We're not talking about setting standards so low that undeserving morons get into unis. We're talking about situation where we have the lowest university enrolment per capita in the developed world, and many bright and deserving students are denied a place in our local unis. If they have money, they go abroad. No money, they forego uni education or go into heavy debt to finance an overseas degree. Either way, they are a major source of brain drain from our nation.
Korea has 300+ unis for a pop. of 50 million. Taiwan has 150 unis for 23 mil people. We have only 4 unis for 5.5 mil - and we give 1/3 to foreigners, and give them full scholarships in the bargain?
Actually the whole tertiary education system in singapore is fucked up since long ago by Goh Keng Swee and Old Fart. Some how, they decided that only the top elitist kids can go to university in singapore, and hence severely restricted the number of available students. For many years there were only 2 unis, U of Singapore/NUS and Nantah. Then that became one uni only NUS. Unlike other countries like the US, where an university education is available to anyone who qualifies regardless of financial means or social status, or in other Asian Tigers where a university education for as many of its citizens was seen as an integral part of nation building, only in singapore was it available to the top 5% of all students. In some Asian economies, the percentage of a primary one cohort going on to university is over 30%. Many bad things happened from the minds of these 2 assholes when it came to the tertiary education system.
1) It forced many good and eligible students to seek studies overseas. These were students who could some how get into Stanford, Cambridge, and other lesser overseas unis but could not get into the NUS due to 2nd language failure, or due to no space, or due to not getting the faculty they wanted, etc. These students thru the decades have spend collectively Billions $ on the economies of other countries. By opening more unis, the PAP could have saved many of these students from going overseas, and keep the money within our own economy.
2) Once these students study overseas, they have no interest in coming back. 2 of my friends married foreign women when they were studying overseas, women, they met in their unis. These students do no want to come back to singapore or will make efforts to leave singapore as soon as they can. Hence this contributes to the brain drain.
3) Because the one sole uni, NUS, can only graduate so many engineers, and doctors, etc. we have the chronic shortages that we have today. The PAP now says we don't have enough qualified people so we must import them as FTs from other countries. But they are the ones that caused the shortage of qualified people in the first place. Therefore, the idiotic tertiary education policies of the pass have now brought us to the immigration and FT importation of today. This is a govt that is hardly worth their salaries.
4) The lack of several good universities has resulted in the abject failure of the tech industry in singapore. All tech industries need good universities surrounding it develop R & D, and for creativity and other purposes. Silicon Valley has Stanford and Cal Berkeley. Boston has MIT and others, Singapore has shit NUS. How to become a player in the world tech market. Taiwan has developed some world famous companies like Acer, Korea has Samsung, Singapore has what? Creative Labs? that's about to go under.
Too belatedly, the PAP have opened up a couple more unis, but these are not geared to benefit the local population. Rather its to fit into the aim of developing singapore as an "education hub" . These are just money making unis geared for the foreign students. The PAP has really fuck this one up.