Higher Education In Singapore Research Articles

Autistic Students’ Experiences, Opportunities and Challenges in Higher Education in Singapore: A Qualitative Study

The number of autistic people entering higher education (HE) is increasing steadily across the globe, yet research on understanding their experiences and support needs still focuses almost exclusively on the perspectives of autistic students attending HE in the U.S., U.K. and Australia. The present study sought to explore and understand (i) the experiences, opportunities, and challenges of autistic students in HE in Singapore; and (ii) non-autistic HE students’ experiences of studying alongside and socially engaging with their autistic peers. Twenty autistic and twenty-two non-autistic HE students in Singapore completed an online survey with open-ended questions. Framework analysis identified themes similar to those in the extant literature (e.g., autistic students enjoyed greater autonomy in HE compared to school, but often found difficulty juggling their numerous academic responsibilities) and novel themes pertaining to Singapore’s unique sociocultural context (e.g., Singaporean autistic people face high pressure to “blend in” due to societal values of conforming to social norms). Participants also noted considerable social isolation of autistic students, likely linked to a double empathy problem between autistic and non-autistic students. Improving inclusiveness both within HE and in the wider society is a necessarily joint effort among many stakeholders. Recommendations include HE stakeholders working together to develop and improve supports (e.g., implementing formal transition programmes) for autistic students and incorporating neurodiversity education into school curricula for all students.

Perceived quality of online learning during COVID-19 in higher education in Singapore: perspectives from students, lecturers, and academic leaders.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the higher education sector in Singapore. Existing tertiary studies seeking to understand the intraperiod response to COVID-19 often focus on single institutions, jurisdictions or stakeholder groups. This study is the first in-depth qualitative multi-stakeholder examination of the higher education environment in Singapore during the COVID-19 pandemic. It explored the perceptions of the quality of digital pedagogy during COVID-19, how universities have adapted because of the pandemic, and how leaders, teaching staff and students have been affected by the management and educational changes via 13 semi-structured interviews across six Singapore higher education institutions. Through purposive sampling, we explore current stakeholder perceptions, structural education changes, and personal learning and teaching impacts of COVID-19. Applying Braun and Clarke's approach to thematic analysis, we inductively uncovered four major themes: the Singapore government's approach to COVID-19 and its effects on delivery; academic leadership approaches; education technology; and well-being. This article is critical as a key foundation to understand how Singapore is responding with unique geopolitical differences. We discuss the practical implications of our research for current university faculty and students during and beyond the pandemic, and outline opportunities for future research.

Emergency remote teaching or andragogical innovation? Higher education in Singapore during the COVID-19 pandemic

Singapore higher education’s intraperiod response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was unique compared to other countries, being praised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for its early response. Like many other countries, alarming growth in cases appeared, and careful strategies for the continuation of learning were implemented. This paper provides a critical case study and reflection-in-action (Green et al., 2020) of the Singaporean intraperiod response, exploring individual responses from a sample of six autonomous universities, two international universities with campuses in Singapore, and four Private Education Institutions. Through a defined qualitative content analysis of university documentation, scant academic literature, and government and media sources, an understanding of the pandemic response in Singapore was possible. We chose to ensure full coverage of the city-state to enable a comprehensive country analysis in contrast to the growing volume of single-institution pandemic and emergency remote teaching case studies applying a sociotechnical theoretical framework to guide an analysis between educational technology systems and the people using it to teach, work, and learn. This study identified that while tasks and technology were presented with depth, the social elements – people and systems – were often lacking accurate description. We discuss how this technical focus has practical and research implications, and how future research and university teaching and learning practice can better respond to future challenges through reflection of the sociotechnical perspective.

The Internationalization of Higher Education in Singapore: An Elitist Model at the Crossroads of “Worlds”?

