COE for degrees? A university degree may expire after 5 years?

 PAP MP Ang Wei Neng proposed in Parliament today that a “time stamp” be put on local university degrees which can be renewed by graduates as they attend upgrading courses every 5 years or so. And if they don’t, the degrees will ‘fade over time’.

Have you heard of anything more preposterous than this suggestion????

Is this supposed to be an advanced version of skillsfuture which the PAP are so desperate to promote??????

Now why should local graduates be discriminated against???? So a University Of Mumbai graduate does not have to go for upgrading courses but an NUS, NTU, SMU, SUSS graduate etc has to? What is the logic in that????

Does he mean that if the local graduate does not go for the upgrading course, he will no longer be considered a graduate in due course????? So the degree becomes ‘bo pa kei’ ?????....

Lim Tean 

Above is part of a post by Lim Tean in TRE.  I was kind of ah, ah, what is this? Refresher courses to keep the skill or knowledge or expertise up to date. They did this in some industries and if one does not attend refresher courses, the licence would not be renewed. If the knowledge and skills in some industries are turning topsy turvy, in some fields it makes sense. But in many fields, the knowledge and skills are basically the same, some may be for life. The only people benefiting from such upgrading or refresher courses would be the trainers. Other than that, most of the time it would be a waste of time, doing the same thing all over again as if it is something new.

What about university degrees getting expired after every 5 years, like COEs? Some technical courses may change quite a bit, but some courses that taught thinking skills don't vary much. New concepts may evolved but to demand compulsory refresher courses? And to pay for it again and again? KNN.

What about refresher courses for politicians?

As Lim Tean pointed out, is this only applicable to the handful of world class universities in Singapore, or only for Singaporeans or foreigners working in Singapore? If it is just for our world class university graduates, or for Singaporeans only, how would this impact their careers and job prospect? Get sacked or retrenched if no refresher courses, and foreigners happily taking over their jobs?

Even if the idea could be relevant in some fields, it has to be applied internationally or else Singaporeans mesti mati when made to compete with foreigners that did not have to go through this uniquely Singapore wise crack.

What do you think?

All doctors, lawyers, engineers etc etc must take refresher courses every 5 years or else degrees tak pa kai? Brilliant, simply brilliant.

Chicken rice stall, wantan mee, nasi lemak, satay stalls, all must go for refresher courses or else licence cannot renew?

This would be a very good topic for the Ah Peks in the kopitiams to talk cock and sing song when they have nothing better to do.

PS. How much would the refresher courses cost? If like COE, bee tang, huat ah! The poor graduates would have to pay and pay again. Another new normal from our super talent. See bay khiang. Deserves to be paid a few more millions in bonus. How many hundred thousands of graduates out there to pay for refresher courses?

Cannot called such idea as senseless or even stupid. It creates a lot of jobs and revenue.  Very good for the economy, especially a captured or controlled economy. 

And the universities in the whole world would also think this is a great idea and would adopt it for uniformity with Singapore so that Singaporeans would not lose out or look like a soh chai. 

Hhahahahahahahahah....oops, oops, why am I laughing?

I think this is all a joke. Or Lim Tean must have misquoted him. I cannot believe this is for real.

PS. In today's paper, Ang Wei Neng has apologised for this proposal.

Warning - Do not park your money in US or western banks

 The world better wake up fast. In recent years, the USA has been using regime changes to create unrest, forcing legitimately elected Governments to crack down on protestors instigated by them, and then using human rights as a reason to punish those Governments.

Now seizing the assets of those other countries is becoming the norm. Venezuela, Afghanistan and now Russia's state and individuals have been targeted for seizure of their assets using 'frozen' to fool the world. This is daylight robbery, and using Mafia logic.

Countries of the world better think deeply and act with open eyes before putting their money in Western Banks, and keeping assets in Western countries, all of which are members of a Mafia gang lead by the USA.

The danger to any country is simple, and it is easy for them to target any country that they think is not towing the line, by supporting political opponents and using fake NGOs to instigate unrest, thereby forcing crackdowns which could lead to sanctions and seizure of assets. And we know they have doggies supporting their actions.

