Singapore may have its first foreign private university by 2005. It is also likely to have two or three private secondary schools. The Economic Development Board (EDB), which is spearheading the plan, hopes this variety of private institutions will triple the number of foreign students here from 50,000 to 150,000 by 2012. (Straits Times 8 Sep 2003 1)

  The Government has decided to freeze tuition fees for university and polytechnic students at the 2001 level, said Education Minister TEO Chee Hean yesterday. This academic year, 1,729 out of 32,000 NUS students have asked for bursaries or loans, up from 1,598 in 2000. At NTU, 667 students are seeking aid this academic year, down from 701 students in 2000. (Straits Times 5 Jan 2003) (4)

  The Singapore Management University (SMU) will set up its fourth school - the school of information systems management - which will take in between 50 and 100 students from August 2003 for its four-year Bachelor of Science degree. The new school will have about 10 staff members for a start but the number is expected to go up to about 70 by 2006. (Straits Times 7 Nov 2002) (H6)

  About 84,300 people could not find a job last month, bringing the unemployment rate to 4.8 per cent, up from 4.1 per cent in June 2002. This is even higher than the 4.3 per cent experienced in the last Asian crisis in 1997. Employment in the months from July to September 2002 contracted by 15,000, hitting first-time job seekers, including this year's crop of graduates. According to the Manpower Ministry, 4,100 people, mainly in manufacturing, were retrenched in the third quarter, about the same number as the second quarter. (Straits Times 1 Nov 2002) (1)

  Hongkong tycoon LI Ka Shing and his Hutchison Whampoa Group are giving S$19.5 million to the Singapore Management University (SMU), the largest donation received by a tertiary institution here. S$15 million of this amount will go towards the endowment of a new state-of-the-art library to be named Li Ka Shing Library at SMU's new campus in Bras Basah Road. The other S$4.5 million will fund full, bond-free scholarships for undergraduates from Hongkong and China. (Straits Times 10 Sep 2002) (3)

  From 2003, the Scholastic Assessment Test 1 (SAT 1) will make up 25 per cent fo the scores for A-level students seeking admission to the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU). The Singapore Management University (SMU) already requires applicants to take it. The College Board is the American agency that administers the test. This year, up to 20,000 students here will sit for the SAT. (Straits Times 17 Jun 2002) (H10)

  The College Board, the US agency that administers the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), has announced proposed changes which will include essay writing and more advanced maths problems. If adopted, the new SAT will affect US students entering university from 2006. Singapore students will also have to adjust to this new modified SAT by then. From next year, SAT makes up 25 per cent of scores for A-level students seeking admission to the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University. The test is already a requirement for those seeking entry to the Singapore Management University. (Straits Times 30 Mar 2002) (1)

  The ground-breaking ceremony for Singapore Management University's (SMU) new city campus at Bras Basah was held yesterday. The S$400 million city campus will open in 2005. A 560-m air-conditioned underground tunnel, lined with shops and food outlets, will be opened to the public so that anyone can stroll in cool comfort from one end of Bras Basah Road to the junction of Victoria Street and Stamford Road. The walkway connects SMU's five buildings. By the time the city campus is ready, the campus population will swell from the present 900 to 3,800. SMU president Ron Frank expects 6,000 undergraduates and 400 faculty staff members by 2010. (Straits Times 28 Mar 2002) (4)

  About 20,800 Singaporeans with tertiary education were jobless at the end of 2001. In September 2001, it had been 16,500. The 2001 report on the labour market released by the Manpower Ministry (MOM) yesterday said that the current overall unemployment rate of 4.7 per cent is a record high, not seen since 1987. It predicted that the situation is likely to worsen, with the overall unemployment rate possibly reaching 5.5 per cent by the second half of the year. (Straits Times 16 Mar 2002) (H2)

  The Singapore Management University (SMU) is inviting applications - until Jan 14 - for all its three degree courses. About 300 of the total 650 places are available for the early-admissions exercise. (Straits Times 6 Dec 2001)(H9)

  A new online university, called U21global, to be based in Singapore, will start offering courses from early 2003. It is a joint venture between Thomson Learning, an American-based company which runs courses for students across all ages and corporations, and Universitas 21, an international network of 18 research-intensive universities set up to exploit the higher-education market. (Straits Times 19 Nov 2001)(H10)

  At the National Day Rally last night, Prime Minister GOH Chok Tong said the Government wants to up the proportion of Primary 1 students who go on to local university, from one in five to one in four, by 2010. This means raising the annual university intake by 4,000. With this goal in mind, Mr GOH said that, in principle, he supported the idea of setting up a fourth university, provided its graduates could meet the standards demanded by the economy. (Straits Times 20 Aug 2001)(H4)

    The Singapore Management University (SMU) will have a School of Economics and Social Sciences next year. The school - the university's third - will take in 50 students for a start and they will spend four years to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree, with Economics as its major. Its School of Business had an intake of 300 students last year, but is taking in 400 this year, from more than 2,000 applicants. Its School of Accountancy, which starts this year, has admitted 100 out of more than 600 applicants. Almost one in 10 SMU undergraduates is a foreigner, mainly from countries in the region, including Indonesia, Malaysia, India and China. (Straits Times 13 Aug 2001) (1) 

  University-bound students worried that poor scores for project work in junior college may hurt their chances of entering a university here, have got a year's reprieve. The Education Ministry said that project work would now become an admission criteria only in 2005. The extension, it said, would give teachers and students more time to get used to project work. Students entering junior college in 2003 and those who join centralised institutes in 2002 will be the first to come under the project-work scheme. Junior colleges and centralised institutes began to assess students on project work last year. (Straits Times 21 Jun 2001)

  NTUC Income Scholarships now inviting applications. Closing date: 16 Jun 2001

  A cross-campus exchange programme will be tried out by National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and Singapore Management University when the new academic year begins in July 2001. Up to 20 undergraduates from each of the three universities will be picked for the scheme, which allows them to take up courses or spend a semester or two at another campus. The exchange students pay no tuition fees at the guest university and there will be mutual recognition of credits. The idea for a student-exchange scheme within Singapore was mooted by NUS Vice-Chancellor SHIH Choon Fong in September 2000. (Straits Times 30 May 2001)

  From 1 Jun 2001, CPF members need not have a minimum sum (now S$65,000) before they will be allowed to use their CPF savings for tuition fees at tertiary institutions. They will be allowed to use up to 40% of their accumulated savings in the Ordinary Account, excluding amounts withdrawn for housing. The scheme, introduced in 1989, allows CPF money to be used to pay tuition fees for full-time courses at the three universities, four polytechnics, LaSalle-SIA College of the Arts and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. The money is taken as a loan and, one year after graduating, the recipient must start repayments to his parent's CPF account. About 8,000 tertiary students take advantage of the scheme each year. (Straits Times 15 May 2001)

  The demand for places on the Singapore Management University's (SMU) new accountancy degree course has outstripped supply - more than six times over. There are 100 places and an overwhelming 659 applicants. About 85% of them are A Level holders while the rest are polytechnic diploma graduates. The new course will not only qualify students to become certified public accountants, but also expose them to a range of subjects from business, arts and sciences. But, while it will take three years to obtain an accountancy degree at Nanyang Technological University, an SMU student could take up to four years to obtain his. (Straits Times 25 Apr 2001)

  Singapore's universities will go ahead and use the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) to admit students in two years' time as planned, DPM Tony TAN said on 13 Apr 2001. This is despite the comments by University of California (UC) president Richard Atkinson in February 2001, calling for the elimination of SAT as a requirement for admission. (Straits Times 14 Apr 2001)