In Parliament earlier in March, Member of Parliament for Marine Parade GRC, Seah Kian Peng expressed shock at the number of foreigners who have staffed the faculties in Singapore’s tertiary institutions.
He was speaking on the merits of “long-term thinking and planning”, giving the example of the roles of our universities.
Mr Seah related how one of his colleagues had told him “how rare it was for his daughter to hear a Singaporean accent when being taught by NUS professors.”
“I was actually ready to dismiss the claims but then I heard it again — this time from a student at NTU,” Mr Seah said.
After inquiring with the Ministry of Education for the numbers, he found out that Singaporean faculty members made up the minority in certain departments in the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
– Political Science department of NUS, 28% of the 25 faculty members are S’poreans.
– NTU’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, 41% of the 29 faculty members are S’poreans.
– NTU Wee Kim Wee School of Communications and Information, 44% of the 48 faculty members are S’porean.
– NUS Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, 46% of the 82 faculty members are S’poreans.
“I know it that in our universities, as in other professions, there needs to be open competition,” Mr Seah told Parliament. “But the percentages are surely astonishing — only a bit more than one quarter of the professors at the Political Science department in NUS are Singaporeans!”
Besides the presence of a majority in faculty staff, the shortage of places in tertiary institutions for Singaporeans has also been a point of unhappiness among Singaporeans.
IN 2011, the Minister for Education disclosed in Parliament that the number of foreign students in the tertiary institutions was 18 per cent.
According to the New York Times in August 2012, “The government has capped the number of international students at 20 percent of the undergraduate intake for the past decade. In 2011, they made up 18 percent, with most coming from China, India and other Southeast Asian countries, according to the Ministry of Education.
“The ministry said in a statement that it would maintain current levels “to facilitate better integration between Singaporeans and international students.”
The government had announced that the cap of 20 per cent foreign enrolment will remain but 2,000 new university places will be added for Singaporean students by 2015.
On Friday, the Mr heng Swee Keat, the Minister of Education, said he will add 1,000 places this year.
This means there will be 14,000 university places for locals, 1,000 more than the 13,000 places in 2012.
“We had originally aimed to reach this level by 2015, so we are a year ahead of schedule,” Mr Heng said.
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Here is an extract of Mr Seah’s speech in Parliament earlier in March:
“One of my colleagues, who is studying at the National University of Singapore, told me how rare it was for his daughter to hear a Singaporean accent when being taught by NUS professors. I was actually ready to dismiss the claims but then I heard it again — this time from a student at NTU.
“So, through Parliament, I asked MOE for some figures. I found out in the Political Science department of NUS, 28% of the 25 faculty members are Singaporeans. In NTU’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, 41% of the 29 faculty members are Singaporeans. In the NTU Wee Kim Wee School of Communications and Information, 44% of the 48 faculty members are Singaporean. And in the NUS Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, 46% of the 82 faculty members are Singaporeans.
“I do not know what the international norms are — the Ministry of Education does not have comparable figures for UK and US universities. I agree that our universities need to be competitive and internationally well recognised. I know it that in our universities, as in other professions, there needs to be open competition. But the percentages are surely astonishing — only a bit more than one quarter of the professors at the Political Science department in NUS are Singaporeans!”
