Private providers offering foreign degrees in Singapore are helping to fulfil the country’s goals of expanding lifelong learning despite the government’s ambivalent position on these institutions, according to academics.

Since the government abandoned the Global Schoolhouse Project – an initiative that aimed to attract more international students but that was quietly dropped in light of a growing public debate on the value of immigration – it appeared to stop actively encouraging private and foreign providers to open up in Singapore.

While there is limited data available, the number of private providers at all levels has fallen significantly since the start of the century, from more than 1,000 to about 300 today. This is partially due to increased regulation as well as changes in the government’s internationalisation strategy.

However, academics suggest there is still a burgeoning market for these programmes. In 2023, there were around 25,900 students enrolled in bachelor’s and postgraduate courses at private providers in the country.

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Some of these providers are branch campuses of foreign universities, such as James Cook University, while others are local providers that primarily partner with foreign institutions to deliver their degrees in Singapore.

Most recently, PSB academy, a private Singaporean institution, opened a third campus offering qualifications from the UK’s Coventry University.��

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These institutions play an important role in supporting the government’s aim of expanding participation in higher education among adults of all ages, according to Jason Tan, associate professor at Nanyang Technological University’s National Institute of Education.

“The Ministry of Education doesn’t intend for that target to be achieved entirely through the publicly funded universities expanding their numbers,” he said.��

Two of Singapore’s public universities – Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) and Singapore Institute of Technology – cater specifically to working adults and the government has prioritised increased investment in these providers in recent years.��

SUSS, for example, is set to move to a new campus that will accommodate 40,000 students – 9,000 more than are currently enrolled. However, these universities are still unlikely to “be able to fully cater to the demand”, Tan said.

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While some non-public institutions, such as James Cook, have traditional fully fledged campuses, for others, classes take place in office buildings and offer flexible study options that may appeal to working adults.

And although the government has stopped short of actively encouraging more private institutions to move in, “they don’t seem to have any plans right now to expand the public sector in such a manner as to leave little room for these private providers,” Tan said.��

For foreign universities in countries like the UK and Australia, while the Singaporean government may not be encouraging them to move in, there are clear incentives from their side to do so, given the financial pressures they face at home.��

However, concerns remain about how these institutions are perceived in Singapore, including by employers. A that employment figures had improved for graduates of private universities, but that they still lagged behind graduates from public universities in terms of salaries.��

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“Nevertheless, I see that there’s still a future for these private degree providers in Singapore,” said Tan.

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com