9/19/2015

University rankings good but not the key objectives

Hsien Loong said this at the Nanyang Technology Institute’s reunion dinner, ‘The key performance indicators (KPIs) of universities in the Republic should not be about how high their rankings are, but how well they serve Singapore.’ This is like what is so good about high rankings if they did not serve the interest of Singapore and its people? And what are these interests, jobs, skill sets, building a Singaporean core in all fields and industries.

What if high rankings lead to a hollowing of the quality pool of Singaporean academics and university students? What is the point to providing so many good paying employments to foreigners at the expense of Singaporeans, of providing good university places to foreigners instead of to our children? A good comparison is the ranking of our media by foreigners. Never mind if we are ranked 146, a few notches from the bottom, if the media are serving national interests, the good of people and country.

He then reiterated the importance of university KPIs as: "Rather, the KPI should be how well the universities serve Singapore. Whether they are academically and intellectually rigorous and vibrant, yet develop an authentic Singaporean character. Whether they give Singaporeans a good education, not just academically but holistically, building skill sets relevant to the economy so that people can get good jobs and fulfil their aspirations….’

It is sad that the Prime Minister had to say this to remind our supposedly very intelligent academics in the academia not to waste money on superficial rankings, on providing good jobs to foreigners and hollowing our academic talent and resources. Isn’t this a crime against the people? Using public funds to feed foreigners and replacing our own academics in the universities? Get your priorities right!

Would Tharman stand up and say ‘Cheap, we have no local talents in the universities and we need 30 years to get it right again like not Singaporean bankers and finance talents?’ Shit, I shouldn’t use the word ‘local’. It should be ‘Singaporeans’ and not meant to include PRs. We need to grow our own timber if we are going to survive as a people who called ourselves Singaporeans and this island home. If not, yes, we would be just a hotel for foreigners and we become the prostitutes servicing them and saying thank you to them for patronising us, and we pay them for it.

Is this not what Hsien Loong meant when he said, and I quote: “(While) at the same time, imbuing in students and alumni a sense of loyalty and belonging to Singapore, a sense of purpose in their lives, so that people are rooted here - with networks, friends and family - and want to give back to Singapore." You don’t expect foreigners to sink roots here and be one of us, to give back to Singapore when they are here for the good time and waiting to make their pile to return home. A few foreigners would be good, but we can’t expect too many to stay, and it is also no good if we have to depend on foreign talents to stay. This is an easy way out to increase our talent pool but would discourage the growing of our own talents. And what is there then for our own people if this is the case?


Don’t give me that globalisation and borderless shit. Treason is the word for these naive terminologies. The quitters and nomads like to use them to rubbish the citizen’s right in their own countries. If not careful, and still blindly going down the road of bringing in more foreigners, one day the daft Sinkies would be like the refugees marching to Europe, people without a place called home, kicked out from their countries they once called home.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

If not careful, and still blindly going down the road of bringing in more foreigners, one day the daft Sinkies would be like the refugees marching to Europe, people without a place called home, kicked out from their countries they once called home.
RB

In the long term, and maybe RB and I won't be around also, that cannot be ruled out lah, but without foreigners, Sinkieland will not have GDP growth to provide the happy life to 70% Sinkies now and for the near future. And without foreigners, not only no happy life but Sinkies will also become extinct in the long term too, due to Sinkie babies no enough in the past and still continuing.

So it is still better to have this risk of Sinkies being kicked out from their countries they once called home, than to take less foreigners. What's more, PAP now has a stronger mandate to take this risk for Sinkies.

Anonymous said...

PAP has already seeded Singaporeans destruction. It is also seeding its own destruction from new citizens into future. Look to France, multiply that by 3 times and you know the end of Singapore & the PAP.

France had took in lots of immigrants in past 40 years. Just look at its social, economic and political tensions. In a few decades it will be an Islamic nation, not the France of old. There is no assimilation when you have too much immigration within a short time. Instead you have racial, economic and religious enclaves.
The peaceful harmonious multi racial; Ali, Ahmad, Ah Heng, Ah Beng, Nathan, Gurmit and Brain Richmond is fast disappearing.

The population living in Tuas (the lowest end), Geylang (the lowest end) and Meyer (the high end) give us a glimpse of the future.

