Australian Buy-A-Degree Universities
This is adapted and expanded from something that I had posted in the forum of the Reach Singapore group on Facebook.
I seem to observe quite a few people purchasing degrees in third rate Australian universities over the last two decades. From what I preceive, this is a big outflow of funds. I think that the government is aware of this substantial drain of funds.
Secondly, some of those who had studied there after purchasing their degrees have migrated there because of their experiences of the slower pace and the quality of life there. A house with a lawn in the suburbs and two SUVs anyone? The American dream? This is, of course, an indirect factor which had increased the migration rate from Singapore over the years. We are losing people.
I think there should be provision to make it possible for these people to get a place in a university here. If one does not want to lower the standards of the current universities now, is it not possible for additional universities with lower entry requirements and costs to be set up in Singapore to cater for these people? Give them alternatives. That way, the new generation will stay.
11 comments:
By allowing their emigration, you are raising the average intelligence level of both countries! What's the problem?
(Is RRU, AKA Roo Rooter U, one of the Australian institutions?)
That is such a wicked comment! It drips with sarcasm and it works on many different levels. HILARIOUS!
Ignoring the people who buy a degree, a point that you raised is the limited number of spaces in local universities for people other than the elite.
My circumstances are very similar to many other people: Intelligent people who aren't able to make it in university only because we had selected to enter a polytechnic earlier on in our lives.
I had no recourse to pursue a university degree except for going overseas. This is a very similar situation for many poly grads who want to pursue higher education after.
You've hit another important point: Property Ownership.
People who has been in places like Australia for quite sometime should have become aware that it is a lot cheaper to really own property there.
I have a friend who works in Australia. She knows quite a few youngster who paid up their mortgages by just working as plantation fruit pickers for 4-5 years.
Property ownership is a very big enticement. For the price of a HDB flat, I can purchase land, build a house and still have enough left over for a car.
Back in Singapore, I see myself getting a flat like everyone else. Here, the dream of building a home is so much closer at hand.
Ken, that is true regarding the limited amount of space available in local universities. This form of social engineering where one engineers to get a quantity of doctors or limit lawyers will just not work in today's world of easy travel and education aboard. I really wish they would have all kinds of universities here rather than merely elite ones. People move. And some people are late bloomers while others are not so academically inclined but they excel when they are out there working.
Ken, I sympathise with you. I also sympathise with many polytechnic graduates out there. And I guess the system reaps what it sowed. Now, a number of people I know have migrated.
Ole Wolvie, the American dream, now the Singaporean dream. A nice house in the suburbs with a SUV rather than a 700 sq ft hole costing several hundred thousand dollars in a faceless concrete block in Sengkang served by few public transport links and loud neighbours. I can see it. I have a number of friends who have left for Australia. The incentives are there. Soon, Singapore is going to be left with the lower middle and lower classes when the middle-class migrates en-massé to Australia.
Ken, your dream is a very real one, to provide a comfortable and real living space for you and your family. It is not wrong. Patriotism and nationalism are just tribalism dressed up sometimes.
Ole Wolvie, Ken, you know what? I spent four years in Northern California and three in West Yorkshire. Each time, I chose to return to Singapore. I am quite fortunate.
You see the many photos of Singapore in my blog? It's just me chronicling home. Defining it in my own way.
I did make a conscious decision to make this my home despite loving cities like London, New York City and so forth. You have probably read me talking about them here and there.
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