Find out more about Singapore Education at the various events held in Seoul, Korea in the month of September and October 2008.

Are you considering furthering your studies overseas? You don't have to look further than Singapore - Asia's premier education hub.

Register here for more information on courses in your field of interest.

In the second issue, the focus is on the emergence and development of Singapore as a destination for Design and New Media studies. To offer greater insight into this trend, two key persons from two leading institutions, Associate Professor Giuseppe Spinelli, Principal & Programme Director (Fashion Design) of Raffles Design Institute and Dr Pari Sara Shirazi, President, Tisch School of the Arts Asia were interviewed.

The second focus for the issue will be the Singapore Education Awards 2008, a night where stellar contributions to the Singapore Education scene were recognised. Held at the Raffles Hotel with high media coverage, the awards ceremony was a glitzy and ultimately successful event.

Visit www.se-blackboard.com to find out more.

To raise awareness of Singapore as an education destination, Singapore Education showcased the study abroad programme offerings by Singapore institutions at NAFSA: Association of International Educators Annual Conference and Expo held in Washington D.C., USA, May 25-30.

As part of the Global Schoolhouse initiative, Singapore Education had embarked on the study abroad initiative in the United States to attract US students to Singapore for exchange; fee-paying semester and summer programmes. The presence of western students enhances student diversity in Singapore’s education landscape for Singapore to position itself as a truly international education hub.

The NAFSA conference is the international education platform to showcase Singapore Education, with more than 9,000 international educators from higher education institutions, education policy makers, government and non-government organizations convening in Washington D.C. from over 100 countries.

More than 400 exhibitors and sponsors participated at the NAFSA 2008 Expo. Singapore’s sleek and open pavilion concept, with the captivating picture of the Singapore evening skyline, won praise from international participants and fellow destination exhibitors.

The participating institutions at the Singapore Education pavilion included: National University of Singapore(NUS), NUS Extension, Nanyang Technological University(NTU), Nanyang Business School, Singapore Institute of Management(SIM) and Contact Singapore.

Credible and knowledgeable education counselors are effective platforms in promoting the range of education services available in Singapore. Singapore Education Indonesia (SEI) currently has 55 Singapore Education Specialist (SES) in 11 cities in Indonesia.

SEI recently conducted a series of SES training sessions in Jakarta, Surabaya, and Medan to recruit more SES to promote Singapore education services. In addition to recruiting new SES, refresher training were also organised for current SES to update them on new policies and products about Singapore Education.

The SES training programme in the three cities received good response as we had education agents from various secondary cities like Bandung, Semarang, Malang, Makassar, Jambi, and Pontianak who wanted to be accredited as SES to promote education in Singapore. Participants were selected based on their good track record as an education agent, experience in being education counselor for other overseas education bodies or institutions and also have a good working relationship with a number of Singapore schools/ institutions.

China International Education Exhibition Tour (CIEET) is the largest education fair in China, and is organised by the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange (CSCSE), which is part of the People Republic of China's Ministry of Education. Since 1999, it has built a reputation as a distinguished platform to bring study-abroad knowledge to the Chinese market. The 13th CIEET received participation from 300 overseas universities from over 20 countries and regions.

During this part of the tour, cluster branding was rolled out specifically focusing on tourism & hospitality and arts, design and new media disciplines. This fair extended Singapore Education’s footprint and market reach in the secondary cities. At the Guangzhou leg, a total of 10 institutions participated including new ones like Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, international schools like ACS International, tourism & hospitality schools like EASB, Kaplan, PSB, SIM, Shelton and TMC.

Over the two days, the Singapore Education pavilion at Guangzhou attracted a total of over 300 visitors. Good turnout was received especially on day two. This was attributed to the SE Meet-the-Parents session held on the same day at a hotel next to CIEET venue. Overall, key queries received were on Singapore’s Basic, Undergraduate and Postgraduate education in the fields of Finance, Management, Logistics and Designs

Over at CIEET event, a series of networking and market development sessions as well as Singapore Education Specialist (SES)-organised SE activities were arranged in Guangzhou. They include school visits – Guangzhou School of Vocational Tourism & Business on the 14 March, SE Meet-the-Parents session organised by Guangzhou Service Centre for Scholarly Exchange (GSCSE) on the 16 March. There were also media interviews from Guangzhou Daily, 新快报，羊城晚报 conducted with SE representatives and RO. Overall, CIEET was a success in rolling out the cluster branding campaign and securing the industry’s buy-in to extend SE footprint into secondary cities.

