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LOCATED AT THE HEART OF ASIA'S BURGEONING STUDENT MARKETS. A safe, clean city of 4.3 million people with high living standards. A former British colony with Englishlanguage-conducted instruction, Western-style education, and a diverse cultural and religious community of Chinese, Indian, Malay, and Western residents. Brand-name universities such as MIT, Stanford, and NYU offering on-site dual-degree and joint research opportunities. Hefty scholarships for international students. A new "student protection" program and stepped up regulation of private institutions. A low birthrate that has opened the doors of 7,000 multinational company offices to skilled foreign talent. Generous immigration policies for students remaining in Singapore after graduation to contribute to the city-state's plans to become a research and development (R&D) and innovation-driven economy.
These are some of the elements that give Singapore an edge in its ambitious bid to increase its international student population from 80,000 to 150,000 by 2015. "If effectively positioned," says Magdalene Lee, director of education services at the Singapore Tourism Board, "these same strengths can put us in strong competition amongst the traditional education hubs" of the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia-and among new next-door study destinations such as Malaysia and China.
Numbers-wise, the traditional hubs needn't worry. Singapore's government-issued figures for foreign students include a large portion attending primary and secondary schools, not universities. The United States, Britain, and Australia are still the preferred choices for most top Asian college students. And with a few exceptions the prestigious foreign university programs in Singapore enroll small numbers of students in niche specialties.
The quest is not only to push for higher overseas student enrollment in local universities. Singapore aims to foster loyalty among regional talent at an early age. It cultivates the opening on its shores of pretertiary international schools. It welcomes thousands of mainland Chinese youngsters to attend its primary and secondary schools, easing the way through policies such as "study Momma" visas issued to accompanying mothers. It hosts 200,000 young students a year for short-term cultural or sports-based visits (Japan is a big sender).
A National Campaign
The 80,000 international students on Singapore campuses in 2006 represent a 46 percent increase since the nation started to nurture the international student market in 2003, says Lee. (Actual numbers of foreign students...