UNSW call it quits after 3 months, $250million wasted
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well mate, to be honest, we have always been, haven't we?Originally posted by 4getmenot:i think the singaporeans are already suffering...
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We will see another increase in migration among the local.Originally posted by Tiggerific:well mate, to be honest, we have always been, haven't we? -
oh no not me.. i already left long time agoOriginally posted by Tiggerific:well mate, to be honest, we have always been, haven't we?
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Let's put it this way: The Govt values respect for public institutions (and even enforces it in many ways) and its face so much that for all the talk about good Governance, they score zero on that. We can rant all we want, but the country would sooner burn before anything happens.Originally posted by Quincey:I think the key point of all the key points that come out of these debacles is accountability. Sure, ventures fail. But in the real world, when ventures fail, the individuals who orchestrate and operate these very ventures have to account for their failings. It is not about pointing the finger and going on a witch hunt, it is more than that. Accountability, if i could use it in such loose terms, shows what went wrong and god willing, that such mistakes not repeat itself. If a recipe doesn't work out, or for that matter a tried and tested recipe doesnt work out in a new enviroment, surely its about time we try something differnet? -
but migration will only happen to those who can afford it. most of us locals can't unfortunately...Originally posted by will4:We will see another increase in migration among the local. -
You've got to be kidding. Afterall, you're talking about a regime run by boffins whose educational system is so unique it belongs to a select handful (if not the only one) where foreigners actually pay the same fees as the locals(in fact, when you consider the scholarships available for foreign "talents", they probably pay less than locals). I wonder when will the US Federal government follow in the silly footsteps of this regime by providing federal grants to foreigners...Originally posted by Fingolfin_Noldor:A better idea would have been, is to run the university the same way US Public Universities are run: Charge local students much much less, like 1/2 the private fee, and then charge the foreign students much more. Even the 22K SGD is only a few thousand dollars off what some US universities charge. It's ridiculous that they even charged that much. Then next is the Govt to provide real financial support to the university so that they can subsidise local students. Then you might consider a huge student population. Anything else is plain stupid and unrealistic.
Yes, we're supposed to believed NUS and NTU are on their way to becoming the world's top universities under the stewardship of imbeciles.
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Heard that it was due to a tax issue with our government....Originally posted by AndrewPKYap:What a disgrace. Malaysia has so many Australian Universities operating successfully.
P*P knows only how to exploit coolies and cannot lead the nation to great heights in the achievement of the arts, science, philosophy and intellectual pursuits. -
dunt forget there are some 80,000 foreign students here,spending
$500 to $1600 per month per student.
If their mum is here,the spending will be more. -
Of course, we cannot forget or discount these successes. Credit goes to the Govt. and the EDB. However, discounting the lessons from UNSW pull out and just trumpeting these successes would be foolish for the long term prospect in creating Singapore as an education centre.Originally posted by lionnoisy:dunt forget there are some 80,000 foreign students here,spending
$500 to $1600 per month per student.
If their mum is here,the spending will be more. -
drawing large numbers of students alone doesn't make an 'education hub'.
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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22013391-12332,00.html
Hilmer looks beyond the pain
Catherine Armitage, Higher education editor
July 04, 2007
A YEAR into his job as vice-chancellor of the University of NSW, Fred Hilmer is looking forward to a $700 million program of capital works using innovative financing methods, and back at the worst day of his working life to date.
He is a former chief executive of listed newspaper group Fairfax Media and a veteran of the cutthroat competitive world of international management consultancy. Yet the news of UNSW Asia's collapse was the hardest Professor Hilmer has had to handle.
His trip to Singapore to bear the bad tidings to students and staff in late May was "really awful" and "emotionally very difficult", he said in an interview in his office at the Kensington campus this week.
The decision to abandon a proposed $200 million-plus greenfields campus after projections for enrolments turned out to be wildly optimistic left UNSW with $17.5million in losses and 106 staff and 148 students without a university.