Just think about 100,000 hormone-filled, angry young men in Tuas, if were to protest and burn down the oil refinery facilities?
What security? What integration?

Try visiting Tuas at night after 8pm, it's another world.
Strictly recommend that you do not leave your car while surveying the people living and working there for your own safety.

If a minister were to visit there on his own, in his car without and convoy or guards, at 10pm he may understand what I mean.
But will he bother?

Anonymous said...

Having lots of foreigners to secure economic growth is both a myth and a folly.
Firstly, it is not sustainable for a small city like Singapore.
Secondly, it will cause businesses not to invest in productivity & innovation.
We should stop this population influx deception theory of economic growth.

Learn from Japan, and examine the details but not superficially.
1. Learn to follow Japan to invest in productivity to curb with aging & declining population issues.
2. Don't learn from Japan in totally shutting out immigration, but don't swing to the other extreme which we had done in past 20 years.
3. Allow only very selected & strict immigration of highest quality of talents & capital offering them PRs & citizenships only to this category.
4. Allow moderate number, not excessive number, of workers in work permits not exceeding 3 years. This is on rotational basis.

Overall get a better balance between Singapore Now and Japan; we will be better of as Singaporeans & as a nation, Singapore.

Japan's Tokyo & Osaka have to subsidized all the rural areas economically, that's why the government piled up huge debts, year after year besides pork barrel politics. PAP must also avoid going down the road of pork barrel politics, which was quite obvious in past few months.
Singapore is in a good situation. We are a small compact city, there is no huge rural area to subsidized, other than the tiny Pulau Ubin island. Heng ah!

Anonymous said...

Try visiting Tuas at night after 8pm, it's another world.
Anon 10:59 a.m.

That is to be expected lah. How many true blue Sinkies want to work in Tuas or on Jurong island, even in the day, let alone live there at night?

That's why if you look at West Coast GRC map which covers Tuas and Jurong Island, it is so huge, but there are no voters in Tuas or Jurong Island.

Anonymous said...

It looks like Singaporeans will need '30 years" to build Workers' Party into a viable political party to take over government.

Aliens will have 30 years to set up an Alternative Alien Party to take over government from the PAP.

Anonymous said...

The NEL MRT train broke down yesterday.
Please remain calm.
Do not kpkb.
70% of us voted PAP in GE 2015.
We got the government we desrve.

Anonymous said...

Haze reaches dangerous levels in Singapore.
Please remain calm.
Do not kpkb.
70% of us voted PAP in GE 2015.
We got the government we deserve.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Matilah, you filth. Please don't turn my blog to smell your like mother's.

Anonymous said...

Changi Business Park looks like India during lunch hour.
Please remain calm.
Do not kpkb.
70% of us voted PAP in GE 2015.
We got the government we deserve.

Anonymous said...

Singapore Parliament looks like Jurong Bird Park.
One whole flock of nodding parrots in parliament.
Please remain calm.
Do not kpkb.
70% of us voted PAP in GE 2015.
We got the government we deserve.

Anonymous said...

Fees for preschool children to be increased next yer.

Please remain calm.
Do not kpkb.
70% of us voted PAP in GE 2015.
We got the government we deserve.

---------------------------------------------
Three of five major pre-school chains - which are required to keep fees affordable in return for regular government grants - will increase their prices next year.

They need to raise fees by between $4 and $62 because of soaring operating costs, they said.

This comes after the median monthly fee for full-day childcare rose in a year by $80 - the biggest increment in at least eight years - to reach $830 last year.

The anchor operators raising their fees are
NTUC's My First Skool,
PAP Community Foundation (PCF) and
Metropolitan YMCA's MY World Preschool.

Skool4kidz and EtonHouse International's E-bridge Pre- School are not doing so because their current fees have hit the maximum allowed for anchor operators.

For example, a full-day childcare programme cannot cost more than $720 a month.

PCF, which runs 361 childcare centres and kindergartens, will raise fees for 124 of its 131 childcare centres.
The hike will range between $4 and $62 for infantcare services, and between $23 and $45.50 for childcare services.

Its childcare programmes for centres built before this year now cost between $420 and $697.

