Over the years, Singapore has lured a number of top universities from around the world to spearhead its growth of HE provision. Institutions such as Duke University, James Cook University, Digipen Institute of Technology, and SP Jain School of Global Management all run successful branch campuses in Singapore.

Insead, the French business school with the No. 2 international MBA program as ranked by Bloomberg Businessweek, set up its Asian campus in Singapore in 1999. Insead will also soon be adding a Master in Finance to its provision.

In addition, Yale University, a member of the Ivy League of eight private U.S. colleges, is opening a liberal arts campus in Singapore next month, the first overseas location in its 300-year history.

University of Chicago to leave?

The University of Chicago will be relocating its Singapore campus to Hong Kong, taking its highly-ranked executive MBA program with it. The university has said that the relocation has been chosen based on the university’s efforts to be closer to China.

Other HE movements

Chicago University’s relocation is one of three recent changes in the higher education sector, which also includes the forthcoming closure of New York University’s Tisch School of Arts. Tisch will be shutting its Singapore campus after subsidies required to operate it were expected to exceed S$30 million.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is also planning to close its Singapore campus in the next two years. Richard Linstrom, associate dean at UNLV’s Singapore campus, said it’s “highly likely” the school will shut the location and move to another Asian city, adding that Macau is an ideal location.

In addition, Australia’s University of New South Wales shut its campus in 2007 after one semester.

New policy focus

Alvin Tan, an assistant managing director at the Economic Development Board, the government’s investment agency, has stated that the government is achieving its goal of drawing leading universities to the city-state. Now, the focus for government policy is the quality of education and the relevance to the economy.

The Singapore dollar was the fourth-best performer among 18 of the world’s major currencies over the past four years. Singapore, with 52,000 enrolled UK  TNE students, is placed second in the world for UK TNE provision, with Malaysia currently taking the top slot.