"I felt I had to explain it myself. I fronted the students and the staff. That was the worst day of my working life," Professor Hilmer said. "People were crying, it was terrible, it was like a funeral."
Adding to the upset was his belief he had a workable plan for the campus's future, which was rejected at the 11th hour by the Economic Development Board of Singapore.
UNSW's rescue proposal called for a significant but "not unreasonable" subsidy from the EDB, Professor Hilmer said, but it "didn't find the plan was attractive enough to support".
"It was basically for a smaller, slower start-up with less research, certainly in the early years," he said. "We could have got something a little more like Monash in Malaysia, which is much more closely integrated with this campus. But it was not going to be the fourth great university in Singapore."
Professor Hilmer said there were no signs that UNSW's standing among prospective students had suffered. "There is nothing in our enrolment figures in next semester or next year that gives me any cause for concern. The reality is, to students who want to come here, it is irrelevant."
The students from UNSW Asia were "now largely taken care of and we are working through the staff issues", Professor Hilmer said.
"The only thing that got me through it was, I thought that if I don't do it this year, if it's next year, with a larger number of staff and a larger number of students, it would have been an almost impossible egg to unscramble," Professor Hilmer said.
On the upside, he has plans for a more rounded education for UNSW's international students and new ways to pay for a $700million building program during the next five years or so.
The key to successful international operations was close integration of core domestic activities, he said. To this end UNSW planned to offer overseas students studying in Australia work experience in their home markets as part of their degrees, as it already does in a program for domestic students.
It will take "some years" to put in place, Professor Hilmer admitted, but "our students could get work in Hong Kong, Singapore or Malaysia. We will be using our alumni and academic network to seek co-operative strategies so students' experience will be international.
Meanwhile, a financing method he learned during a visit to leading US universities last year will pay for a new $120million cancer centre.
Frank Lowy, executive chairman and co-founder of Westfield, has made the largest philanthropic gift, worth $10 million, in the university's history to the centre, and government funding and the university's capital bring the total available to $70 million.
To pay for the remaining $50million, the university is setting up a sinking fund of $10million to be quarantined and invested until it reaches $50million.
Universities can use the advantage that they are not "under the gun" from shareholders, as commercial ventures are, to take a long-term investing stance, Professor Hilmer explained.
"You have to use the fact that you don't have urgency to minimise the risk," he said.
He hoped the financing method might be useful to leverage any payments from the Higher Education Endowment Fund as the university embarks on a renewal program to update its ageing capital infrastructure. -
http://www.todayonline.com/pda/198503ag.htm
EDB rebuts UNSW
Closure was varsity's business decision; vice-chancellor out to blame agency, it says
Friday • July 6, 2007
Lin Yanqin
[email protected]
EVEN as the University of New South Wales' (UNSW) ill-fated Singapore campus closed last Friday, the debate over what went wrong rages on — with recent comments by the UNSW vice-chancellor drawing a stout reaction from the Economic Development Board (EDB).
In its most strongly worded response yet, the EDB countered Mr Fred Hilmer's comments — published in The Australian on Wednesday — that the agency had rejected his "workable plan" to keep the campus open, after enrolment figures for its first semester fell below target.
Wrote EDB assistant managing director Aw Kah Peng, in a letter addressed to Mr Hilmer and copied to the media: "By this, you sought to lay the blame for the closure of the Singapore campus of UNSW on the EDB, rather than acknowledge that it was a business decision taken by UNSW after concluding that you would not be able to meet the deliverables expected under the support package from the EDB."
The letter — longer than previous statements that the EDB had issued on the closure — also detailed the negotiations between UNSW and the EDB that preceded the varsity's announcement of the closure in May.
In the article, Mr Hilmer had described the "really awful" and "emotionally very difficult" decision and process of closing down the Singapore campus.
Reportedly adding to his ordeal was "his belief that he had a workable plan for the campus' future, which was rejected at the 11th hour" by the EDB.
His proposal, he said, required a substantial but "not unreasonable" subsidy from the EDB, but the agency "didn't find the plan attractive enough to support".
In response, the EDB said Mr Hilmer's description of his plans for UNSW Asia as a "smaller, slower start-up with less research, certainly in the early years" was "misleading".
This suggested that all that was involved was a slower rate of growth in enrolment in the short term, when in fact, it applied "even for the longer term", said the EDB.
The new enrolment figures proposed by UNSW — 2,000 by 2016 compared to the original target of up to 15,000 by 2020 — did not provide the EDB with enough assurance that the university would eventually develop a permanent campus here.
The agency was prepared for now to continue with the support that had been given to UNSW, but "not to increase it".
How much the EDB has spent in support of the setting up of UNSW Asia has been a subject of continued speculation, with the agency refusing to reveal figures.
In June, it was reported that the university would have to return about $17 million to the Singapore Government — an amount that the university had spent on its start-up operations.
It was also reported that UNSW had been given a loan facility — by the EDB and the Australia and New Zealand Bank — of $156.8 million. EDB's share in the loan is not known.
The EDB has repeatedly stated that the amount given in grants is confidential, but its support packages for investments typically "comprise tax incentives, loans, or grants that are reliable if pre-agreed milestones and outcomes are not met".
In a separate report on Wednesday, The Australian quoted an anonymous senior academic as saying that UNSW's Singapore management had asked the Sydney headquarters for a A$10,000 ($13,000) discount to take the sting out of its $25,000 fees.
"We realised we faced very severe fee competition (with Singapore universities), " said the academic. But Mr Hilmer only offered A$7,500 to certain students "who could meet certain criteria".
Other academics blamed the lack of proper marketing for the campus' demise. "It didn't know its main feature to attract students: Why would they come, what was the selling point," said one academic. -
http://www.todayonline.com/pda/198439ag.htm
Want to avoid UNSW debacle? Here's how
Expert says closer study of governance structure would help
Friday • July 6, 2007
Jasmine Yin
[email protected]
LOOK beyond the glowing record of the foreign university and pay more attention to engage the different stakeholders within the institution.
Doing so could help mitigate future dents on Singapore's education hub ambitions, advised Dr Ravinder Sidhu, a visiting academic who is doing research here on trans-national education providers.
The University of New South Wales (UNSW) Asia shut its doors last Friday. Classes had been operating for one semester before UNSW vice-chancellor Fred Hilmer — who took over last June — decided to pull the plug, due to the poor student take-up rate.
"There needs to be a closer examination of internal governance structures of invited universities — how decisions are made by governing councils, presidents or vice-chancellors and the faculty," said Dr Sidhu, a Research Fellow from the University of Queensland who presented her paper at a closed-door workshop on trans-national education and migration this week.
"More attention needs to be given these different tiers within the institution for a better risk analysis and securing greater commitment."
Media reports had pointed to the UNSW not having deep enough pockets as a key reason for the pull-out. The increasingly corporate approach to governance among universities translates into looking at the world from a market perspective, such as costs and revenues, Dr Sidhu observed.
UNSW Asia is one of a handful of foreign universities that she is looking at for her research on Singapore's Global Schoolhouse initiative. The Economic Development Board (EDB) has targeted to attract 150,000 foreign students to Singapore by 2015 and create 22,000 jobs.
Dr Sidhu said she was about to fly back to Australia to interview UNSW staff when the news broke.
"I was stunned," she told Today. "There was no indication of closure to the people on the ground. They were expecting restructuring, in light of the student numbers."
She also cautioned against perceiving invited foreign universities — which receive funding from the Singapore Government to set up shop here — as bastions of creative and cutting-edge work, as well as talented staff and students.
The challenge is to ensure that the local universities are not limited to just the "bread-and-butter ", though important, tasks of administration and preparing students for the labour force, she added.