Of its 230 kindergartens, 170 will raise their fees by between $10 and $20 next year. Its spokesman said: "Given rising operation costs, most notably salary costs and costs to implement improved programmes, there is a need to selectively raise fees to defray overheads."

My First Skool, which has 11,000 pupils in its 111 centres, will raise its fees by an average of $32 a month. Fees, inclusive of goods and services tax, will be $1,342 for infants, $707 for toddlers and those in play groups, and $646 for those in nursery and kindergarten.

"Our fee adjustment policy is to have moderate adjustments to keep pace with salary adjustments and quality improvements, rather than large increases every two to three years," its spokesman said.

Metropolitan YMCA will charge $20 to $30 more at eight of its 14 centres. Fees start from $610 for full-day childcare, and from $1,250 for infant care.

The three operators said the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), which oversees the pre-school sector, has approved the fee increases.

ECDA said: "Pre-school operators raise fees from time to time to ensure sustainability as operating costs rise, and to recruit and retain sufficient teachers to deliver quality programmes."

Asked about the impact of the fee hikes on lower- to middleincome families, ECDA said the impact on out-of-pocket expenses "may be significantly lower" with childcare subsidies.

For example, a family with a household income of $2,500 and below will continue to pay only $3 a month for full-day childcare even if the monthly fee rises from $615 to $646. A family with household income of $4,000 will pay $69 monthly, up from $60.

All parents, regardless of income, get a basic subsidy of $300 a month for full-day childcare. They also get a second subsidy based on household income, with poorer families getting more help.

Manager Wendy Lim, 31, whose two-year-old son is in childcare, said: "Anchor operators that are subsidised quite a bit by the Government should keep their fee increases minimal as they are mass-market options. But the fee hike is not so bad because lowerincome families get larger childcare subsidies than the rest."


- See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/edvantage/3-major-pre-school-chains-raising-fees-next-year#sthash.5BdbKHzS.dpuf

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Dear all,

I have not deleted any postings from anyone for a long time. But this filth called Matilah Singapura has been bragging about how smelly is his mother and using vulgarities a bit too often. I have decided to delete his post and another post in respond to his filth.

I hope Matilah Singapura would refrain from his sick vocab which he thought was cute for a silly old man. If he continues with that kind of posts I would delete them and wish him to go elsewhere to share his sick comments about his mother.

Redbean.

Anonymous said...

// If not careful, and still blindly going down the road of bringing in more foreigners, one day the daft Sinkies would be like the refugees marching to Europe, people without a place called home, kicked out from their countries they once called home.//


Too bad there are many fundamental problems plaguing sinkieland yet the 69.9% voted as if we are almost reaching utopia ......

These 69.9% need not wait another few years to realise how much time bombs have been swept under the carpet.

Looked at the trade numbers released 2 days ago. For those who have some fundamental knowledge in economics, they probably know sinkies and sinkieland are screwed. The "vibrancy" in some shopping malls and retail sector is just a "smoke screen".

Anonymous said...

Long term supply side policies take years and decades to bring about their desired effects.

5 more years of wait are another 5 more years of precious and critical time and opportunities wasted.

In sinkieland and for sinkies, after GE 2015, there is no plan B or safety net in sinkieland's politics and economics for a long time to come and there could be no second chance as it might be too late by then .....

Anonymous said...

Some say if one day PAP fails badly then ......

After running out of ideas and options like a lady at her wits and taking to vices ( prostitution ) to make a living, the ruling PAP government had already proven that it had failed in its economics policies since the 1980s after most of the olds guards including GKS had stepped down.

By revealing that they had run out of options and bankrupt of new ideas and policies to bring sinkieland and sinkies forward, they took to the age old vice of gambling to make a living ...... What does that tell about the state of sinkieland's economy even back then in 2005, after almost 20 years of misfire ( and mismanagement ) by Lao goa and his cohort in the economics front .....

Anonymous said...

Retail trade constitutes an insignificant shit in the entire sinkieland's GDP.

The fake prosperity facade created in some shopping malls and retail trade cannot fool a sharp eyed businessman or investor.

With an education system stuck in the old ways of teaching and learning, how can sinkieland and sinkies get out of this economics malaise and rut?

Anonymous said...

After GE 2015, sinkieland is many steps closer to internal implosion down the road .....

