24 June 2019

In the latest Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) annual World University Ranking, Nanyang Technological University shares the top spot in Asia together with the National University of Singapore.

NUS is also placed 11th in the world.

The QS rankings employ six performance indicators to assess a university’s strengths in research, teaching, employability and internationalisation.

NTU received higher scores than NUS in faculty-to-student ratio and citations per faculty.

NUS fared very well in the area of employer reputation, which is based on feedback from more than 44,000 employers about the quality of an institution’s graduates.

NUS, NTU and SMU scored full marks for international faculty ratio, which measures the proportion of non-local faculty at an institution.

NTU and NUS said the QS rankings show their efforts in research and education are being recognised.

23 June 2019

Fresh graduates in Singapore are getting more short-term contract jobs, along with multiple rejections or even non-replies to job applications, as well as having to lower their job and salary expectations.

Their job hunt this year coincides with the United States-China trade war, which has cast a dark shadow on the global economy. Singapore, whose economy is highly dependent on global trade, will not be able to escape unscathed.

The Ministry of Manpower recently issued its labour market report on the first three months of this year. The report noted that there are more vacancies than job seekers, but the demand for labour has eased following seven preceding quarters of increases. It also said that more workers were retrenched in the first quarter of this year, compared to the previous quarter as well as a year ago.

The MOM report said that companies were more cautious with the economy undergoing restructuring, and they preferred hiring workers on a short-term basis.

Despite the possibility that those in contract roles could be easily let go by companies when the going gets tough, most fresh graduates are open to taking up contract jobs. Many fresh graduates are now attracted to contract jobs as these allow them to experience a spectrum of roles, rather than to specialise in one for a long time. They also see such roles as opportunities to gain a deeper understanding of the job responsibilities and working culture before committing to a longer term career.

16 June 2019

A frequently raised question is whether the Ministry of Education would consider reducing class sizes from 40 to 25 students to allow teachers to give more attention to the students within their charge.

But Education Minister Ong Ye Kung has pointed out that the oft-quoted 1:40 teacher-student ratio within a single classroom is in fact an inaccurate perception, and in fact, the ratio should be 1:12 or 1:13 for secondary schools in terms of the overall numbers of teachers and students in a school, and 1:11 for junior colleges.

These ratios are considered healthy by OECD standards.

Pointing out a lesson Mr Ong himself gleaned from studying Finland’s education system, he said: “The moment the government does the popular thing to say, ‘I legislate class size to 20’, the (extra) resources disappear. The weaker students are deprived of teachers. Hence, this would be something I will be extremely reluctant to do.”

Member of Parliament Louis Ng recently called for the Government to stop streaming in secondary schools because it contributes to the social divide.

Schools can explicitly address the issue of socio-economic status in the national education curriculum so that students understand from young that one’s level of conventional achievement (for example, academic results) may be constricted by one’s access to opportunities that exist alongside one’s socio-economic background.

Teachers can also receive training on how to foster an inclusive environment, to engage students of different backgrounds in open conversations to enhance understanding among them. Additionally, streaming outcomes can be complemented with assessment tools that are proven to be less biased by one’s socioeconomic backgrounds, such as measures of conscientiousness, motivation and resilience.

14 June 2019

Education Minister Ong Ye Kung has reiterated that education and continual training remains a key strategy in empowering Singaporeans to cope with the new economy and the myriad changes brought about by technology.

The government’s near-term objective is to ensure that Singaporeans have up-to-date skills, and are able to stay relevant and competitive.

He said that the Government’s long-term mission is to help each Singaporean be part of technological change and become a stakeholder in society.

Mr Ong was addressing a crowd comprising of around 400 young people who were just about to enter the workforce at an NTUC event held at the Marina Bay Sands.

He also urged the audience to strive to do their jobs better to “inoculate” themselves from the impact of technology and not to feel pressured to switch jobs frequently just because many others do.