STB Western China (Chengdu), jointly with STB Greater China and Education Services, participated in the 13th China International Education Exhibition Tour (CIEET) 2008, which was held from 11 - 12 March 2008 at the Hunan International Convention & Exhibition Center in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province. This was part of Singapore Education’s participation at this year’s CIEET in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Changsha and Guangzhou. For Changsha, this was the first time that CIEET had returned to the city since the exhibition was last held there six years ago in 2002.

Organised by the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange (CSCSE), a unit of the Chinese Ministry of Education and Reliable International Exhibition Services, CIEET aims to provide a platform to introduce quality education resources to be made available to Chinese students, especially with regards to studying abroad. CIEET is organised annually across selected cities in China, and it has become one of the most important education fairs in China, attracting the attendance of some 150,000 to 180,000 interested parents and students every year.

For this year's CIEET in Changsha, STB led the following contingent of 10 Singapore Educational Institutions, which had participated in the exhibition under the umbrella of Singapore Education :

Chinese International School   
ACS (International)                           
PSB Academy                                         
Brighton School        
Shelton College International                    
Kaplan Singapore - APMI / Financial           
Nanyang Institute of Management Pte Ltd   
Management Development Inst. of S'pore    
EASB Institute of Management 
Singapore Institute of Management             

CIEET (Changsha) was a 2-day event comprising an education fair as well as a series of seminars, which provided an excellent platform for Singapore Educational Institutions to showcase their schools and courses to prospective students and their parents.

The Singapore Education (SE) Pavilion was prominent with its striking high crown and predominantly green-and-white colour scheme. For this year, a semi-open concept was specially designed such that our pavilion would be inviting but at the same time, it also provided our participating institutions with a private space for face-to-face consultations with prospective students. Throughout the exhibition, our ‘欢乐新加坡之旅’ series of education videos was screened right at the front of our pavilion in order to capture the visitors’ attention. Our SE Pavilion received some media coverage from the Hunan Morning News 潇湘晨报as well as the Changsha Evening News长沙晚报.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) today honoured 17 exemplary individuals and organisations for their contributions to the education services industry, and in ensuring the successful assimilation of international students – a key differentiator in cementing Singapore’s standing as a global schoolhouse.

Held at the Raffles Hotel Jubilee Hall, the 2008 Singapore Education Awards presentation ceremony was officiated by Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports and Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts. Over 370 guests, comprising members of the diplomatic community and key industry partners, attended the event.

The key objectives of the Awards are to recognise the exceptional contributions of members of the Singapore education industry in strengthening Singapore's position as an education hub and global schoolhouse, and to establish the benchmarks for service excellence in the various areas of education services provision.

The Awards also serve to recognise individuals and organizations that have made a difference to the lives of the international students living and studying in Singapore, particularly in advancing their assimilation into the local community.

Building on the momentum of last year’s inaugural Singapore Education Awards, this year’s awards were expanded to include three new categories to acknowledge a wider pool of individuals and organisations for their contributions to the growth of the education sector. The new award categories include the Best Media Coverage for Singapore Education (both Print and Broadcast), Best International Marketing Effort (both Public Educational Institution and Private Educational Institution) and Best Host for International Students Studying in Singapore (both Hostels and Schools). The expansion led to a four-fold increase in nominations to over 1,300 this year.

For more information, please click here.

The Education Ministry (MOE) will be holding a centralised admissions exercise for international students every year. This is to simplify school applications for such students, who currently have to apply directly to the schools they are interested in.

Most apply to more than one school to increase their chance of admission and are often required to sit for different admission tests. The first centralised exercise will be for new international students seeking admission to Singapore schools in 2009.

It will involve a centralised test tentatively scheduled to be held in September/October 2008. Applicants who pass the test would be offered a place in a suitable school for the academic year starting in Jan 2009, based on their test performance and available school vacancies.

The exercise would be for new international students seeking admission into Primary 2-5 and Secondary 1-3 levels. It would comprise English and Mathematics papers that would assess the applicants' English literacy, numeracy and reasoning abilities.

