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Singapore
markets education services in India
By Channel NewsAsia's India Correspondent
Vaibhav Varma
Time
is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 07 October 2005 1814 hrs
SINGAPORE:
Singapore is marketing its education services in India in a big way, eyeing the
large number of Indian students eager to study abroad.
Singapore as
an education hub that caters to students from all over the world -- that is the
message behind the two-week Singapore Education Fair in India. With growing numbers
of Indian students eager to study overseas, it is a big market to be tapped.
Said Siew-Kheng Kang, director (international relations) at the Singapore Tourism
Board, "We see that the numbers for instance for '06 and '07 -- there's something
like 160,000 Indian students looking to go overseas. We think we can offer something
that they would find very attractive in Singapore.
" STB held the event
together with 18 institutions, among them the National University of Singapore
and Nanyang Technological University. Besides the capital New Delhi, the roadshow
also travelled to Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
Said Bridget
Goh, area director (South India) at STB, "When we promote 'World Class Education
is Closer Than You Think' in the Indian market, we are actually telling the students
that they could actually receive a brand name university education, say for example
INSIA, where they don't have to fly all the way to Europe, they could just have
it in Singapore.
" Career counselling was a popular feature of the
fair, which attracted more than 20,000 people at each venue.
Joint
promotion of education is part of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement
signed between the two governments.
Said Ravi S Sharma, director (India
strategy) at NTU, "Whereas for over 10 years we have been interested in India,
I think the critical mass has taken time to build. Today for sure that critical
mass is there and is substantial. So I suppose from both sides we were waiting
for this time, and that time has come.
" Apart from tertiary courses,
the fair also introduced Singapore as an ideal choice for primary and secondary
education.
In just the last two years, the number of Singaporean educational
institutions calling on India has doubled and that is set to rise further.
There
have been a number of new initiatives between India and Singapore in the political
and business arenas, and strengthening of the educational bridge is a happy outcome.
- CNA /ct
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