf

"There are two features of the international student program which are most striking. The first is that the international students (who come mostly from other ASEAN countries) pay only 10 per cent more for tuition than Singaporeans. For example, at Nanyang Polytechnic, a Singaporean pays S$1,800 per year whilst an international student pays S$1,980. The Government subsidy for the international student is S$8,720 (Nanyang Polytechnic, 2000, p.1). At Nanyang Technological University, a Singaporean pays S$5,500 per year and an international student pays S$6,050viii . The Government subsidy for the international student is S$13,950 for non-laboratory-based programs and S$18,800 for laboratory-based programs (Nanyang Technological University, 2000, p.4). Although tuition fees vary slightly between institutions, a calculation of the estimated number of international students in Singapore multiplied by the amount of Government subsidy per student suggests that the international student program is being supported by at least S$130 million per year; by no means an insignificant investment."

Unknown said...

Hi, all,,,,, i m a student of dentistry here in ahmedabad india.... i want to do job or further study in singapore... i having a poor economical condition... i just read about this free education on net... i humbly request u all people who can help a poor student from india...pls HELP ME HELP ME... pls send me ur suggestion and help..i will wait for ur response.. my id is drromesh@gmail.com ok bye all..and take care...

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