To read the press release, click here.

To read the FAQs, click here.

The Northeastern China Composition & Photography Competition organised by STB Northern China will be held from 6 Dec 07 to 28 Feb 08.

Please click here for more information.

In order to promote Singapore education in Southern China, VSO GZ leveraged on our SESs to jointly organize a series of education exhibitions and seminars. The objectives are to enhance our brand image in the market and attract more students. Guangzhou Service Centre for Scholarly Exchange (GZSCSE)　and Xiamen Youhao International Consulting Company (Xiamen Youhao) are two key education partners in Southern China. On 16 and 18 Nov, we organized a Singapore Education seminar together with GZSCSE in Guangzhou’s famous City of Universities and a Singapore Education exhibition with Xiamen Youhao in Xiamen Holiday Inn respectively.

Most of the famous universities in Guangzhou are clustered in the City of Universities and it was a great opportunity for us to promote Singapore education to these under-graduate university students. They were very impressed by Singapore education systems, bilingual study environment and high quality teaching services through our presentations. Besides degree programs in our 3 universities, these university students also showed great interests in degree programs provided by some private education organizations such as MDIS.

At the Xiamen’s Singapore Education Exhibition, a lot of institutes from Singapore participated and over 240 people from Xiamen, Fuzhou and even Quanzhou attended. Most of audiences were interested in Singapore education for their/their children’s education. Impressively, 26 students applied for Nanyang Polytechnic on that day and after the exhibition, our SES had feed back that there were a 80% rise in number of requests and queries on Singapore education.

Over in Xiamen, students were given a good chance to test their skills and abilities, through taking part in the entrance test held by Jurong Junior College. Before this 4 hours’ test, Jurong Junior College updated the students on their courses, tests and admissions. There were 12 students from Fujian who took this test and some of them got very good results which raised their confidence in applying for Singapore schools.

In the mean time, due to our good relationship with local media in Xiamen, we garnered media support from Xiamen Daily Newspaper and Xiamen Evening Newspaper. They gave pre-exhibition reports on our event and post event advertorials to expand the result of our exhibition in the market.

Nineteen Singapore education institutions will be participating in the Singapore Education Seminar Series in Vietnam, November 22-25 2007. Organized by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), this seminar series will be held at the Singapore Tourism Board(STB) Ho Chi Minh office on 45 Le Thanh Ton Street,  District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.

The Singapore Education Seminar series will feature a diverse range of education options from basic education to higher learning. For the first time in Vietnam, the seminars will feature postgraduate program offerings from Nanyang Business School (November 22 2007), Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management, and The Logistics Institute-Asia Pacific at the National University of Singapore( November 23 2007) under “Singapore Education for Working Professionals”.

Alumni from participating schools will also be sharing their Singapore Education experience during the seminars. The public can find out more about the Singapore Education study options and information on the seminar series in Vietnamese on the following website: http://www.giaoducsingapore.com/

School Principals from around the globe are cordially invited to attend the Global Leadership Conclave for School Principals at Singapore, co-hosted by the S P Jain Center of Management (SPJCM), Singapore and Institute of Career Studies (ICS) International, India. Leadership-guru and thought leader Professor Debashis Chatterjee and renowned educationist, career-counselor and trainer Dr Amrita Dass would co-chair the event.

This major three full day event, to be held at S P Jain’s Center of Management’s Singapore Campus, will bring together school Principals from the world over to share their understanding of school educational leadership issues of the 21st century in a global context.

For more information, please click here.

Building on the momentum of the inaugural Singapore Education Awards which was launched in March 2007, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has expanded the upcoming Singapore Education Awards 2008 with three new award categories. With the expansion, the Singapore Education Awards will be more industry-relevant and inclusive.

The nomination period for Singapore Education Awards 2008 will run from 22 October to 23 November 2007. Nominations can be submitted either online (http://www.se-awards.sg) or via the official forms that will be made available at 82 locations island-wide including schools, attractions, all Singapore Visitors Centre, hostels and community libraries.

For more details of the Singapore Education Awards 2008, please click here.

