By Jane Ng

A PRIVATE school looking to attract higher-quality students is offering $10 million in scholarships specifically to those who qualify for the three universities here.

The courses at the East Asia Institute of Management, one of the bigger ones in the industry, lead to external degrees with the Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the University of Wales Institute in Cardiff.

Its degree programmes are in areas such as event management, hospitality and logistics management.

Each of the 300 bond-free scholarships will cover about 70 per cent of the tuition fee, which comes to about $28,000. They are tenable for part-time and full time programmes, but the applicants have to be aged under 30.

The first 100 scholarships will be awarded from next month and 23 students have signed up so far.

Institute chairman Andrew Chua, who is also the president of the Association of Private Schools and Colleges Singapore, said: 'Scholarships will elevate the quality of students. It's important for private schools to have good-quality education and academic standards. Standards will come from quality students you're able to attract.'

He noted that the programmes offered are different from those at the National University of Singapore (NUS), the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the Singapore Management University (SMU), so he was confident that some students would find the offer of scholarships 'a good opportunity'.

But he is also realistic. He knows that the top students who win places at NUS, NTU and SMU may not join his school.

'We may not attract the best students, but we're aiming for the second-liners who missed being at the top marginally, and also for students who are financially in need of support,' he said.

The students interviewed said it would take more than a scholarship from a private school to entice them. Sophia Lim, 18, who scored two Cs and a D in the recent A-level examinations, hopes to land a spot in one of the three universities. 'They would still be my first choice. I've always thought private schools are for those who don't make it to the three universities,' she said.

Valerie Goh, 18, who has a pick of schools with her seven distinctions from the same exam, said: 'A local university degree is more recognisable. I'd feel safer about things like teaching quality, even if many private schools are good for the different courses they offer.'

The institute, popularly known as EASB, the acronym formed by its old name, is believed to be the first school to state such a specific academic criteria for its scholarships. Another private school, the Singapore Institute of Management, offers up to 35 scholarships a year to students with academic, leadership, sports or artistic talent.

Its spokesman said the school did not target a specific group of students like EASB did, but all the same, it believed the quality of its applicants to be high.

The 25-year-old EASB has over 3,000 students on its Balestier and Henderson campuses and expects the number to hit 4,500 despite the economic downturn.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.