Education- Be fair to alternative routers and lifelong learners

Hi Friends,

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Mark Twain said, “I have never let schooling interfere with my education.”

Education does not stop with schooling- in fact, sometimes education has nothing to do with schooling.

Education is a life-long process.

My observation is that in the past many Singaporeans stop substantial learning after attaining their professional or vocational qualifications.

This mindset is slowly changing and nowadays, thousands of students enroll for courses from the many private educational colleges scattered throughout our city.

Students who take alternative routes

Many who enrolled for the bachelor programmes are polytechnic diploma holders who feel that a degree will give them a leg-up in their careers and others are post-A levels students who have missed out on places in the local universities.

A small majority are actually degree holders considering mid-stream changes in their career paths. Some rare ones, like me, are just bored or are undergoing mid-life crises (partly joking). I attended the University of London external degree programme at the Stansfield College in 2005-6.

Many private colleges, of varying reputation, host programmes from UK/Ireland, USA and Australia. Most of these colleges have sound management although we had a few negative examples like Informatics which left bad tastes on many students’ mouths.

Truth be told, I had a economics lecturer, MH, who was one of the best lecturers I have ever had for any subject, ( and I assure you I have studied many subjects in my 40-something years). He obviously has a passion for teaching Economics( and also loves a good smoke). The last I heard he has left Stansfield- a real shame.

About the UOL external degree

The most well-known programme is of course the University of London-external degree programme.

Most employers may not know that the UOL examinations in the external degree are of the same standard as the ones taken in London. In fact, candidates sit for them on the same day (as in London) but the two sets of papers have some variations to prevent cheating. More importantly, the papers are scored by the same pool of markers.

So, for all intense and purposes, any successful candidate in Singapore would have passed if he had taken papers in London.

My ex-classmates (and me) spent as much as three nights a week and struggle through very difficult examinations in May, and yet often not get the recognition that they deserve.

Yet, Singaporeans and employers, in particular, frequently hold in disdain degrees attained through part-time studies.

Prejudice against alternative routers inexplicable

Singaporean society has an inexplicable prejudice that says any knowledge not obtained through mainstream educational institutions ( ie 3 local universities and certain branded overseas Uni’s) are not worthy of recognition.

My personal conviction is that life is a journey of continuous learning and if these alternate route students are so motivated to overcome their perceived lack of paper qualification by sacrificing good time and money, they should be rewarded instead of being penalized!

Granted most can and do complete formal education in an uninterrupted spurt (with hiatus for National Service in the case of boys), a substantial minority need more time (sometimes due to extenuating circumstances beyond their control).

I hope all employers look beyond the paper and more into the potential employees' motivations and abilities.

I cannot speak for the other courses/programmes, but there is no reason why they should be sub-standard.

About the Post Secondary Education Accounts ( Budget 2007)
(see link)
I am obviously delighted that Tharman (2nd Minister of Finance) has seen fit to top up post-secondary students’ account up to the tune of $400.

This,I am happy to note, includes the UniSIM (the 4th university) which caters mainly to alternative routers that I was ranting about above.

But $200-400 too low and mere token

However, the amount ($200-400) is tokenistic and is a mere drop in the ocean for these students who have to fork out more than $20000 for a 3 year degree (UOL).

Also other private colleges which offer the same programmes offered by UniSim are excluded.

This is clearly unfair. These students suffer a double jeopardy.They already pay higher fees than NUS/NTU/SMU and are yet not even given the few token bucks.All post-secondary students regardless of institutions should be allowed to cash these tokens.

In the meantime, I guess private colleges like Stansfield, SIC and others competing directly with UniSIM would have to discount at least the same amount to retain their students.This will hit their bottomline.


Conclusion

I hope that all employers,esply the civil service- Singapore’s largest employer, would keep an open mind and judge each employee by his/her contribution and potential and not by the route taken to obtain that paper.

Better still, look beyond the paper! Help correct the obsession with the paper chase.


NB: BTW,I have moved on and am in an MBA programme. (That is the subject of another post)