For the first time, STB Tokyo organized its Singapore OST (Overseas Study Trips) Fair, targeting school principals and teachers who are the decision makers for OST, as well as key travel agents handling OST groups. The fair, supported by SIA, Japan School Tours Bureau (JSTB) and Kyoiku Katei Shimbun (Home & School Education Newspaper), was held at Grand Hyatt Tokyo on 23 August 2007, and it drew a total of 78 guests.

The fair was a classroom-style seminar-cum-workshop with an afternoon tea break in between. We invited our industry partners from Singapore to the fair, and a total of 6 organizations participated in the workshop: ACS (International), St Francis Methodist School, Lorna Whiston, Jurong BirdPark, Singapore Zoo/Night Safari and DFS.

The seminar kicked off with a welcome speech by RDNA/Paul Tan, followed by an overview on the school trip market in Japan by JSTB, an OST presentation by MESEJ/Koki Kamata and a presentation by SIA, in the first half of the seminar. During the tea break, refreshments including Singapore-inspired satay, were served. In the second half of the afternoon, we invited a guest speaker from Chiba Kogane High School to share the positive experiences of their OST groups while in Singapore.

The OST fair was well received by the guests, with many of them pleased with our industry partners' presence at the workshop. They enjoyed the presentations and as well as the opportunity of interacting with the Singapore partners at the workshop.

To follow up this OST fair, STB Tokyo will run a one full page advertorial on Singapore OST in Kyoiku Katei Shimbun in September, followed by an OST school teachers fam in December 2007

SE Indonesia continues to penetrate to secondary cities through the ever popular Education Roadshow. The first two roadshows were held on 4–5 and 12 August 2007 in Semarang and Makassar respectively. The following two roadshows were held in Palembang and Jambi on 1–2 and 9 September 2007 respectively.

The Singapore Education Roadshows aim to showcase the diverse and wide-ranging educational options available in Singapore for Indonesian students. The roadshows brought in both public and private institutions offering courses in main and non-main stream disciplines, such as business & management, information technology, mass communication, arts & design, tourism & hospitality, and many more.

The participating institutions that attended the roadshows include National University of Singapore, EASB Institute of Management, Informatics Institute, LASALLE College of the Arts, Management Development Institute of Singapore, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, PSB Academy, Shelton College International, Singapore Institute of Management, Stansfield College, and TMC Academy.

In addition to the roadshows, Singapore Education visited top local schools to meet the Principals and deliver presentations about Singapore Education. It also hosted a press conference and media briefing for print and broadcast media in each roadshow. Updated information on Singapore Education and its new product and services were provided to the media.

A networking dinner was organised with representatives from participating institutions, principals and counselors from top local schools and in-market education agents to cultivate good relationship with industry partners and creating a top-of-mind awareness of Singapore as a premier education hub in the region.

Overall, the four Singapore Education Roadshows attracted a good crowd consisting of many potential students and reinforce Singapore’s position as the regional education hub and an appealing destination for seeking a quality educational experience for Indonesian students

Held from 17th August to 28th August 2007, the Singapore Education Week, jointly organized by IO Vietnam and ES was the biggest and most comprehensive showcase of Singapore institutions and their programmes offerings held in Vietnam to date. Visitor attendance to the Singapore Education Fairs were 1,500 in Ho Chi Minh City, 1,800 in Ha Noi and 200 in Can Tho respectively. In all, 26 leading and private institutions participated in HCMC, 16 in Hanoi and 18 in Can Tho respectively

This year, in addition to Singapore Education Fairs in HCMC, Hanoi and Can Tho, 4 days of themed seminars were also conducted at the SVC in Ho Chi Minh City. Ranging from Business Administration, Accounting, Marketing, Engineering, Information Technology, Tourism & Hospitality and the Arts & Design, visitors’ attendance at 22 themed seminars ranged from an average of 40 to 60 per session.

IO Vietnam also conducted our online counselling sessions with the readers on the website of 2 leading Newspaper dallies, Tuoi Tre and VietNam Net. School representatives, students and alumni from selected Singapore Education partners were invited to participate in the online counselling sessions as part of the Singapore Education initiative.  VietNamNet recorded 20,000 hits in the 3 days. In addition, we took the opportunity to launch a“360° Learn Live Play” photo contest, where current students and alumni share their photos on their exciting student life in Singapore.Over 27,000 visitors visited our www.giaoducsingapore.com website.

