The governing body of the University of New South Wales took only 30 seconds to decide that it wanted to set up its campus in Singapore.

May 25, 2007
AsiaOne

THE University of New South Wales (UNSW) rushed through plans for its now collapsed Singapore campus so quickly that the university's governing body was given just 30 seconds to scrutinise the proposal, a senior academic says.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald today, members of the UNSW's governing body had warned the university as early as 2004 that the project needed further research and its financial estimates did not stand up to scrutiny.

The university dropped a bombshell on Wednesday that it is making a quick exit from Singapore, after losing millions of dollars on the venture. Fewer than 150 students had enrolled in the offshore campus this year, far short of plans to have it expand to 15,000 students over the next two decades.

The Herald says it is the latest hitch in the Australian university sector's troubled attempts to exploit the lucrative international student market by setting up offshore campuses. Several Australian universities have closed their operations in recent years, while Monash University's South African campus is said to be losing as much as A$6 million a year.

Mr John Carmody, a former senior academic said the university's governing body was given just 30 seconds to scrutinise the proposal before they were expected to vote on it. "This is how seriously the university wanted their plans for Singapore to be considered," he told The Herald.

A former councillor, Mr Peter Primrose was reported to be so displeased with the decision that he decided not to stand again for his position on the UNSW council. He said that the version of the document he had been asked to consider did not reflect the latest figures.

The Herald claimed that as early as 2004, members of UNSW's governing body had cautioned the university as the project's financial estimates were not closely examined.

Mr Jeremy Davis, a former dean of the Australian Graduate School of Management, said that his own cost analysis of the venture showed that the administration had “wildly underestimated” how costly it would be.

He was worried that the university would be unable to earn enough money from students' fees alone without the support from a body such as the Australian Research Council.

Mr Simon Marginson, a professor in higher education at the University of Melbourne pointed out that UNSW Asia was not never in the university's interests because it was designed to attract “B” students since local students went to Singapore's own universities.

He feels that this does not truly reflect the reputation of the university as “UNSW itself is a world class research university not far below the National University of Singapore and at least as strong as Nanyang (Technological University).”

According to UNSW's vice-chancellor Fred Hilmer, the closure of the Singapore campus would incur tens of millions of dollars by the time redundancies had been paid.

Students will be offered places at the university's main campus, and given subsidised air travel to Sydney and housing. While most staff will be made redundant, some will be offered jobs in Sydney.

A spokeswoman for the University of NSW, Judy Brookman, said it was not interested in events of the past. "We're trying to deal with the situation now," she told The SMH.

With this setback, can Singapore still succeed in its ambitions to be a “premier education hub” with a diverse range of global first-class institutions?

What would attract foreign students to study in Singapore when they can further their studies elsewhere? Why should foreign instituitions want to set up campuses in Singapore too?

Although it remains questionable if Singapore has the ability to compete on experiences which are unique to an institution's home country and meet its target of being a premier education hub for foreign students, the Economic Development Board remains optimistic.

An EDB spokesman cited the example of S P Jain, a leading business school from India which recently set up its third campus in Singapore, where 90% of tis students are foreigners.

The EDB says factors that contribute to Singapore's attractiveness would include its strategic location as an East-meets-West focal point, opportunities to work with over 7,000 multinational companies and our 'squeaky clean' image and safety.

Despite a one-and-a-half hour meeting held at Traders' Hotel yesterday for parents and students affected by the UNSW Asia closure, there were still many unanswered questions.

Although EDB and Ministry of Education played active roles in engaging the university to set up a campus in Singapore in 2004, these bodies were noticeably absent at the meeting.

The EDB merely released a press statement that it would continue to work closely with UNSW and other parties to address their needs.

In addition, some students questioned why there were no other solutions other than going to Sydney. These students were worried that they may not receive compensation if they decided nnot to complete their studies in the Sydney campus.

Current local students at UNSW Asia would be compensated $22,000 each year for the duration of their studies in Sydney while international students would only receive $12,000.

The batch of students who applied for the next intake had their grievances too. Some of them had not applied to other universities.

Professor Henry, deputy vice-chancellor (Academic) at UNSW, who chaired the meeting, said that the university would try to accommodate their needs.

If they choose to study in Sydney, they are allowed to pay the tuition fees at the publicized UNSW Asia rates, which is about $13,000 a semester. However, he added that the compensation offered to the pioneer batch could not be extended to students of the next intake. Instead, the university would help them to look for places in local universities.

Nanyang Technological University and National University of Singapore have said that they would consider applicants from UNSW. However, it remains unknown if the students of the second intake will be given an extended period to submit their applications to local universities, as was promised to the pioneer batch.

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