Sous l’effet des politiques d’internationalisation, Singapour se positionne aujourd’hui comme l’un des pôles mondiaux de l’enseignement supérieur les plus sélectifs. Comment ces politiques se sont-elles imposées à Singapour? Se sont-elles développées selon un modèle hégémonique occidental? La concurrence entre les établissements publics et privés s’est-elle intensifiée? Les élites étudiantes se sont-elles renouvelées? Pour répondre à ces questions, l’article analyse l’impact des dynamiques d’internationalisation sur le système d’enseignement supérieur à Singapour au cours des cinquante dernières années. L’intensification de la dimension internationale à Singapour témoigne d’une reconfiguration de la structuration de ses formations et de la fabrication de ses élites. Sur la base d’une enquête de terrain combinant analyses d’entretiens auprès d’acteurs institutionnels, discours politiques et sources documentaires, l’article montre que les universités publiques singapouriennes offrent aujourd’hui des formations d’élite classées parmi les meilleures d’Asie, accueillant prioritairement les étudiants nationaux les plus dotés scolairement, dont les flux s’accroissent depuis 2010 au détriment de ceux des étudiants internationaux. De son côté, le système privé lucratif des établissements délocalisés à Singapour répond à de fortes exigences de qualité et permet de recruter un plus grand nombre d’étudiants en mobilité. En découle une dichotomie entre une élite publique formée dans les universités nationales plus sélectives scolairement et une élite privée incarnée dans les établissements privés plus sélectifs économiquement. L’enquête démontre que l’enseignement supérieur singapourien a acquis une position dominante régionale grâce à des décisions appuyées sur des valeurs inspirées à la fois du monde occidental technologiquement développé et du monde oriental en croissance rapide.

Singapore and Korea Towards Creative Economy in 21st Century: Comparative Analysis of Higher Education in Singapore and South Korea

This paper analyzes the most recent policies and trends in South Korean and Singaporean higher education. The main objective of this comparative analysis is to show similarities between South Korean and Singaporean strategies for their higher education structures, despite striking differences between the emergence levels of the two higher education systems. The comparison is designed to identify their most recent past, current efforts to progress in decentralization of tertiary education towards creative economy; to develop policies in order to increase competitiveness of domestic “world-class” universities; to attract a high number of international students, particularly full-tuition paying students; to attract and retain foreign talents. Certain programs, such as the provision of bonded scholarship for international students in Singapore and WCU in Korea, may appear controversial. Accordingly, the fine-tuning of referring policies and drivers is of vital importance.

Global aspirations and local talent: the development of creative higher education in Singapore

This paper explores higher education development and policy shifts in Singapore over the last decade, within a landscape of an increasingly globalised creative economy and international cultural policy transfer. Using qualitative interviews with key players in policy and higher education institutions, the paper aims to explain the push and pull factors behind investment in creative higher education. It considers the emerging dynamics and diverse patterns, embedded in a society where higher education interactions with economic development have a long history and pragmatic rationale. While still in the early days of these investments, the paper argues that there are some global policy lessons to be learnt from the case of Singapore and the role that higher education can play in developing a creative economy, while striving to overcome issues of over-supply and innate vulnerability of creative careers.

The Rise and Fall of Transnational Higher Education in Singapore

International Higher Education (IHE) publishes insightful, informed, and high-quality commentary and analysis on trends and issues of importance to higher education systems, institutions, and stakeholders around the world.

‘We offer unparalleled flexibility’: Purveying conceptual values in higher educational corporate branding

Observations have been made about branding’s shift from a material to conceptual focus. Consequently, corporate branding has become more focused on associating and imbuing corporate brands with supposedly positive values and attributes. This article locates this emphasis in the context of Singapore’s marketized higher education sector, and examines how conceptual values like flexibility, freedom and empowerment are expressed linguistically and, more significantly, symbolized in and through photographic images in corporate brand communication. It is argued that while the circulation of conceptual values in branding has arisen in part due to the imperatives of branding, the privileging of values like flexibility, freedom and empowerment is symptomatic of neoliberal capitalist influence and the subjection of higher education in Singapore to a knowledge-based economic logic. This helps to shape stakeholders’ concepts and expectations of higher education as well as public attitudes towards the neoliberal knowledge-based market system more broadly.

“Underlining Factors in Deciding to Pursue Australian Higher Education in Singapore” – An International Students’ Perspective

The international demand for tertiary education has grown tremendously as enrolment increased from a mere 6.5 million in 1950 to 88 million in 2000 (Larsen & Vincent-Lancrin, 2002). Boehm et al (2002) predicted that by 2025, there will be 7 million students studying overseas compared to 1.4 million in the early 1990s. This research focus on identifying the underlying factors influencing the decision of students from China and India to pursue tertiary education at Australian institutes of higher education located in Singapore. The study expands the six factor model (Mazzarol, 1997) by incorporating variables relevant to Asian context. The research design adopts a mixed method approach in a survey of the literature and online survey of students from India and China. The findings include a statistical analysis of factors and considerations influencing the decision of these students, the role of education services agents in their home country and a discussion on the conceptual framework of the evoked set of factors influencing the decision of an international student. The study makes important recommendations to stakeholders in higher education sector in Asia-Pacific region.

