Knowledge-Based economy - Rising challenges of the global schoolhouse project in Singapore

Main Article Content

Roland Attila Csizmazia

Keywords

Knowledge-based economy, Global Schoolhouse, xenophobia, education hub, international students, social integration program

Abstract

This article analyses the development of the education hub in Singapore. The world-wide migration of professionals and talented students had started many centuries ago and was further bolstered by globalization. Singapore intends to take a leading role in creating a knowledge-based economy. Consequently, the government has great ambitions to build not only research centers but also a world-class university environment, an education hub. The first part of the article seeks to describe the factors that facilitated the establishment of the education hub and the Global Schoolhouse project in Singapore. The second part identifies the challenges and problems of this project, while the third part proposes solutions to these problems. Although some of the solutions may refer to policies implemented in other countries, the article maintains a focus on the unique problems of Singapore.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
Abstract 880 | PDF Downloads 1406

References

Altbach, P. G. (1998). The university as center and periphery. In P. G. Altbach (Ed.), Comparative higher education: Knowledge, the university and development (pp. 49–65). Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research Center, University of Hong Kong.

Bone, D. (2009) Internationalization of HE: a ten year review. Report to Secretary of State, John Denham, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

Chan, R. (February 11, 2014). “Income + Wealth Inequality = More Trouble for Society.” The Straits Times. http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/budget-2014/story/income-wealth-inequality-more-trouble-society-20140211

Collins, Francis L., Ravinder Sidhu, Nick Lewis, and Brenda SA Yeoh. (2014). “Mobility and Desire: International Students and Asian Regionalism in Aspirational Singapore.” Discourse: Studies in the cultural politics of education 35: 661–76. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01596306.2014.921996.

Csizmazia, R. A. (2016) Csizmazia, R. A. (2015). Singapore Systematically Running Globalization Efforts. International Journal of Knowledge and Innovation in Business, 3-1.

Daquila, Teofilo C. (2013). “Internationalizing Higher Education in Singapore Government Policies and the NUS Experience.” Journal of Studies in International Education 17: 629–47. http://jsi.sagepub.com/content/17/5/629.short.

Dessoff, Alan. (2012). “Asia’s Burgeoning Higher Education Hubs.” International Educator 1: 16–26. https://scholar.google.co.kr/scholar.ris?q=info:qA_z5m9t7WMJ:scholar.google.com&output=cite&scirp=0&hl=en.

Gomes, Catherine. (2014). “Xenophobia Online: Unmasking Singaporean Attitudes towards ‘foreign Talent’migrants.” Asian Ethnicity 15: 21–40. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14631369.2013.784511.

Gopinathan, S., & Lee, M.H. (2011). Challenging and co-opting globalisation: Singapore’s strategies in higher education. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 33, 287–299

Gribble, Cate, and Grant McBurnie.(2015). “Problems within Singapore’s Global Schoolhouse.” International Higher Education (48). https://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/ihe/article/download/7972/7123.

Han, F.K., et al. (2011). Lee Kuan Yew: hard truths to keep Singapore going, Singapore: Straits Times Press.

HESA (2014) Student population – Offshore provision by Higher Education Statistics Agency. https://www.hesa.ac.uk/component/content/article?id=

IE Singapore (2013) IE Singapore Launches Singapore Talent Development Alliance for Education and Training Players to Better Access China [Press release], from http://www.iesingapore.gov.sg/Media-Centre/Media-Releases/2013/1/IE-Singapore-Launches-Singapore-Talent-Development-Alliance-for-education-and-training-players.

Jon, Jae-Eun, Jenny J. Lee, and Kiyong Byun. (2014). “The Emergence of a Regional Hub: Comparing International Student Choices and Experiences in South Korea.” Higher Education 67: 691–710. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-013-9674-0.

Knight, Jane. (2011). “Education Hubs: A Fad, a Brand, an Innovation?” Journal of Studies in International Education 15: 221–40. http://jsi.sagepub.com/content/15/3/221.short.