The week long event received coverage from a total of 57 news, articles and TV reports. The media value for the coverage is S$ 130,000 till date and another S$80,000 of post event coverage is expected in the upcoming weeks. Overall, it was the most comprehensive Singapore Education event, organized by IO Vietnam and ES, meeting the objective and the key target and deliverable set for the whole SE Week.

The Singapore Education Fair in Myanmar was held on 1-2 September at Traders Hotel in Yangon.

We are pleased to have the strong support from our Singapore education partners for the second year of this fair. We had 21 schools, ranging from language to design schools as well as universities.

This fair is part of STB BKK’s efforts to promote Singapore as the leading education hub in Asia. With the current strong demand for Singapore Education in Myanmar, it is timely that this fair was organized, to raise brand awareness of Singapore Education and provide in-depth information on the various courses available.

The fair was officiated by the Singapore Ambassador for Myanmar, His Excellency Mr. Robert Chua. About 200 people turned up before the opening ceremony, eagerly waiting to find out more about Singapore Education and visit the booths. Following Ambassador Chua’s opening remarks, he declared the fair opened and personally went to each of the 21 booths to speak with the Singapore contingent as well as some Myanmar visitors.

Over the 2-day fair, we had about 2,700 visitors despite the not-so-favourable weather. Visitors to the fair were genuine parents and students who were keen to seek education in Singapore. Participating schools were strongly encouraged by the interest and demand for Singapore Education and had requested more of such fairs in the future.

With the success and experience garnered in organizing this fair, STB BKK will continue to venture into the Myanmar market to promote Singapore Education.

Singapore Education participated in the 5th IKPII Education Fair in Jakarta, Indonesia from 25-26 August 2007. This is the largest education fair in Indonesia with the participation of 68 education institutions from 15 countries. Singapore Education had 12 education institutions from Singapore participating in this fair. Singapore was the only country with a pavilion and the second largest number of education institutions taking part in this fair.

The fair received an overwhelming response from students and their parents. More than 8000 visitors visited the fair (1st day: 3600; 2nd day: 4200).

Singapore Education’s participation in this famous and popular education fair would strengthen Singapore’s position as the regional education hub and an appealing destination for seeking quality education experience.

The 12 institutions in the Singapore pavilion are: NUS Business School, ACS, MMI, at-sunrice, EASB, LaSalle, Raffles, Informatics Education Singapore, MDIS, SIM, Shelton, and PSB Academy.

Singapore Education organised a media gathering for the media from Jakarta and the secondary cities where a journalist from Surabaya was flown to cover this event. Singapore Education treated the media for lunch and brought them to visit the Singapore pavilion to have one-on-one interview with the institutions from Singapore. The Singapore pavilion attracted many visitors and the 12 institutions were happy with the turn-out and interest shown by the visitors.

Singapore Education also joined the IKPII roadshow that went to Solo, Semarang and Surabaya. This roadshow attracted more than 1,000 visitors in the three cities.

Singapore Education will continue to explore other avenues and opportunities to create top-of-mind awareness of what Singapore Education can offer to establish Singapore as a regional education hub.

Parents, students and teachers in Fujian, Shandong, Nanjin, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Dalian, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xiamen, Shenyang, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hebei, Tianjin and Guangzhou would be treated to two editions of the SE television series; either 14 episodes of seven minuters or 4 episodes of twenty-five minuters.  And for those who miss the prime time slots, they could catch the repeat telecast the following day.

The television series seek to accentuate the Singapore Education attributes through key themes such as the merit of bilingualism, the value of having small classes, the benefits of incorporating technology in teaching, the appeal of our design schools, polytechnics and International schools etc.

Here’s the preview to one of the episodes:

Presenting...... Episode 7<独特的校内实习课程>: Please click here.