As for the Global Schoolhouse initiative on the whole? She said Singapore was "certainly developing a name for itself as an emerging education hub", but it was "still early days" to give a fair assessment.
"This is an expensive policy endeavour. The question of whether the money could be better utilised for other ends is a valid one, especially in light of any high-profile 'failures'."
The workshop, held on Tuesday and Wednesday, was organised by the National University of Singapore's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Migration Research Cluster and the Asia Research Institute.
Issues raised included how globalising cities re-invent themselves as education hubs; how educational trans-migrants, especially youth, navigate cultural differences; and the role of local and foreign education providers in this phenomenon.
One other interesting finding for Singapore was Associate Professor Ho Kong Chong's research on young foreign students at universities here.
His initial findings — after discussions with 10 of them from Asian countries such as China, India and Vietnam — showed that foreign students live in a "social bubble", without embedding themselves here, and tend to make friends only among themselves.
This would defeat the purpose of the varsities to expose their local students to a multi-cultural environment, pointed out Assoc Prof Ho, who is with the Sociology department of the National University of Singapore. -
ASIA CAMPUS PULLOUT: AUSSIE DON CLAIMS SINGAPORE SCUPPERED SALVAGE PLAN
EDB refutes UNSW chief's version of story
There was no promise from him on even a smaller campus at Changi despite EDB offer to wait 2 years
By Sandra Davie, Education Correspondent
GIVING ITS SIDE: The EDB has written to Prof Hilmer to refute his claim that his salvage plan for UNSW Asia was rejected by the board. -- ST PHOTO: STEPHANIE YEOW
THE Economic Development Board (EDB) has refuted a claim by the chief of an Australian university that its Asian branch campus here failed because the board scuppered his proposed deal to save it.
The EDB wrote to Professor Fred Hilmer of the Sydney-based University of New South Wales (UNSW) to take issue with comments he made in The Australian newspaper published on Wednesday.
He told the paper he had proposed a salvage plan for UNSW Asia, which the EDB rejected at the 11th hour.
He was also quoted as having said: 'It was for a smaller, slower start-up with less research, certainly in the early years.'
UNSW announced the closure of UNSW Asia on May 23, claiming that its student intake had fallen far too short of its target.
Prof Hilmer had flown to Singapore to announce the closure at a press conference, during which he said he was not prepared to pour millions of dollars into the campus while waiting for it to take off.
But in his latest comments in the Australian media, he 'sought to lay the blame for the closure' on the EDB, said the board in its letter, which was released to the Singapore media.
Giving its side of the story, the EDB revealed that Prof Hilmer had wanted to renegotiate the support package as soon as he took over as vice-chancellor in the middle of last year.
The board agreed by 'significantly' increasing its support package, although enrolment targets remained about the same - which was for the university to have 10,000 students in 2015 and 15,000 a few years later.
The EDB said that when Prof Hilmer signed the new agreement in December last year, he agreed to speed up the development of UNSW Asia's campus in Changi and add more research and development activities.
But he was back at the bargaining table just three months later, after the intake met only half the target enrolment of 300.
This time around, he proposed scaling enrolment down to 2,000 students by 2016 - 8,000 fewer than the original target.
The EDB said he also offered no assurance that the Changi campus would be built, or even that it would be built on a smaller scale.
This was despite the board's agreeing to wait another two years for UNSW to decide on the fate of its Changi campus, which was to have replaced its temporary Kay Siang Road one.
The board had also meanwhile agreed to continue with the same grants and loan package, with no further increases.
The EDB said that contrary to the impression that Prof Hilmer had given - that all that was involved was a slower rate of increase in enrolment - he was actually proposing a much smaller enrolment, even for the longer term.
The board told him that, because this was a matter of interest to the Singapore public, it would send a copy of its letter to the Singapore media.
Dr Lily Neo, who heads the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education, noted that Prof Hilmer's revised enrolment figure showed a lack of commitment from UNSW.
