Priceless

Hilarious. Who needs TV when you have http://southparkvideos.blogspot.com/?

Of talents and talent

PM Lee:

I went to Sydney, visited the University of New South Wales, because they are setting their university here. They asked me to give away some awards. So I went, I gave away the awards, I said: "What are these awards?'' They said: "These are awards given to the top poly students from Singapore who go to study at the University of New South Wales [laughter], donated by alumni from Singapore." And we have poly students there, I met them, they are all doing very well, bright, able, ambitious, and many opportunities open, and good for them. The vice-chancellor told me, we are happy to take them in as students, but we are even happier when they stay [laughter]. So I came back, I asked NUS and NTU: "Have you got any scholarships for top poly students?'' [laughter] They said: "We are getting them soon."

Let's examine the above closely. What can one learn from this account in the National Day Rally?

1. Overseas universities recognize that there are bright, able, ambitious poly graduates and are happy to take them.
   
2. Local universities didn't. They had to be prompted by the PM to offer scholarships to attract top poly students.
3. There are people who are regarded as talents by people overseas but not by our local organizations.
4. However, if you gain recognition for your talents overseas, you become a talent in the eyes of the Singapore government.
   

So, if these bright poly graduates had not ventured overseas to study in the first place, would NUS or NTU have thought about offering scholarships to top poly students? Suppose the vice-chancellor of UNSW hadn't told the PM about how happy he would be if the poly students stayed. How would the establishment have viewed the poly students?

Ironically, the head of the Singapore government has to be told about the value of his own people. So, in fact, the prospect of more people like the aforementioned poly graduates quitting has improved the treatment of poly graduates in Singapore when it comes to university admission. Hence, quitting isn't such a bad thing after all.

Let's go a bit further. Is it possible that there are local talents that the system fails to recognise or to develop? Ask yourself this question in the light of the push for more foreign talent.

Welcome newcomers with a big handout heart

From the ever trusted 140th:

Aug 21, 2006
Welcome newcomers with a big heart
By Krist Boo

SOME Singaporeans are uneasy about foreign immigrants but Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wants them to be big-hearted and adopt a welcoming stance towards these newcomers.

He acknowledged there were those who worry that an influx of immigrants will spell competition for jobs.

Others complain that they do not have to do national service, or it may be a case that they simply do not like having a foreigner living next door.

...

Singaporeans don't welcome immigrants? Could it be that the latter are treated better than the locals by the government? Let's take a look at our local universities.

From http://www.moe.gov.sg/parliamentary_replies/2006/pq20060213.htm#Scholarship:

Question No. 337

To ask the Minister for Education, from 2001 to 2005, (a) what are the yearly percentages of postgraduates with scholarships in the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University respectively; (b) what are the ratios of local to foreign students in these percentages; and (c) how many of these scholarships are sponsored by industries, universities, government related boards and research agencies respectively; and (d) what are the ratios of local to foreign postgraduates holding university sponsored scholarships.

Response

On average, about 14% of our undergraduates and 30% of our postgraduates in NUS and NTU in 2001-2005 were on scholarships. About one-third of the undergraduate scholars were local students. One quarter of the postgraduate scholars were local students. The largest segment of undergraduate scholarships comes from industry, which offers about 54% of the scholarships. The Government’s share is about 35%. The universities have been increasing their provision of undergraduate scholarships, with their share rising from about 8% in 2001 to 11% in 2005. The remainder comprising less than 1% has been offered by research agencies.

From http://www.moe.gov.sg/parliamentary_replies/2004/pq20042004.htm:

Our universities have come a long way and have gained much reputation since 1997. Today, foreign students constitute 20% of the universities’ enrolment, compared to about 12% in the late 1990s. As I have said at this year’s Committee of Supply debate, there is room for MOE to explore how we can set differentiated fees for different types of foreign students. But, this would have to be done after taking into consideration the larger strategic objectives for the universities and Singapore.

From http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/iej/articles/v3n2/sandersn/paper.pdf:

The Government subsidy for the international student is S$13,950 for non-laboratory-based programs and S$18,800 for laboratory-based programs (Nanyang Technological University, 2000, p.4). Although tuition fees vary slightly between institutions, a calculation of the estimated number of international students in Singapore multiplied by the amount of Government subsidy per student suggests that the international student program is being supported by at least S$130 million per year; by no means an insignificant investment.

Any idea who pays for all of this?

Holiday Stints

Holiday stint helps students understand civil service better

By Liaw Wy-Cin

MR KURT Ma had always heard stories about how civil servants are stuffy, unfriendly people.

But after having interned for a month at the Public Service Division, he found this to be untrue.

'Everybody is really friendly. People are always buying food to stock up the pantry, and the whole office always goes out to lunch together,' said the final-year literature and law student at Cambridge University.

Mr Ma, 24, is one of 29 overseas students spending their summer holiday here doing internships with the civil service.

They are here as part of a new Public Service Commission (PSC) programme. It seeks to attract top Singaporean and Singapore permanent residents - who are not scholarship holders - to consider the civil service as a career option.

PSC Secretariat director Choo Lee See said: 'We hope that, through the six- to eight- week stint, the interns will understand better the work done in the civil service and be more open to considering joining us in shaping Singapore's future.'

The students were informed of the new internship programme through e-mail and those interested were asked to submit their resumes. The e-mails were sent to Singaporeans and PRs studying in top schools such as Harvard, Cambridge and Wharton.

There is another carrot for these top students - a mid-term scholarship to pay for the rest of their studies.

The scholarship was set up because 'not all talented students at 18 years of age may be ready to commit themselves to a civil service career'.

Usually, scholarships are taken up before undergraduate studies begin.

But none of the four students on the internship programme who spoke to YouthInk will be taking up the scholarship.

Their reasons vary: Two are in their final year, and the others do not want to be tied down to a bond.

The bond would require them to work in the civil service from four to six years upon graduation.

All four want to gain some experience working overseas before 'coming back to Singapore to contribute'.

Cool. They want Singaporean undergraduates to intern with PSC and they invite only people studying overseas. What about the folks in NUS/NTU/SMU?

Oh, which nut is going to take up the Mid-Term Scholarship? The bond is just as long as that of the full-term version but he will only be compensated for half of the cost of his overseas studies. No wonder none of the interns interviewed wanted to take up the Mid-Term Scholarship.

This reminds me of my NUS days when I tried to intern with DSO between my second and third year. I had sent in emails with my resume to DSO but I never got a reply. A JC classmate who was studying in Cambridge told me that he had applied the year before and promptly got an offer after some correspondence. Oh, he got a chance to work on aerodynamics in DSO for his holidays after his first year while after two years of undergraduate work, no one had the basic courteosy to reply to my email. By the way, I believe my A-level results are better than his. I had also asked a couple professors in the department about any paid research positions but was kindly informed that they did not have the budget. The budget got eliminated because of the downturn in the economy.

And the university talks about encouraging undergraduates to pursue postgraduate studies...

Anyway, in the end, poor Fox had to go sell educational software for a friend that summer to earn his keep.

This is just a simulation...

Cool. A breath of fresh secular air in bible-thumping America.