A delegation from the Ministry of Education (MOE) of Singapore visited the College last Thursday as part of a tour of institutions of higher education in the United States. The government of Singapore hopes to expand its university sector and is looking at liberal arts and comprehensive universities in the United States and Europe as models.
The Minister for Education Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the Minister of State for Education Lui Tuck Yew, and the Permanent Secretary for Manpower Leo Yip, were among the 15 member delegation.
"Amherst was meant to represent liberal arts colleges in the United States," said Associate Dean of Faculty Frederick Griffiths, who had lunch with the delegation.
During the visit, the delegation toured the college, met with President Tony Marx and Dean of Financial Aid Joe Case. They also had lunch in Lewis Sebring Commons with the Dean of Faculty's office.
"They were trying to figure out the culture of Amherst," said Griffiths. They were interested in figuring out "our institutional identity."
A press release from Singapore's MOE explained that current plans to expand the university sector were first announced in 2001. The Committee on the Expansion of the University Sector was instituted to oversee the process.
The original goal was to increase the number of publicly-funded university places to accommodate 25 percent of each graduating class of Singaporean students by 2010. During his annual address at the 2007 National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced a new target of 30 percent by 2015. This figure amounts to roughly 2,400 additional university places.
For roughly an hour and half, over lunch, the Dean of Faculty office received questions from the delegation. The questions touched upon a wide variety of concerns, including criterion for tenure, student life on campus, international students, opportunities abroad, the role of the alumni network and the open curriculum.
Griffiths noted the delegation's surprise at the differences Amherst bore to educational institutions in Singapore, particularly when it came to the open curriculum.
Many of these questions were extended to Singaporean students at Amherst, who went to breakfast with the delegation. When asked how the College has allowed him to develop, Yinian Zhou '10 answered, "[It has given me] an opportunity to deepen my intellectual development by working closely with professors and offering extra curricular opportunities previously denied to me."
Yuepeng Zheng '09 participated in a focus group of students from liberal arts colleges organized by the MOE in Singapore over the summer. He said about the prospects of a liberal education in Singapore, "I am happy. It is a step forward for society."
Still, Zheng underlined crucial differences in political and educational outlook in Singapore. "There are concerns echoed by other liberal arts graduates that I share, that Singaporean society and the political climate will not tolerate the diversity of viewpoints that a liberal arts college will inevitably produce," he said
Zheng also opined, "I don't know what the government will eventually decide upon, but my view is that this problem of intolerance has to be overcome and setting up a liberal arts college will be a step in that direction."
The delegation is considering a variety of models for higher education and will continue to Boston to visit Northeastern University and Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering.