catholic high old boys' association and lianhe zaobao present a panel discussion in mandarin:

tertiary education in singapore: new directions and challenges.

nus provost and deputy president prof. chong chi tat, ntu president prof. su guaning and smu provost prof. tan chin tiong will speak this coming sunday from 2 - 5pm at the meritus mandarin. topics for discussion include new influences and directions in tertiary education in singapore and the rest of asia, educational policies and philosophy, present developments in the global economy and new demands on the education system in asia and in the west. lin renjun, managing editor of zaobao, will moderate.

the panel discussion is open to the public. free admission. for inquiries and to register, call 63192332.

i know that many of you are not going to go just because it's given in mandarin, though you guys are not exactly non-sinophones, and anyway i don't think it's going to be that incomprehensible lah. it's supposed to be an informal discussion, not some kind of conference where jargon-filled, esoteric papers are given. and i know many of you will be interested in the discussion - yen, who, i recall, said that she felt uncomfortable with malaysia starting a multimedia university, and that universities shouldn't prepare people professionally, might like this. in today's xianzai section in the chinese papers, ntu president su guaning said as much, criticising universities and students alike, saying that universities should not be seen as training grounds for professional jobs. smu provost tan chin tiong said, however, that practicality is a fact - unless they're supremely well-off and have no responsibilities, how many university students can enrol saying, i'm here to do research for the sake of human knowledge? what about study loans, parents, obligations?

and i feel - that's true. i don't exactly like having to tell people who ask "english lit ah? psc teaching izzit?" "er, no...fms" and i've treated university less as preparation for work - any kind of work - in fact - i haven't even treated it as a place to grind away for learning's sake - heh - i don't think i've done a day of work - not in lit anyway - i've valued it first and last for the emotional space to be alone and to think and read. su-lin and i were talking about this a few days ago, saying that we're paying huge amounts in tuition which in fact is really for library access and the excitement to chase down in that sense i should have liked the english system better - do as you please, spend your time in the libraries, and the occasional lecture you go to you complain all week about. but i couldn't have done without the american system either. i don't know if we should like the singapore model, for all its early british structure and recent american emulation, i think it's not becoming either and getting more and more like the french system, having a science/technological university and another one for business and management and another arts and social sciences. ah well. this is getting v far from everything else. but i'm going this sunday, if anyone wants to come.