[h=1]ELIGIBLE S'POREANS CONSIDERED BUT STILL MAKE UP LESS THAN HALF OF ACADEMICS[/h]
Post date:
13 Apr 2015 - 5:52pm
[photo credit: Today]
The government claimed that all eligible Singaporeans are carefully considered for academic positions in Singapore universities. This was the claim made by Senior Minister of State for Education Indranee Rajah in Parliament today.
Ms Indranee also said that the universities have processes that prevent hiring practices from being discriminatory.
She said this in response to a question from Member of Parliament Lim Biow Chuan, from Mountbatten SMC, who wanted to know whether the government requires Singapore's public universities that receive government funding to hire eligible Singaporeans priority for academic employment.
Mr Lim also asked if the universities' human resource departments should be headed by Singaporeans to ensure that eligible Singaporeans are duly considered for employment.
However, Ms Indranee said: "It is important that our autonomous universities recruit academic staff based on merit, to ensure that they hire the best talent able to deliver high quality education and conduct research that will benefit our students and Singapore."
Ms Indranee detailed that there are several layers of approval which process the applications for academic positions, which include selection committees, academic heads of department and faculty deans, and then finally approval by the top management.
Senior appointments also need to be approved by a university's president or board of trustees.
Ms Indranee also said that the Singapore Academic and Research Talent Scheme was recently launched to encourage Singaporeans to join academia and where undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships are given only to Singaporeans.
Last year, Member of Parliament for Marine Parade GRC Seah Kian Peng said that he was shocked by the number of foreigners who have staffed the faculties in Singapore’s tertiary institutions.
“So, through Parliament, I asked MOE for some figures. I found out in the Political Science department of NUS, 28% of the 25 faculty members are Singaporeans. In NTU’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, 41% of the 29 faculty members are Singaporeans. In the NTU Wee Kim Wee School of Communications and Information, 44% of the 48 faculty members are Singaporean. And in the NUS Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, 46% of the 82 faculty members are Singaporeans," he had said.
"I know it that in our universities, as in other professions, there needs to be open competition. But the percentages are surely astonishing — only a bit more than one quarter of the professors at the Political Science department in NUS are Singaporeans!”
However, where as low as only 28% of faculty members are Singaporeans and not even half of these faculties highlighted have half of them made up of Singaporeans, it is hard-pressed to believe the government when it claimed that it has carefully considered all eligible Singaporeans for academic positions in local universities.
What's more, Singaporeans have also been fired from local universities for political reasons. In 2013, former Nanyang Technological University (NTU) professor Cherian George was denied his tenure.
Prof George revealed earlier this year that the university "gave only political and not academic reasons for its decision" to deny his tenure.
"Only political and no academic grounds were ever cited by the university leadership for this 2009 decision. I was told of a “perception” that my critical writing could pose a “reputational risk” to the university in the future," Prof George said.
Post date:
13 Apr 2015 - 5:52pm
[photo credit: Today]
The government claimed that all eligible Singaporeans are carefully considered for academic positions in Singapore universities. This was the claim made by Senior Minister of State for Education Indranee Rajah in Parliament today.
Ms Indranee also said that the universities have processes that prevent hiring practices from being discriminatory.
She said this in response to a question from Member of Parliament Lim Biow Chuan, from Mountbatten SMC, who wanted to know whether the government requires Singapore's public universities that receive government funding to hire eligible Singaporeans priority for academic employment.
Mr Lim also asked if the universities' human resource departments should be headed by Singaporeans to ensure that eligible Singaporeans are duly considered for employment.
However, Ms Indranee said: "It is important that our autonomous universities recruit academic staff based on merit, to ensure that they hire the best talent able to deliver high quality education and conduct research that will benefit our students and Singapore."
Ms Indranee detailed that there are several layers of approval which process the applications for academic positions, which include selection committees, academic heads of department and faculty deans, and then finally approval by the top management.
Senior appointments also need to be approved by a university's president or board of trustees.
Ms Indranee also said that the Singapore Academic and Research Talent Scheme was recently launched to encourage Singaporeans to join academia and where undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships are given only to Singaporeans.
Last year, Member of Parliament for Marine Parade GRC Seah Kian Peng said that he was shocked by the number of foreigners who have staffed the faculties in Singapore’s tertiary institutions.
“So, through Parliament, I asked MOE for some figures. I found out in the Political Science department of NUS, 28% of the 25 faculty members are Singaporeans. In NTU’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, 41% of the 29 faculty members are Singaporeans. In the NTU Wee Kim Wee School of Communications and Information, 44% of the 48 faculty members are Singaporean. And in the NUS Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, 46% of the 82 faculty members are Singaporeans," he had said.
"I know it that in our universities, as in other professions, there needs to be open competition. But the percentages are surely astonishing — only a bit more than one quarter of the professors at the Political Science department in NUS are Singaporeans!”
However, where as low as only 28% of faculty members are Singaporeans and not even half of these faculties highlighted have half of them made up of Singaporeans, it is hard-pressed to believe the government when it claimed that it has carefully considered all eligible Singaporeans for academic positions in local universities.
What's more, Singaporeans have also been fired from local universities for political reasons. In 2013, former Nanyang Technological University (NTU) professor Cherian George was denied his tenure.
Prof George revealed earlier this year that the university "gave only political and not academic reasons for its decision" to deny his tenure.
"Only political and no academic grounds were ever cited by the university leadership for this 2009 decision. I was told of a “perception” that my critical writing could pose a “reputational risk” to the university in the future," Prof George said.
