Insight

ST NSIGHT The long road to a fourth university

By Sandra Davie, Education Correspondent Sept 1 2007

AFTER getting his engineering diploma from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Madam Katherine Wong's son wanted to pursue an engineering degree course in Australia. She had to cash in her insurance endowment policy and take a loan as well to finance his ambition. That was in 2005. Today, the 48-year-old, who is divorced, fears her 24-year-old son, Sean, has flown the coop for good. He has hinted to her that he wants to stay in Australia after graduating. For parents like Madam Wong, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's recent announcement of a fourth, and maybe even a fifth, university has come too late. While those entering or studying in the polytechnics welcome the decision, she is among those who believe it should have been taken a lot earlier. Since the 1990s, thousands of polytechnic graduates have been going overseas each year to get a university degree. Madam Wong feels that universities here should have provided more places for polytechnic graduates like her son. A fourth university could also have kept him here. Like many poly graduates and their parents, she still remembers the Government's decision in 2003 to overturn an earlier decision to set up a publicly-funded institution. That decision was taken by a committee headed by then-Minister of State (Education) Ng Eng Hen. So, what happened in the last four years that prompted the Government to re-consider the fourth university proposal? Insight examines the twists and turns leading to the latest decision to press on with the fourth university.