In the recent National Day Rally, Singapore’s Prime Minister announced that the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) will get a new centralised campus.

Currently it has a main campus with branch campuses scattered at the five polytechnics. Having a centralised campus will allow the community to share some facilities. A creative industry cluster will also be built near the new campus so students can easily go from classroom to workplace and apply what they learn, which is an important aspect of SIT programmes.

When SIT was set up in 2009, it was to provide polytechnic graduates with upgrading opportunities. SIT would collaborate with overseas universities to offer industry-focussed degrees. The first batch of 500 students started in September 2010, enrolled in ten degree programmes offered by five overseas university partners. Today SIT has grown to offer over 28 degree programmes with 12 partners.

In addition, the Singapore government gave SIT its public university status and degree awarding powers in 2012. As a result, SIT started offering their own courses last year. They added five more courses this year, so they will have a total of 525 places for their own programmes. The plan is to increase the total SIT intake from the current 2,000 to 3,500 in 2020.

This means the provision in Singapore continues to grow as the government work towards the 40% cohort participation rate (ie 40% of the students will get a place in one of Singapore’s six universities). The expansion of SIT will benefit particularly the poly students, as currently, only the top 5% of the poly graduates can enter the local universities. The rest who wish to further their studies will have to go abroad or consider studying transnational education at the private institutions.

Now they have an option of studying in Singapore at a relatively affordable price, as SIT’s annual tuition fees for Singaporeans range from £3,800 to £7,100. It may be the choice for those who are just interested in getting a degree. UK universities will have to highlight the benefits of studying abroad along with other attractions to convince these students to spend more for their education.