To date, the EDB has declined to reveal how much it has given UNSW in grants and loans. But it has been reported that it gave UNSW some $17.3 million last year.
The university was also given a loan facility of $156.8 million to develop its Changi campus by the EDB and the Australia and New Zealand Bank. So far, $21 million had been drawn down.
[email protected]
Copyright © 2007 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn No. 198402868E
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WTF are wrong with those idiots at EDB? The UNSW people realize that what EDB is demanding is too much, that there's no chance that they will be able to complete with NUS and co. So they want to scale back their plans and develope a small scale version. And those idiots at EDB are living in their own world and they expect UNSW to stick to what they wanted. Now the campus is close, millions of taxpayer money is wasted and I don't see how forcing UNSW to close shop is "for the good of the public". If the upstairs people at EDB refuses to fire those responsible for this fiasco I expect more failures to occur.
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fuc* them
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and another round of salary hikes for extraordinary leadership.Originally posted by 4getmenot:yup..the gahmen seem to be losing more money than ever aat a much faster ratio... i'd expect another GST increase in two years time to try to top up the losses in the reserves -
My Dream school..
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Monash UNi in Malaysia not bad, fee cheap somemore, EDB aim too high, that is why the debacle of UNSW, no body can guarantee a student population of 10000 in 2013Originally posted by AndrewPKYap:What a disgrace. Malaysia has so many Australian Universities operating successfully.
P*P knows only how to exploit coolies and cannot lead the nation to great heights in the achievement of the arts, science, philosophy and intellectual pursuits.
A government that only knows how to exploit coolies to en-rich themselves...
Not enough coolies in Singapore? Import Foreigners! -
UNSW runs the Australian Defence Force Academy ( ADFA) and I see them doing quite well despite being in canberra. They have the defence force cadets doing the undergrad courses but their post grad coursework and research programs are open to members of the public and it is doing quite well.
So I don't think it is the University who is posing a problem. Bloody canberra has high rentals and high cost of living compared to Sydney or even Singapore but you still have people coming over.
Plus the defence force also offers scholarships to students in all universities , not only ADFA. -
Only S$ 17.3 million is at risk!!
Channel NewsAsia - Monday, July 16 2007
SINGAPORE: After months of silence, the Economic Development Board (EDB) has revealed it gave University of New South Wales Asia (UNSW Asia) S$15 million in loans and S$17.3 million in grants.
Parliament was told on Monday that the loan was disbursed for the building of the UNSW Changi campus and it can be recovered as it is backed by a bank guarantee.
As for the S$17.3 million in grants, it was given to help UNSW with start-up costs and negotiations are now underway for its return.
However, it is unclear how successful these negotiations will be..... -
TWO things stood out in Monday's lengthy Parliamentary debate over the controversy that was the University of New South Wales (UNSW).
Read the whole story at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/289070/1/.html
One, that it took two months — and after much probing — for the Government to finally reveal that it had pumped in $32 million in grants and loans to the failed UNSW campus in Singapore. While it is comforting to know the Economic Development Board (EDB) is trying to recover the money, which includes $17.3 million in grants, one wonders why it has taken the Government so long to put a number to the amount of taxpayers' money used.
The other — more troubling — revelation is the Government's unwavering stand on how it handles foreign investments such as UNSW's. -
Don't forget some of these mums and students are working illegally here. Some prostituting themselves; spreading disease around.Originally posted by lionnoisy:dunt forget there are some 80,000 foreign students here,spending
$500 to $1600 per month per student.
If their mum is here,the spending will be more.
Don't forget also the "student" who said the Singapore government had the brains of a cow when he was interviewed. He came to Singapore on a scholarship, studied for free, became a citizen and then emigrated to the US. -
EDB etc is very hard to negotiate with other Uni
after all UNSW info disclosed. -
I wonder if the govt will take a long time to recover the moeny?Originally posted by bigmouthjoe:Read the whole story at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/289070/1/.html