SINGAPORE:
More Singaporean students are expected to head to Australian universities to
pursue higher education.
This
comes after Singapore agreed to recognise more Australian degrees in the fields
of law, medicine and allied health, as part of the Singapore-Australia
Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Details
of the agreement were announced last week and it is expected to help address
Singapore's manpower needs in those sectors, as well as add diversity to the
workforce.
A total
of 8,165 Singaporean students were enrolled in Australian institutions in 2015.
IDP
Education facilitates the entry of about 1,500 to 2,000 Singaporeans to
Australian universities each year, and it is expecting the number to increase.
It said
there has been growing interest in the areas of allied health such as
physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. As such, the move to
recognise a range of 15 undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in these areas
from institutions such as La Trobe University, Curtin University, University of
South Australia and University of Queensland will open up more options for
Singaporean students.
Currently,
Singaporeans who wish to pursue physiotherapy, for example, can only get a
degree locally under a tie-up between the Singapore Institute of Technology and
Trinity College Dublin.
"These
courses have always been popular, in demand from Singapore (students). We are
(facing) an ageing population, so we do get a lot of students who want to
practise in all these areas,” said Mr Daryl Fong, country director of IDP
Education.
“It would
be very good for students to be enrolled in these programmes and also come back
to practise these programmes. The numbers will increase because I think not
many of them are aware about it and they have probably missed this year's
enrolment and application, so probably in the next couple of years, (there will
be an increase of) at least 5 to 10 percent per year (in these courses),"
Mr Fong added.
Under the
Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, Singapore will also recognise postgraduate
medical degrees from the Australian National University and University of
Queensland.
These
graduates are expected to help meet the demand for healthcare professionals in
Singapore as the Health Ministry steps up recruitment efforts.
The
healthcare workforce has already expanded from 46,000 in 2011 to 57,000 in
2015, just 55 per cent of the projected increase in professionals needed
between 2011 and 2020.
Those who
want to pursue a postgraduate course in law after getting a bachelor's degree
in another discipline will have more options as well.
Singapore
will be recognising the Juris Doctor degrees awarded by 10 Australian
universities, such as the Universities of Sydney and Western Australia. The
move is expected to bring greater diversity to the profession.
Mr Amolat
Singh, a lawyer at Amolat Singh & Partners, said: "It would mean that
we will get people who are more specialised and already trained in fields like
finance, engineering, accountancy who then come on to do law; that provides for
a richer profession, because these days, the legal profession cannot (stand)
solely on its own.
"It
needs other kinds of expertise as economies become more complex, so in the
longer term, it can only mean better and much more diversely trained ...
lawyers.”
Factors
such as the favourable exchange rate and proximity are also expected to boost
Singaporeans' interest in pursuing studies in Australia.
CNA/dl
Hetty
Musfirah Abdul Khamid
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