———. (2013). “Education Hubs: International, Regional and Local Dimensions of Scale and Scope.” Comparative Education 49: 374–87. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03050068.2013.803783.

———. (2014). “Comparative Analysis of Education Hubs.” : 183–206. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-007-7025-6_11.

Korea.net (2010) Korea Immigration Integration Program: helping new arrivals feel at home http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Society/view?articleId=81053

Kumar, Prem. (2013). “Bridging East and West Educational Divides in Singapore.” Comparative Education 49: 72–87. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03050068.2012.740221.

Lee, Jack T. (2014). “Education Hubs and Talent Development: Policymaking and Implementation Challenges.” Higher Education 68: 807–23. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-014-9745-x.

———. (2015a). “Soft Power and Cultural Diplomacy: Emerging Education Hubs in Asia.” Comparative Education 51: 353–74. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03050068.2015.1037551.

———. (2015b). “The Regional Dimension of Education Hubs: Leading and Brokering Geopolitics.” Higher Education Policy 28: 69–89. http://www.palgrave-journals.com/hep/journal/v28/n1/abs/hep201432a.html.

Lee, M.H.H., & Gopinathan, S. (2007). University restructuring in Singapore: Amazing! Or a Maze? Journal of Comparative Asian Development, 6, 107–141.

Leong, C. H. (2013). Whither integration? Singapore’s social fabric at a crossroad (ARI Seminar Series). Singapore: Asia Research Institute.

Lim, H.-K. (2012). Written reply to Parliament’s questions on EDB’s global schoolhouse initiative. Retrieved from https://www.mti.gov.sg/NewsRoom/Pages/Minister-Lim-Hng-Kiang's-written-reply-to-Parliament-Questions-on-EDB's-Global-Schoolhouse-initiative.aspx

Liu, Hong. (2014). “Beyond Co-Ethnicity: The Politics of Differentiating and Integrating New Immigrants in Singapore.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 37: 1225–38. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870.2014.892630.

Lo, William Yat Wai. (2014). “Think Global, Think Local: The Changing Landscape of Higher Education and the Role of Quality Assurance in Singapore.” Policy and Society 33: 263–73. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1449403514000393.

Masuyama, Seiichi, Donna Vandenbrink, and Chia Siow Yue. (2001). “6. Singapore: Towards a Knowledge-Based Economy.” : 169. https://oca.korea.ac.kr/link.n2s?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edspmu&AN=edspmu.9789812305817.14&lang=ko&site=eds-live&scope=site (2001).

McMahon, Mary E. (1992). “Higher Education in a World Market. An Historical Look at the Global Context of International Study.” Higher Education 24. https://oca.korea.ac.kr/link.n2s?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.3447582&lang=ko&site=eds-live&scope=site (1992).

Ministry of Education. (2011). International students and permanent residents in local universities. Parliamentary Replies to Mr Gan Thiam Poh, Member of Parliament for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.Retrieved from http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/parliamentary-replies/2011/11/number-of-international-students-prs.php

Ministry of Education. (2012). Report of the Committee on University Education Pathways Beyond 2015 (CUEP): Greater diversity, more opportunities. Singapore: Author.

Ministry of Social and Family Development (2015) Ageing Families Report Insight Series. https://app.msf.gov.sg/Portals/0/Summary/research/FDG/Ageing%20Families%20Report%20Insight%20Series%2020151124.pdf

Montsion, Jean Michel. (2009). “Relocating Politics at the Gateway: Everyday Life in Singapore’s Global Schoolhouse.” Pacific affairs 82: 637–56. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/paaf/paaf/2009/00000082/00000004/art00004.

MTI (Ministry of Trade and Industry). (1986). The Singapore economy: New directions . Singapore: Singapore National Printers.

Murphy-Lejeune, E. (2003) Student Mobility and Narrative in Europe: The New Strangers. London: Routledge.