The rest of the episodes being …

• 初到狮城(Singapore as a destination for living and studying)
  
• 留学新加坡的选择(The appeal of studying in Singapore)
  
• 优良的语言环境(The merits of Bilingualism)
  
• 小班教学问题启发教学(The value of having small classes)
  
• 丰富的课程辅导活动(Learn character building skills through outdoor activities)
  
• 现代的电子教学设施(The benefits of incorporating technology in teaching)
  
• 个性经营的学生小店(Learn all about Entrepreneurship in Singapore schools)
  
• 独特的校内实习课程 (Tourism in an island setting – Tourism Academy)
  
• 以人为本的能力培养（Broaden your perspective in our International schools）
  
• 着眼科技前沿的理工学科（Hone your skills in our Polytechnics）
  
• 学以致用的新加坡艺术学校(Quench your creativity in our Design Schools)
  
• 体验学生居住生活(Safe living in our garden city)
  
• 新加坡的文化之旅(Embark on a multi-cultural Overseas School Trip)
  
• 校外知识探索与揭密(Embrace nature on your next Overseas School Trip)
  

Singapore Education will be making its debut at the NAFSA 2007 Annual Conference & Expo to raise awareness of Singapore as an education destination, and to promote the range of study abroad programmes available in Singapore.

The NAFSA: Association of International Educators Annual Conference will bring nearly 7,000 representatives of international higher education institutions and organisations from more than 95 countries to Minneapolis in USA, May 27-June 1 2007. 

Institutions representing Singapore at NAFSA Pavilion, 545 include:

·        National University of Singapore;

·        Nanyang Technology University;

·        LASALLE College of the Arts;

·        University of Nevada, Las Vegas Singapore;

·        at-sunrice, The Singapore Culinary Academy and Spice Garden.

UNSW Asia has announced its decision to close its Asia campus.

More details on www.unswasia.edu.sg

Attend this forum organized by the Consumers Association of Singapore and Association of Consultants for International Students (Singapore) to find out more about the local services and resources available to foreign students living and studying in Singapore.

Date: 1 June 2007, Friday
Time: 10am to 12.30pm (participants to be seated by 9.45am)
Venue: NTUC Centre, 1 Marina Boulevard, Room 701, Singapore 018989

Special Guest: Mr Lim Biow Chuan
(Vice President of CASE and MP for Marine Parade GRC)

Admission is free. Refreshments provided. Registration is advised.

Interested participants to email, fax or mail your name, IC or student permit no and contact number to:

Consumers Association of Singapore
Attn: Studying in Singapore: Know your Resources

170 Ghim Moh Road
#05-01 Ulu Pandan Community Building
Singapore 279621

Fax: 6467 9055
Email: study@case.org.sg
Hotline: 6461 1843, 6461 1842
More details on www.case.org.sg

STB Western China organized a Singapore Education Day themed as“学贯中西、国际化你的未来” on 14 Apr 2007 (Saturday) in Chengdu, Sichuan. Held at Kempinski Hotel Chengdu, this event was a collaborative effort put together by the 3 Singapore Education Specialists (SES) in Sichuan. 12 Private Education Organizations (PEOs) were represented in the event:

- ACS International
- EASB
- FTMS                    
- Informatics             
- MDIS
- Kaplan Singapore APMI/FTC
- Raffles Design Institute Singapore
- SIM                       
- Lasalle
- Shelton
- TMC    
- PSB Academy

Invitations for the schools were sent at the end of March and the PEOs responded with strong interests as they felt that this would be an excellent opportunity to interact with potential students and parents in the key market of Western China as well as to leverage on such a focused event to showcase their products.  Our exhibition attracted almost 200 inquisitive students and parents who thronged the exhibition hall in the one day event.

Bank of China was also invited to showcase their financial services available for the Chinese students in Singapore.

During the event, Ms Koh Beng Hong ADGC was interviewed by four key Sichuan media (Chengdu Business Daily, Western China City Daily, Chengdu Daily, and Chengdu Evening Press), where she emphasized on the key industry clusters in Singapore, opportunities available and the development and strengths of Singapore Education.

As part of the event, 3 Sichuan SES together with some PEOs, held Singapore Education seminars at their own premises on the following day. Each seminar had a different theme, namely: Tourism & Hospitality Sector and Opportunities in Singapore, Courses on Arts in Singapore and Singapore Public Education respectively. The seminars attracted an estimated 120 attendees.

Held at the National Museum of Singapore, the inaugural Singapore Education Awards presentation ceremony was officiated by Mr S Iswaran, Minister of State for Trade and Industry. Over 200 guests, comprising members of the diplomatic community and key industry partners, attended the event.