The verdict is still out how soon or how long a calamitous outcome might beset sinkieland and sinkies .......

Some oldies ( such as NTD and TK ) think by then they may be gone and thus "heck care" and "pretend" nothing is fundamentally wrong in the system.

Anonymous said...

Alas, destiny may cause them to witness with 2 open wide eyes from their sick beds the momentous collapse of sinkieland in agonies, helplessness and eternal regret before they kick the bucket.

Many younger and older sinkies alike do not share the optimism of the 69.9% that the current batch and the incoming 4G have any clue how to get out of the economics quagmire sinkieland is stuck in since 1990.

With the present situation, there is not much willing sinkies can do anything to avert calamity and the inevitable fate is likely internal implosion in the years ahead ...... Let’s hope that this prognosis is too pessimistic and not true. But the past few years of economics data do not and cannot lie. The time bombs cannot be wished or waved away by will. Concrete actions need to be taken to avert the apocalyptic outcome but none seems to be happening at this point of time. Time is running out and the clock is ticking. The countdown to the next hustings may be too far away and too late ......

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Yes, we are a nation of shops, shoppers, hawker centres, food courts and restaurants and bars.
I am not sure how big these contributed to the GDP but they sure contributed to the need for a large labour force of unskilled or semi skilled labour., Low tech and low thinking industries.

Anonymous said...

@ Chua Chin Leng aka redbean September 19, 2015 11:00 p.m.
//Yes, we are a nation of shops, shoppers, hawker centres, food courts and restaurants and bars.
I am not sure how big these contributed to the GDP but they sure contributed to the need for a large labour force of unskilled or semi skilled labour., Low tech and low thinking industries.//


NDT already stated some years back that low value-add but labour intensive industries are almost definitively not having comparative advantage that sinkieland and sinkies have in abundant endowments. .....

By not biting the bullets but taking the easy and short fix paths, and with another 10 years lost since 2005, the climb out of the economics abyss sinkieland's 2G and 3G had dug in the past 25 years would likely be a journey as tortuous and treacherous as the Long March of Mao Tze Tong in the mid-1930s, if not more ......

The Chinese have a saying "旁观者清, 当局者迷。"

Anonymous said...

The current 3G and maybe even some of the incoming 4G may think they can lead sinkieland onto a path of prosperity in the years to come ......

Sadly, outsiders do not share their ( likely misplaced ) optimism ( and even false premises ) of what the future are likely to be for sinkieland.

With 2 engines of sinkieland's aggregate demand more or less out of service for some years to come, how much overdrive can the other 2 remaining engines sustain sinkieland to keep the entire economy appear buzzing?

Anonymous said...

Without the need for rocket scientists forecast, the same old one-trick pony's prescription is likely more pump-priming in an ironically low-multiplier effect small and open economy.

Next likely moves by ever so predictable "super talents" are to move forward the BIG PROJECTS meant to kick off only in the mid and late 2020s.

Even several retail malls in Orchard Rd were reported by overseas media to be suffering from retail overdose and some shops even can go in a row for a few days without clocking a single sale. Unabated massive investment and construction assumed customers and shoppers are going to come from somewhere. .....

Anonymous said...

The impending economics downturn globally is almost inevitable.

Sinkieland's super talents would likely be driven to undertake more and more discretionary fiscal policies as band aid stop gap measure.

From the look of the situation, the political honeymoon is likely to be a short-lived affair after GE 2015.

Anonymous said...


One can have all the papers, degree, honours, masters and doctorates, but if there is no employment for You, yoir papers are as good as those hanging in the toilet.
Maybe even less useful.

Virgo 49 said...

Bro, use for toilet papers lah like we do in the fifties. That time newspapers.

Degrees, Diplomas are a rarity

Anonymous said...

Let's build more shopping centres, foodcourts and hawker centres.

Anonymous said...

Now that the PM has spoken about the silliness of rankings and wasting public money, would the asses stop gloating about their stupidity and save some public money to do something useful?

Anonymous said...

Pity so many local academics were sacked by the foreigners in NTU. Maybe also a lot got sacked in NUS as well.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Nabeh. Now gotta see viv's fuck face in Holland V for the next 4-5 years.