Ng, P.T., & Tan, C. (2010). The Singapore Global Schoolhouse: An analysis of the development of the tertiary education landscape in Singapore. International Journal of Educational Management, 24, 178–188.
Ng, Pak Tee. (2013). “The Global War for Talent: Responses and Challenges in the Singapore Higher Education System.” Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 35: 280–92. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1360080X.2013.786859.
NPTD (2016) National Population and Talent Division - Population in Brief 2015. Singapore. http://www.nptd.gov.sg/Portals/0/Homepage/Highlights/population-in-brief-2015.pdf

OECD (2015) Education at a Glance. http://www.oecd.org/edu/launch-of-oecd-2015-education-at-a-glance.htm

Reyes, V. (2015). “A Critique of Knowledge-Based Economies: A Case Study of Singapore Education Stakeholders.” International Journal of Educational Reform 24: 136–59. https://books.google.co.kr/books?hl=ko&lr=&id=AMB_CgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA136&dq=A+Critique+of+Knowledge-Based+Economies:+A+Case+Study+of+Singapore+Education+Stakeholders&ots=xmRtN3dj8R&sig=c2NGsQiPVcP51yYcfW12mwtGMds.

Savage, Victor R. (2015). “Singapore’s Global City Challenges: National Identity, Cosmopolitan Aspirations, Migrant Requirements.” : 395–407. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-4-431-55043-3_20.

Sidhu, Ravinder. (2015). “Knowledge Economies: The Singapore Example.” International higher education (52). https://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/ihe/article/view/8024.

Sidhu, Ravinder, Kong-Chong Ho, and Brenda SA Yeoh. (2014). “Singapore: Building a Knowledge and Education Hub.” : 121–43. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-007-7025-6_8.

Sidhu, Ravinder Kaur. (2006). Universities and Globalisation: To Market, to Market. Australia, Australia/Oceania: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. https://oca.korea.ac.kr/link.n2s?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.ftunivqespace.oai.espace.library.uq.edu.au.UQ.121091&lang=ko&site=eds-live&scope=site (2006).

SingStat (2012) Population in brief 2011. http://app.msf.gov.sg/Portals/0/Files/SPRD/Population%20in%20Brief%202011.pdf

SingStat (2015) Social statistics in brief 2015 https://app.msf.gov.sg/Portals/0/Files/SPRD/2015%20MSF%20Singapore%20Social%20Statistics%20in%20Brief.pdf

Tan, J., & Gopinathan, S. (2000). Education reform in Singapore: Towards greater creativity and innovation? NIRA Review, 7(3), 5–10.

Toh, Mun-Heng. (2012). “Internationalization of Tertiary Education Services in Singapore.” http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2161691.

Waring, Peter. (2014). “Singapore’s Global Schoolhouse Strategy: Retreat or Recalibration?” Studies in Higher Education 39: 874–84. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03075079.2012.754867.

Waters, Johanna, and Maggi Leung. (2013). “Immobile Transnationalisms?: Young People and Their in Situ Experiences of ‘international’education in Hong Kong.” Urban Studies 50: 606–20. http://usj.sagepub.com/content/50/3/606.short.

Wong, A. (August 13, 2011). Famous biomed couple leaving S’pore for the US. Yahoo! News Singapore. Retrieved from http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singaporescene/renown-biomed-couple-leaving-pore-us-034709023.html

Wong, Wee Nam (2009) New immigrants’ loyalty to S’pore – SM Goh’s amazing conclusion. http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2009/11/new-immigrants-loyalty-to-spore-sm-gohs-amazing-conclusion/

World Trade Organization. (2002). GATS Overview Document. World Trade Organization. http://www.aic.lv/rec/Eng/new_d_en/gats/GATS_ovw.html

Yeoh, Brenda SA, and Theodora Lam. (2016). “Immigration and Its (Dis) Contents The Challenges of Highly Skilled Migration in Globalizing Singapore.” American Behavioral Scientist: 0002764216632831. http://abs.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/02/22/0002764216632831.abstract.