Support for students with visual impairment in higher education in Singapore: Considering university publicity materials conveying disability services and support

This paper explores online resources in Singapore that reflect the current state of support in higher education for students with visual impairment. In the six institutions of higher education there was evidence of support being provided for students with disabilities ― but the type and extent of support was variable, and messages conveyed to students were mixed. Provisions tend to be generic in nature, and do not necessarily address needs related to specific disabilities. If students with disabilities are to participate in higher education, clearer communication is necessary to enable them to make informed choices with confidence. Information needs to confirm that they will have the requisite support to afford them the opportunities associated with the university experience.

SEDA’s legacy beyond the UK shores: a Singaporean perspective

The early 1990s saw the emergence of a rapidly changing landscape of higher education in Singapore with influence from various trends internationally. This article shares on the embryonic stage of staff development in Singapore and the journey of encounters with SEDA pioneers who helped sow the seeds of understanding the true scholarship of teaching. The SEDA Fellowship and institution accreditation frameworks were catalytic in bringing about a values-based approach and the culture of understanding the learner, the professional identity of faculty and the professional learning community. Finally, the growth of higher education sector and pervasiveness of the SEDA’s impact is discussed.

Internationalizing Higher Education in Singapore

The internationalization of higher education has become an important policy and research agenda. At the national level, different countries have responded differently with some countries becoming more open than others. At the local level, universities have also reacted differently with some becoming more liberal and innovative than others. Thus, this paper aims, first, to examine the rationale and policies of the Singapore government in internationalizing its higher education, and, second, to determine the corresponding institutional responses of Singapore educational institutions particularly at the university level. The findings show that government policies have been designed, implemented, reviewed, and adjusted to promote student values and attributes, including intercultural awareness and engagement, competitive edge, and global citizenship, through an internationalized curriculum; to meet the country’s manpower and population requirements; and to promote Singapore as an international hub for education. Singapore universities, in particular the National University of Singapore (NUS), have implemented their programs and activities to promote internationalization at home and abroad. Singapore will continue to internationalize its higher education as national borders become more open and as universities become more competitive and innovative.

Motives, Expectations, Perceptions and Satisfaction of International Students Pursuing Private Higher Education in Singapore

As education is an important sector in every national economy, it is arguable that higher education is a key area of interest of both public and private institutions. With globalization, the higher education sector is internationalized through the mobility of the institutions and students alike. International students are increasingly moving to other countries in pursuit of education and other interests such as career opportunities, cultural and social experiences, and even migration. The present study investigates international students’ motives in studying abroad and the impacts of these different motives on their evaluation of service quality of the institutions where they study. This study attempts to incorporate the motives of their study with the well recognized service quality model, namely SERVQUAL. This study was empirically conducted in a private higher education institution in Singapore, gathering data from 263 international students who are studying in the business programmes. The survey method was used to gather the required data about the motives, expectations and perceptions as well as the level of satisfaction with the education service provided by the institution under study. The study found that the students held four kinds of motives: academic & education, career & migration, pleasure & experience and work. The study suggests that educational marketers should consider the role and influence of the motives in evaluating service quality by international students and to develop their education programmes accordingly so that their level of service quality will be enhanced from the perspective of international students.

Beyond SERVQUAL: The competitive forces of higher education in Singapore

The paper explores the influences of service quality in higher education and how they contribute to the overall performance of a higher learning institution in Singapore. It draws on the underpinnings of SERVQUAL, and discusses the dichotomy and interrelation between customer perception and expectation in response to current tertiary contexts. Based on an actual framework of a Singapore higher learning institution, the paper further examines three key aspects of service standards: customer orientation, course design/delivery, and support services. Qualitative methodology was employed and data were collected by means of structured in-depth interviews with 12 academics of the institution. Our findings reveal that the way students are perceived will have a direct influence on the learning dynamics that occur both inside and outside the classroom. More importantly, service quality needs to be evaluated on the basis of the integrated experience of students supported by a network of learning spaces created to promote dialogue, inquiry, and reflection. At the core is the collective effort of all individuals that function as active carriers of change.