Those so called NGOs, like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, etc are devils in disguise, angelic in theory, but they conduct activities that are less than savory on behalf of the White Curse. Think of why the USA alone, apart from the Europeans, have to set aside US$300 million a year to fund those activities.

After Russia, the question is 'Who is next'? 

Anonymous

Greetings from America

 

Enjoy friends, enjoy. What war? There is no war here.

For those warmongers and war lovers, let them have a good time. Send them more weapons to make a bigger firework.

The weekend is coming. Enjoy. Peace, peace.

Peace in America, peace in Asia, peace in Africa, peace in SE Asia.  

What a life!

Covid 19 - Hong Kong again competing with Singapore for top honours

The Asian financial hub is in the grip of its worst coronavirus outbreak, registering tens of thousands of new cases each day, overwhelming hospitals and shattering the city's zero-COVID strategy.

More than 200,000 infections have been recorded in the last two months, compared with just 12,000 for the rest of the pandemic - while its death rate is currently four times Singapore's.

For two years, Hong Kong kept infections largely at bay using a strict zero-COVID strategy but an outbreak of the highly infectious Omicron variant has been tearing through the city since January....

In recent weeks, Hong Kong has seen overflowing hospitals and morgues, shortages of medics and ambulances, panic buying and a frantic expansion, with mainland China's help, of spartan quarantine camps and temporary hospitals to house the infected. CNA

Singapore is also have a surge with more than 20,000 cases a day. The latest was 24,000 in an island of less than 6m people.  If Hong Kong is left alone to its own doing, without China putting its foot down to stick to zero Covid policy, Hong Kong is likely to shoot pass Singapore in infection rate given the density of its population. Latest Hong Kong had 50,000 daily cases.  Clever, very clever.

China is getting angry with the situation in Hong Kong. Perhaps China can rethink its strategy about Hong Kong and apply the one country two systems policy, let Hong Kong has its way and do what it likes. It would be a win win situation. Hong Kongers would love to have their freedom and this would be something they could cheer for. They could then try to outdo China by curbing the virus the Hong Kong way. Maybe they could follow Singapore and promote the use of mRNA vaccines as the main vaccine to fight the virus, with boosters, and hopefully lower the infection rate and do better than China.

The other advantage is the economy. Hong Kong could be as free as Singapore and resume its key role as the gateway to China, adopts Singapore's live with the Covid policy, open the gate wide wide to do more business with the rest of the world. And compete with Singapore to see who is freer, who opens the gate wider, or else it would lose out to Singapore like what the western media said. 

China can maintain its zero Covid policy as this serves China very well with its factories all running in full steam, no need to open up to all Tom, Dick and Harry to come in to infect the whole country. But anyone coming into China from Hong Kong must go through the stringent control protocols. Hong Kong could be a hot bed for the virus as the virus would also enjoy the freedom like Hong Kongers in a western style democratic system.

When Hong Kong opens up like Singapore, Singapore would have a hard time chasing after Hong Kong again. Both would try to outdo the other.

No ASEAN country should trumpet own Ukraine stance

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has brushed aside a request from 25 ambassadors in Bangkok, asking his government to take a stand against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"We should maintain balance at this point," the prime minister told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

With the exception of Singapore, which has forcefully denounced the invasion, much of Southeast Asia has responded with little more than cautious expressions of concern. Thailand came under pressure to change that on Monday, when the envoys visited Thani Thongpakdi, the permanent secretary for foreign affairs.

The ambassadors represented a long list of nations: the U.S., U.K., Japan, Canada, Norway, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Hungary, Belgium, Czech, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Denmark as well as the European Union. Together, they urged Thailand, as a member of the United Nations, to speak up for the rules-based international order and denounce the invasion as a violation of the U.N. charter.

The kingdom has stuck to neutrality since the invasion began last Thursday. The Thai foreign ministry expressed deep concern over the escalating tensions while supporting a peaceful settlement through dialogue. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Saturday published a statement with a similar tone.

In rebuffing the ambassadors' request, Prayuth used the bloc's statement as cover. "It's a regional matter now," he said, arguing that countries should avoid trumpeting their own stance once ASEAN has clarified its position. 

Anonymous