A world-classeducation system awaits in Singapore at the Singapore Institute of Management(SIM)

SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 13 November 2018- Mention the word education, and there will be thosewho instantly look towards the vaunted Finnish system -- one that emphasiseslearning through playing, with human values, rather than clinical statistics,the topmost priority. Yet another school of thought prescribes that to besuccessful, it's more a matter of studying smart and attaining balance, ratherthan simply studying hard.

With anequally lauded reputation as its Scandinavian counterpart for producingtop-tier graduates, Singapore is progressively taking its seat in the lattercamp. This comes as its government continues to implement policies that moveaway from an obsession with grades, by focusing more on characterscorecards and reflection journals, ensuing in a long overdue shiftin mindset.

Future-proof skills and values the wayforward

This trend canbe attributed to how workers of the future have to compete across borders forthe best education, jobs and growth. That's why a singular focus on academicswill no longer suffice, in light of how artificial intelligence and automation willdisrupt industries and render certain jobs obsolete. Acollaboration between Cisco and Oxford Economics revealed thatroughly 4.3 million workers will be displaced by 2027, with an additional 2.2million workers disrupted, resulting in a total of 6.5 million job moves.

Taking this knowledgeinto consideration, students in Singapore are being trained to strengthentheir competencies in collaboration, creativity, problem-solving, resilienceand empathy, adding on to the foundational skills like literacy andnumeracy they already possess. Essentially, old-school rote learning is makingway for knowledge application to real-world scenarios and soft skill-basedinteractions.

Stellar results: a time-honoured Singaporeantradition

However, thisdoes not mean that Singapore is abandoning its post as a global leader in education.In fact, its teenagers consistentlyemerge on top when faced with tests in maths, reading and science,as judged by the influential Programme for International Student Assessment(PISA).

Besides thePISA rankings, Singapore'seducation system has also attained recognition as the best in Asia in preparingstudents for the future, according to an Economist Intelligence Unit(EIU) index in 2017. As such, it's evident the well-oiled talent factory isfunctioning as optimally as ever.

A key reason forthis continual success? Look no further than a pool of highly qualified educators.

The art of effective teaching

Singapore'ssuccessful future-skills education system is led by its teachers, who areselected primarily from the top 5% of graduates to teach challenging concepts,as well as excite students by linking lessons to relatable situations outsidethe classroom. Raising the status of teachers has been one of the ways to enticehigh-calibre students to take up the profession.

ProfessorDavid Hung, Associate Dean of Education Research at the National Institute ofEducation remarked, "The culture of Singapore has moved to a place where theprofession of teaching is more highly valued by families and parents. Twodecades ago this wasn't the case. Pay is important. The substantive quality ofteachers as observed by the public is important."

Teachersare also entitled to 100 hours of professional development per year, and their performance is appraised on a yearly basis acrossseveral metrics, includingcontribution to the academic and character development of their students. Thisplaces them firmly in line with the positive education movement, which seeks tocreate caring and trusting relationships within schools -- of which a large,quality selection exists.

Convergence of top education institutions

Singapore hasfirmly established itself as a key knowledge hub in Asia. In addition to its sixautonomous universities (National University of Singapore, Nanyang TechnologicalUniversity, Singapore Management University, Singapore University of Technologyand Design, Singapore Institute of Technology, and Singapore University ofSocial Sciences), several other world-class universities have also establisheda significant presence domestically. Among these are the MassachusettsUniversity of Technology (MIT), Johns Hopkins University, and the WhartonBusiness School of the University of Pennsylvania.

They arecomplemented by Private Education Institutions (PEIs) who have garnered greaterpopularity of late, with some students favouring a shorter degree completionperiod. This newfound confidence in PEIs has been further enhanced with measuresto protect their interests, such as compulsory annual graduateemployment surveys to track graduate employment outcomes and minimum financialstandards.

PEIs also addto an already diverse range of degrees and faculty mixes to choose from. Forinstance, the Singapore Institute of Management Global Education (SIM GE), anon-profit institution, offers courses from the Universityof Birmingham taught directly by faculty lecturers, and the renownedUniversityof London, one of the world's oldest universities.

Going places with SIM GE

Theaward-winning SIM GE lays claim to over 50 years of experience in the privateeducation arena, and its leadership in this field has led to a fraternity of150,000 graduates, with an annual enrolment of 19,000 students, 20% of whichare full-time international students from more than 40 countries.

More than justa multi-cultural learning environment, SIM GE provides students withcareer-ready skills and knowledge, through over80 full-time and part-time courses offered in partnership withprestigious universities. Partner universities include:

From the UK

• University ofLondon: One of the oldest universities in the world established in 1836
• University ofBirmingham: Named University of the Year for Graduate Employment¹
• The Universityof Warwick: Ranked 54th in the world²
• University of Stirling: Scotland's University for Sporting Excellence

From the US

• University atBuffalo, The State University of New York: Ranked 38^th among publicuniversities³

From Australia

• University ofWollongong: with top-ranking faculty for Computer Science in School of ComputerScience and Software Engineering
• RMITUniversity: 14^th highest ranked university in Australia⁴
• La Trobe University:Ranked in the Top 50 universities for Hospitality and Leisure Management⁵

Programmesaside, top-notch facilities that support learning can be found across SIM GE'scampus of over 100,000m², like the largest management library inSingapore, a Financial Training Centre, and over 100 well-furnished lecturetheatres and seminar rooms. From academic to career development programmes, SIMGE has built a reputation as a global institution which settles for nothingless than the best for its students.

¹The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, 2016

² QS World University Rankings, 2019

³U.S.News and World Report's Best Colleges Ranking, 2019

⁴QSWorld University Rankings, 2018

⁵QSWorld Rankings by Subject, 2017