Geography's Place in Higher Education in Singapore

Unlike the other papers in this symposium, which deal with countries where there are large numbers of universities, and comparison can be made over time and across space of geography's place in higher education, this paper focuses on a country that was for a long time described as a ‘one-university town’: Singapore. What interesting story can there be when geography's presence in higher education is so circumscribed? In this paper, the author illustrates how geography's fate in higher education in Singapore is closely bound up with developments in other parts of the world, not unlike the way in which the country's destiny is integrally linked with global economic, social and political developments. Yet, geography in higher education in Singapore has also managed to maintain a trajectory of growth and significance, problems in many other places notwithstanding. It has also maintained an identity influenced by developments elsewhere, yet simultaneously unique. In what follows, the author outlines the presence and complexion of geography in Singapore's higher education landscape, and the interlocking relationships with pre-tertiary geography education, international flows, internal university relations, and geography in the public imagination, all of which shape the character of geography in Singapore's higher education.

The design and implementation of a simulation game for teaching knowledge management

AbstractKnowledge management is a discipline that has rapidly gained attention from both practitioners and academics over the last decade. However, the number of simulation games designed for knowledge management education has been limited. This is largely due to the emerging nature of knowledge management, whose domain the established gaming and simulation community has yet to enter. For this reason, the value and relevance of knowledge management simulation games is highlighted in this article by detailing the design and implementation of a simulation game entitled The Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO). The study was intended to meet two objectives: (a) to provide a template for designing knowledge management simulation games, and (b) to determine the effectiveness of CKO through a pretest–posttest research design. An empirical study which involved 32 final‐year Business Studies students reading an elective module entitled Knowledge Management Systems in an institute of higher education in Singapore was cond‐ucted. The findings confirmed that CKO was a viable and effective instructional tool for imparting knowledge to the participants. In addition, the scores obtained from CKO had a moderating effect on the participants' attitude towards the subject matter.

Globalization or Glocalization? Higher Education Reforms in Singapore

Globalization and the evolution of the knowledge‐based economy have caused dramatic changes to the character and functions of higher education in most countries around the world. However, the impacts of globalization on universities are not uniform though business‐like practices have been adopted to cope with competition in the global marketplace. The pressure for restructuring and reforming higher education is mainly derived from growing expectations and demands of different stakeholders in society. In recent years, widespread concerns over widened access, funding, accountability, quality, and managerial efficiency are perceived as the prominent global trends related to university education. Because of the divergent political, social, economic, cultural and historical backgrounds, national/local governments may adopt similar strategies in response to pressures generated from globalization. Nonetheless, through a close scrutiny of the ways that national policies are made, we may find that governments around the globe, particularly in East Asia, have tried to make use of the globalization discourse to address/justify the local policy/political agendas. This paper aims to examine the latest higher education reform initiatives proposed by the Singapore Government, with particular reference to reflect upon how the Singapore Government reforms its university systems in the context of globalization. It is argued that the latest comprehensive review of public university governance and funding brings about a changing role of the government in the regulation, finance and provision of higher education in Singapore and eventually alters the state‐university relationship.

Centralized Decentralization of Higher Education in Singapore

Centralized Decentralization of Higher Education in Singapore

Recent Developments in Higher Education in Singapore

Amid the recent economic turmoil in East and South east Asia, the Singapore government continues to press ahead with its plans to review the higher education system. The primary motivation for doing so is the maintenance of national economic competitiveness in the global economy. These changes in higher education are being undertaken in tandem with reforms in the primary and secondary sectors of education.

Creativity in Business and Innovative Organizations

The contributions of business and innovative organizations have made their influence felt in the history of commercial enterprise. From Henry Ford of Ford Motors and Bill Gates of Microsoft to Sim Wong Hoo of Creative Technology, creativity has been the lifeblood of commercial culture. Such organizations may take numerous forms – private or public, commercial or non-commercial, corporate or non-corporate – but, to a great degree, their lifeblood must be seen to be creativity in some form. This paper examines the phenomenon of creativity in business and innovative organizations and looks at the implications for industry–education cooperation. In the latter context the author examines some successful firms in Singapore, whose creative ideas have worked, and analyses the ways in which higher education in Singapore is responding to the need to encourage entrepreneurship and creativity within business organizations.