Improving tertiary education not just a numbers game: PM Lee

[SINGAPORE]The government's efforts to improve Singapore's tertiary education system cannot be just about increasing the number of university places, says Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Some countries have found that having a large proportion of their students going to universities "does not necessarily guarantee happy outcomes", he said at the opening ceremony of the National University of Singapore's (NUS) University Town campus last night.

About 27 per cent of each cohort of students currently get a place in one of Singapore's publicly funded universities, and the target is to hit 40 per cent by 2020.