New measures to boost private education sector standards introduced

THE Committee for Private Education (CPE) has introduced a series of measures for private schools in Singapore to abide by, in an effort to strengthen student protection and boost information transparency.

Private education institutions (PEIs) need to have a minimum paid-up capital of S$100,000 with immediate effect, and all existing PEIs will be required to meet a minimum credit rating by June 1 next year.

Those that offer external degrees must participate in CPE's annual graduate employment survey. They must also obtain EduTrust certification, if they do not already have it, in order to continue offering such external degrees.

PEIs must also set minimum academic entry requirements for fresh school-leavers enrolling in external degrees, or programmes that lead to external degrees.

New EduTrust standards will be released in January 2017 and will take effect on June 1. Among the changes is one that requires PEIs to have at least a four-year enhanced registration framework before they can apply for the EduTrust quality mark.