The Singapore Education Awards 2006 features seven award categories. These represent the whole spectrum of student experience touch-points, ranging from information providers to marketers and student hosts.

The winners of the awards are:
 
1) Best Educational Event organised by a Tourism Club/ Open Nomination
 - Nan Hua High School
2) Best Host for International Students Studying in Singapore  (Organisation)/ Open Nomination
 - Temasek Polytechnic
3) Best Enrichment Programme/ Open Nomination
 - Hua Language Centre
4) ‘Friend of International Students’/ Open Nomination
 - Ms Mildred Yong
5) Best Media Coverage for Singapore Education/ Closed Nomination
 - Ms Yau Ming Yuan, Nanyang Siang Pau (Malaysia)
6) Best International Marketing Effort by an Education Institution/ Closed  Nomination
 - LASALLE College of the Arts
7) Best Singapore Education Specialist
 - Ms Nguyen Thi Anh Khue

To read the press release, click here.

STB Greater China participated in the annual 12th CIEET in PR China. Organized by the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange (a unit of the Chinese Ministry of Education), the show aims to provide a reliable platform for Chinese students to seek information on overseas education opportunities as well as for international education bodies to showcase their latest offerings. This year’s CIEET was held in Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Guangzhou.

STB Greater China participated in 2 out of the 5 cities featured in the exhibition tour, namely in the cities of Chongqing and Nanjing.

6 – 7 March : Chongqing – City of the 3 gorges dam
Led by STB Western China, 14 PEOs (UNSW, Brigthton School, EASB, Kaplan – APMI, Informatics, Chinese International School, MDIS, SIM, TMC Academy, YMCA School, ACS International, Laselle College of Arts, Hua Business School, PSB Academy) took part in the Chongqing CIEET. Singapore Education's booth was located strategically at the entrance of the exhibition hall, where the striking booth would be seen by all visitors entering the exhibition hall.

13 – 14 March: Nanjing –the capital of six dynasties
A week later, University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) Singapore joined in the delegation led by STB Eastern China for CIEET Nanjing. The response was overwhelming; the two-day exhibition received more than thousands of visitors.

The Singapore Education's striking booth, where pictures of students, schools and the Singapore Education logo were prominently featured, attracted the attention of many parents and students. Many of them were particularly interested in our Polytechnics which they read about in our advertorial published a few days before the start of the show in the local newspaper – Yangzi Evening News.

Are you considering furthering your studies overseas?  Looking for a pathway to a brighter future and global prospects after graduation?  You don't have to look further than Singapore - Asia's premier education hub.

For more details, click here to register for a free information kit.

The Overseas Students Association takes great pleasure to publicise the first in the series of walking tours organised for OSA members . Here are the details :

Date :  Saturday, 31 March 2007
Time : 6pm (duration of tour 2 hours)
Meeting point : Entrance of the Asian Civilisations Museum at Empress Place
Attire : Casual (top with sleeves & pants / skirts)
Cost : $6.50 (OSA member) / $16.50 (non OSA member)
Maximum number group size : 30 pax (limited places so sign up soon!)

This walk takes you to where it all began, the lifeline of Singapore's reputation as 'Emporium of the East'. It will take you to the bustling Singapore River mouth which once attracted sea merchants (including pirates!) from all lands. Learn about the history, trivia and interesting nuggets about Singapore.

Highlights includes :
* Asian Civilisations Museum (1 Empress Place)
*  Raffles Landing Site
* Cavenagh Bridge
* Boat Quay
* Mosque
* Bumboat Ride
* The Esplanade

Tour registration  :
To register for the tour, please visit the Singapore Education Services Centre (YMCA Building, 1 Orchard Rd) and make payment in cash - in advance. One person may register and make payment for your friends or students from the same institution. Note that registration is on a first-come-first-served basis and the maximum number for the tour is 30. 

In the Chinese cyber world, SOHU and SINA rule! In a country where thousands of portals prevail, they are the two ‘heavenly’ kings. Mention their names and every school going child and web surfing adult would acknowledge that they have visited either of the websites one way or another.

STB Greater China has clinched two online VIP live chat interviews on SOHU and SINA education channels recently. Through these two platforms, we pushed forth the Singapore Education brand positioning and showcase the variety of Singapore schools to millions of web surfers in PRC and the global Chinese community.

