Singapore is stepping up efforts to grab a bigger slice of the multi-billion dollar international education market by luring elite foreign schools and positioning itself as a "global schoolhouse."
Banking on its safe, clean and expatriate-friendly image and offering a variety of local and international schools, Singapore already hosts some 50,000 foreign students and wants to triple their number in 10 to 15 years.
Wealthy families in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, China and India have long been sending their children here for secondary or university education, but Singapore has more ambitious goals.
It is now negotiating with Australian, British and US schools to pick a foreign university which will be allowed to set up a full-blown campus here offering undergraduate studies, in competition with three local universities.
"We aim to have a private university start up within the next two to three years," a spokesman for the Economic Development Board (EDB), the agency tasked with attracting foreign investment in Singapore, told reporters.
In addition to a private foreign university, specialist European schools in such areas as fashion and culinary art are also being considered.
Within the Asia-Pacific region, Australia is the favorite destination of Asians, including thousands of Singaporeans, seeking higher education.
According to IDP Education Australia, a company which promotes Australian education overseas, some 155,000 foreign students were enrolled in Australian universities in the second semester of 2002. Such students generate close to three billion US dollars a year for the economy.
Singapore's EDB estimates that each foreign student here would need to spend some 3,000 to 8,500 dollars a year in living expenses, on top of tuition fees.
Trade and Industry Minister George Yeo has predicted that demand for higher education among the growing middle classes in Asia will increase faster than GDP growth.
There are at least 1.8 million students worldwide pursuing higher education outside their home countries, with 45 percent of them coming from Asia, he said, adding that this was "only the tip of the iceberg."
"As hundreds of millions of Asians strive to follow in the footsteps of those who have succeeded in the developed countries, they create a huge demand for educational services, most of which will be met in Asia itself," he said.
Post-graduate programs are now offered in Singapore campuses set up by the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business (GSB) and French management institute INSEAD.
They have little trouble drawing students for executive MBA courses costing up to US$100,000.
"Singapore is centrally located in the region and has some of the best transportation and communication infrastructure anywhere in the world," said William Kooser, associate dean for executive MBA programs at the GSB.
Proximity to key business centers and major corporations is also a benefit, along with Singapore's "easy lifestyle."
"Our faculty and students can focus on their teaching and studies knowing that the issues of daily life won't be difficult," he said.
Hellmut Schutte, dean of the INSEAD Asia campus, said Singapore's chances of grabbing more education business from Australia, the US and Europe were "good to very good" but "it will take a long time and much effort."
"The success depends on Singapore standing for quality education, not mass production," he said, adding that competition for international students "is heating up."
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