With 7 different local universities to choose from, A-level and polytechnic graduates nowadays have a variety of courses to choose from that suit their needs. But is diversity in schools a problem?
Singapore Management University (SMU) partnered up with the American Wharton Business School in 1999 and accepted their first batch of students in 2000. To set itself apart from the more established National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), students are not only accepted based on grades, but also through panel interviews, reflective essays and their other qualities and achievements.
The American-style of teaching students in small seminar groups and giving marks to students for class participation that SMU has adopted has taught their graduates to think on their feet and to speak up in a more confident, articulate and mature manner. With SMU’s increasing popularity amongst students and employers posing a challenge, both NUS and NTU are stepping up to try and draw the best students.
NUS has made use of its high worldwide ranking to form partnerships with different universities around the world to offer overseas exchange programmes to its students. The NUS-town was also opened at the former Warren Golf Club site in Clementi to give students a residential college experience.
Meanwhile, NTU started to focus on sciences and technology, setting up several labs including the Future Mobility Research Lab with BMW to study the future of transportation. With 2000 graduates a year, NTU pioneered in engineering education, and is the world’s largest single-campus engineering facility. NTU students also get to spend a year with a partner university before taking up internships at start-up companies and