Think Singapore

Vorapol's academic prowess started early. After he finished Mathayom 2 from Chitralada School with an accumulative GPA of 4. 0, the young and confident Vorapol left Thailand for Singapore, where he continued his secondary education at St Patrick's School. ``The academic system in Singapore is highly competitive, which puts a lot of pressure on the students at a very young age,'' says Vorapol. ``In order to gain acceptance into good schools, academic scores must be outstanding because the number of available seats at prestigious junior colleges or universities is limited,'' he adds.

Small but competent For decades, international communities have known Singapore as one of Asia's financial powerhouses. Being a small country of only 4. 2 million people, living in a land area of 690 square kilometres, the country's economic strength is due in large part to its solid education system. In fact, Singapore's educational system is one of the world's most rigorous and most competent.

In the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), for example, Singaporean students received the highest scores on both mathematics and science assessment tests, from among 48 other countries. At the university level, UK-based The Times Higher Education Supplement ranked National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) at 19 and 61, respectively, among the world's top 200 universities, surpassing such well-known schools as the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), King's College London, and Tokyo University.

Mawar Quek, area director (Thailand and Myanmar) of the Bangkok-based office of the Singapore Tourism Board.

``Singapore is actually quite small, unlike Thailand where there is a lot of land and natural resources,'' says Mawar Quek, area director (Thailand and Myanmar) of the Singapore Tourism Board, which also oversees Singapore Education Services. ``The only thing that we have is people. So, human capability is something that we look at very seriously. ''

Basic education system

Because Singapore is home to people of many races, its basic education system offers a mix between the Singapore and British Cambridge systems. Basic education is bilingual, in which English is the first language of instruction. In addition to English, local students are required to study their mother tongue _ Malay, Chinese, and Tamil _ from primary to junior college levels as a second language, depending on the student's nationality.

Singapore's primary school education comprises six years, from Primary 1 to 6. At the end of Primary 6, all students take the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), which classifies who will continue on to the four-year (express) or five-year (normal) secondary programme. Because of the PSLE, Vorapol says, Thai students arriving in a Singapore school right after Prathom 6 may find their grade level pushed back by one or two academic years, to Primary 5 or 4, due to their weak English language skills.

In Vorapol's case, leaving Thai school at Mathayom 2 allowed him to immediately continue on to the next grade level, secondary Year 3. But because of his comparatively weaker English language skills, and dispite his perfect GPA records from Chitralada School, St Patrick's School placed him in the five-year normal programme.

``I was shocked,'' Vorapol says, reminiscing his early experience in a Singapore school. ``You see, the five-year programme is considered to be for those with weak academic performances. So I studied hard in my first year, so that my grades surpassed the required 80 percent to be transferred to the four-year express programme,'' he adds. And he succeeded.

At the end of secondary school, depending on whether the students have studied under the four-year or five-year programme, they will take the Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education `Ordinary' (GCE `O') Level or `Normal' (GCE `N') Level examinations. Compared to the Thai system, students leaving secondary schools at this level are equivalent to Mathoyom 6 graduates. After taking the `O' or `N' Level, students have a number of choices available for continuing education, including junior college, pre-university, polytechnic, or Institute of Technical Education (ITE). ``A junior college means that [you] would want to continue on to university level,'' says Quek. ``A polytechnic is a three-year diploma programme. Then you start to work because it gives you a lot of hands-on training, rather than just classroom instruction,'' she adds.

The difference between junior college and pre-university is that while the junior college takes two years to complete, pre-university takes three years. At the end of either programme, students will take the Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education `Advanced' (GCE `A') Level subject examinations, before continuing on to university education. Polytechnic and ITE, on the other hand, focus on a development of technical skills and in-depth knowledge in various industry sectors.

Choices for higher education

Buildings on Singapore Managemnt University's campus: School of Economics and Social Sciences; The Lee Kong Chian School of Business; Lee Ka-Shing Library

``Singaporean students usually plan their university education in year two of the junior college. After finishing the `A' Level, the majority of students apply to national universities as well as those in the United States and the United Kingdom,'' Vorapol explains.

Upon graduation from Victoria Junior College in 2004, Vorapol applied to National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Management University (SMU), Cornell University (US), Stanford University (US), and Harvard University (US).

While he was accepted into NUS, SMU, and Cornell, Vorapol chose to attend SMU's Lee Kong Chian School of Business and School of Economics and Social Sciences.

``Personally, I think Singapore is very good in business,'' Vorapol says. ``And its quality of education, not only at SMU, but also NUS and NTU, is comparable to that of the US Ivy Leagues. The only difference between Cornell and SMU is the reputation. If I were to go to Cornell for the reputation, I don't have to pay that much money. I can attain that reputation in the graduate level,'' he adds.

As a Lee Kong Chian scholar, Vorapol is entitled to embark on a business study mission (BSM), in addition to receiving monetary benefits.

The BSM allows the scholars to study a country's economy by actually spending about a month in that country. In addition, the Lee Kong Chian scholarship scheme offers a ``shadowing CEO'' programme, in which the scholars spend days observing a CEO of large Singaporean companies and obtaining hands-on experience on how these CEO's go about their daily businesses.

``Under this scheme, students have a lot of power. If we would like to meet a particular businessperson, we can write a proposal, and the school will help us contact the source,'' Vorapol says. ``Money can't buy me this type of tangential benefits. ''

Open-minded scholarship policies

Because of its supportive policy on people development, the Singaporean government offers to pay for 65 percent of the tuition fees for international students studying at the undergraduate level. This tuition grant is applicable to students from all nationalities who are studying at one of the three state universities, on a condition that they spend at least three years working for a Singaporean company after graduation.

``Having international students to come to Singapore will provide a diverse educational experience to everyone,'' says Quek. ``It's not to say you are in Singapore, you have to learn it the Singaporean way. '' In addition to the tuition grant, the Ministry of Education also provides an annual scholarship scheme forAsean students, which pays for accommodation, food (breakfast and dinner) provided by the hostel or boarding school, medical benefits and accident insurance, and school fees.

Besides the government-funded schemes, each national university provides a number of scholarship options to international students. SMU, for example, offers four other scholarship schemes, besides the Lee Kong Chian scholar programme. ``The scholarship application process is highly competitive,'' says Ong Siying, assistant manager at SMU's Office of Undergraduate Admissions. ``Students from various nationalities as well as local students will be competing on equal ground,'' she adds. Students can apply for these scholarships along with their university applications.

For Thai students, Ong says, the university looks for the Mathayom 6 grade results and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores. In addition, the application will require students to state their extra-curricular activities and non-academic achievements outside classroom.

``We look at what we call a total individual, meaning that we look at two components: academic and non-academic achievements,'' Ong says. ``If [the candidates] are shortlisted, we put them through an interview with our professors and faculty members. And that's when they will be processed based on their articulations, for example, their analytical skills and thought patterns,'' she adds.

Despite its generous scholarship and grant policies, Singapore's education offers little chance for underachievers. The key to a successful academic endeavour in Singapore, says Vorapol, lie in early preparation and long-term planning. ``If you are considering studying abroad, in Singapore or elsewhere, the sooner you prepare, the better. Language is not something that you can master in one or two days. ``For the undergraduate studies, in particular, your English skills should be solid enough to allow you to debate in class discussions and express your own opinions,'' he adds.

For more information on education in Singapore, visit www. singaporeedu. gov. sg or call Singapore Education Services at 02-630-4774-6.