Singapore's global schoolhouse upbeat beyond short term

Singapore

THE coronavirus pandemic has been a spanner in the works for the international student market here, which had been picking up in recent years.

Higher-education players, especially private-sector schools, will likely take hits to their enrolments from the widespread travel curbs in place.

Yet campuses here are still open for business, and watchers remain upbeat on Singapore's mid-term prospects as a regional education hub.

To be sure, demand for places "is expected to be muted this year", said Amitabh Jhinghan, a partner at Ernst & Young consultancy EY-Parthenon, as "a significant proportion of international students are considering deferring overseas study plans".

Indeed, the Singapore campus of Australian varsity Curtin has already pencilled in a 70-per-cent drop in new international student enrolments.

With more than half its 1,500 students hailing from abroad, Curtin Singapore pro vice-chancellor Linley Lord told The Business Times: "Should borders remain closed, it will inevitably have a continued impact beyond July into our November intake."

Similarly, business school Insead - where master of business administration (MBA) students split their time between France and Singapore - has pushed the start of the new academic year back by a month, to October.

"Insead is working with the Singapore and French authorities on securing visas for our students and is monitoring government regulations and borders," a spokesperson said.

The number of MBA students on Insead's Singapore campus typically ranges from 400 to 600, with Singaporeans making up about 5 per cent.

Unlike the Manpower Ministry, which froze new work passes in mid-March, an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) spokesperson told BT that it has not suspended the issuance of student passes even during the "circuit breaker" in April and May.

Still, all student pass holders and applicants with in-principle approval have had to get advance approval to enter the country, from the Ministry of Education (MOE), since March 30.

Some 68,200 foreign students were studying in Singapore at end-April, according to government figures - up from 67,200 in mid-2019, and 65,800 the year before that.

About 35 per cent of these student pass holders - who can also be enrolled in MOE schools or autonomous universities - were studying in private education institutions, the ICA and MOE told BT in a statement.

But the virus crisis will now loom over "the next couple of semesters", said Gaëlle le Goff, international affairs director at France's École Polytechnique, which runs a double-degree programme with the National University of Singapore.

While some of the engineering school's students usually opt to fulfil a research internship requirement in Singapore, none could do so this year.

Still, students seem to be sticking with their study plans for now. For instance, no one has withdrawn from the French double-degree tie-up, which also involves five other specialised French varsities, a representative for École Polytechnique told BT. The programme attracted 34 French students in the latest academic year.

Like many of its peers, École Polytechnique has taken its classes online since March, when its campus closed.

E-learning could in fact be key to retaining students, with Mr Jhinghan citing investment in online and hybrid courses as a way that education institutions must adapt "to remain competitive in the post-Covid world".

Andrew Chew, director of marketing at James Cook University (JCU), said student enrolment is expected to be affected this year, although the extent depends on evolving travel curbs. In 2018, JCU Singapore had 3,500 students, three-fifths of them from abroad.

But the Singapore branch "has taken the opportunity to innovate and develop capabilities in online and blended learning", he added. "The hastening of these capabilities will enable the university to emerge even stronger in a post-Covid world."

Said Lee Chew Chiat, government and public-services industry leader at Deloitte: "Universities will have to fine-tune their courses and curriculum to include the use of digital technology to prepare their students for similar situations in the future."

Curtin has already gone online with recruitment activities targeted at students and their parents, said Prof Lord.

And private education provider Kaplan Singapore found in a poll last month that 88.6 per cent of students would like a mix of online and face-to-face teaching in their courses.

Its survey took the pulse of more than 5,400 students after classroom lessons had to go fully online.

The circuit breaker helped Kaplan Singapore gain insights into the student experience of the future, president Joe Keen Poon said. "The survey also helped us gauge the receptiveness of our digital-native learners towards possible learning approaches."

This is even as the ICA and MOE have advised student pass holders who have been unable to return "to approach their institutions to discuss how best their learning can be supported".

In the meantime, another tactic is to capture adult and lifelong learners, which Mr Jhinghan said could "generate an additional source of revenue".

For instance, Curtin plans to launch new courses next year - in fields such as health, safety and the environment - which Prof Lord said could "provide increased options for domestic students" to upgrade their skills or to switch to careers in priority fields.

Mr Poon told BT that Kaplan Singapore - where about a quarter of some 12,000 students are international - is focused on "improving employability of mainly domestic students".

Still, Insead has already seen applications for next January's MBA intake spike by 56 per cent against the three-year average; its spokesperson cited online marketing information sessions as a possible factor. (see amendment note)

Meanwhile, Swiss hospitality-focused university École Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) confirmed that it still plans to open its campus here late next year with 60 undergraduates.

"On track for completion in 2021, EHL Singapore will commence the recruitment of its faculty members locally and internationally from late 2020 to early 2021," Michel Rochat, chief executive of EHL Group, told BT.

EY's Mr Jhinghan added that, in the medium term, "Singapore will continue to be an attractive destination for students from mainland China, Asean and India, and should see a bounce back in student volumes".

Similarly, Mr Lee, from Deloitte, predicted that a "highly probable silver lining" would be a post-pandemic boom in tertiary students from the rest of Asia flocking to Singapore.

Read more: Singapore universities make 2,000 extra undergrad offers amid pandemic

Amendment note: This article has been updated to correct a typographical error.