Below are the links to the two interviews.

http://goabroad.sohu.com/20070225/n248419434.shtml

http://edu.sina.com.cn/bn/news/2007-02-27/1758265.html

STB Hong Kong organised two Singapore Education (SE) and Overseas Study Trips (OST) seminars recently, targeting (i) schools principles & teachers who are the decision makers for OST groups and (ii) travel agents who are focused on promoting Education/OST. 

The objectives of the seminars are to:
-         Sharpen the awareness and understanding on Singapore’s education system and provided various new ideas for organising OST groups to Singapore.
-         Capture OST traffic from schools that are planning their trips in the upcoming 2-week Easter Holiday and OST TAs who are packaging products for summer camp during the Summery Holiday in July and August.

The SE seminar for principles and teachers is a joint collaboration with Hong Kong Tours which has been specialising in organising OST groups for primary and secondary school for over 17 years.  The seminar was held in a secondary school on 27 January 2007.  A total of 75 attendees were present the seminar, including delegates from the Education and Manpower Bureau (HKSAR), Hong Kong School Net, Hong Kong Aided Primary School Heads Association and Committee on Home-School Co-operation.

The seminar impressed the schools with the well developed SE system and the numerous educational and edutainment offerings available for the OST groups.  Demonstrating the multilingual capability of Singaporeans, the seminar kick-started with a welcome speech by ArDT, Mr Andrew Phua in English, an overview on SE by ADSE GC, Ms Koh Beng Hong in Mandarin, followed by an OST presentation by MTBHK Ellen Wong in Cantonese.

The presentations were well received by all the principals and teachers and many were impressed with Singapore’s successful bilingual education model and a truly practical bilingual social environment. Within a week, 12 schools contacted Hong Kong Tours to request for quotations on organising Singapore OST trips in the coming Easter Holiday.  If all 12 OST groups are materialised, an estimated 300 pax to Singapore is expected in April 2007.

The seminar for the education-focused travel agents was held on 29 January 2007 with a total of 27 staff from 20 travel agents attending the seminar.  Besides presenting an overview on SE and sharing ideas on OST groups, STB HK also invited Star Cruises HK to provide updates on their educational programmes available on board.  Participating agents expressed that the demand for OST to Singapore is on the rise and they have been receiving more enquiries from customers recently. 

The overall feedback from schools and travel agents are positive and moving forward, STB HK will continue to work closely with the trade and relevant associations to generate more OST groups to Singapore in 2007.

UNSW Asia’s Open Day on 20 January 2007 will be both an Open House for prospective students, interested members of the public, UNSW alumni and others to explore Singapore’s first comprehensive international university, as well as an official opening of the Tanglin Campus presided by the Minister for Education and Second Minister for Finance, Thaman Shanmugaratnam.  

Visitors will be able to view some of the nascent research areas of the university, including an interactive digital media installation featuring the world heritage sites of Vijayanagara, India, and a model “nerve centre” using telecommunication and internet technologies to improve healthcare, disaster and public health threat responsiveness.   In addition, academics and staff will present a series of information sessions on UNSW Asia, the degree programs on offer, and UNSW Asia’s professional skills development (a requirement for all degree programs). Alumni and external agencies such as A*Star and CPA Australia will complement these sessions with presentations on career directions. 

Tours, information sessions and seminars will be conducted throughout the day. For more information and registration, please visit www.unswasia.edu.sg/openday.

When are you on the go feeding your senses with amazing sensorial experiences every second for at least 15 hours every day? Why, when you're on a study tour to Singapore, of course! 

A full blast of all that Singapore has to offer. 

That was what the 13 grand prize winners of The Star's Passport 2 Rewards (P2R) and runners-up of the Campaign 4 Rewards (C4R) 2006 contests found themselves savouring throughout their four-day packed-to-overflowing visit to our island neighbour down south last week.

To read the article, click here.

E R International School (ERIS) has received the Certificate of Registration of School from the Ministry of Education and has also been granted Prospective Membership of the Council of International Schools. It offers three different internationally recognized curricula, namely the Cambridge University’s International General Certificate of Secondary Education and General Certificate of Education (Advanced Level), American High School Diploma and the International Baccalaureate Diploma. ERIS will commence classes in January 2007.

To read the press release, click here.