12 April 2017

According to Ho Kwon Ping, Chairman of the board of trustees’ of Singapore Management University, our higher education system should not insist that students declare a major when they apply to the university.

This practice was inherited from the British education system, and is antiquated. Mr Ho is of the view that this pigeonholes students and deviates from the philosophy of getting Singaporeans to regard education as a lifelong endeavour.

In his keynote address at the recently concluded Straits Times Education Forum, Mr Ho says that there is stark contradiction between Singapore’s numerous scholastic achievements and its surprising lack of innovative capabilities.

Mr Ho was responding to a question from ST managing editor Fiona Chan on how universities should be structured to support lifelong learning.