International Marketing and Student Recruitment visit Singapore November 2017

International Marketing and Student Recruitment visit Singapore November 2017 BU rep(s): Rachel Sunderland (RS), Regional Manager, IMSRT. A detailed itinerary can be found at: I:\M&C\Private\International Marketing & Student Recruitment\Travel\Trip Information\ 1. Aims and Objectives Singapore is now a priority market, new contacts and information is being sourced. Visits to the British Chamber of Commerce and British Council to explore opportunities and source information. Visits to Singapore Polytechnic and Nanyang Polytechnic to strengthen links. Meet with agents to discuss representation and train staff. Develop more detailed and up to date market information through all available channels. 2. Executive Summary Singapore has been added as a priority market so new contacts have been sourced. Visited the British Chamber of Commerce and British Council to discuss opportunities and gain market insight. Visited to Singapore Polytechnic and Nanyang Polytechnic to strengthen links. Met with agents to discuss representation and train staff. Develop more detailed and up to date market information through all available sources. Discussed entry requirements to assist with finalising entry levels. Mon 13 th November 2017 David Few, Group Director. David.few@jackstudy.com Carl Wang, Manager carl.wang@jackstudy.com Jack Study Abroad Points of interest Discussions included: Entry from the ordinary diploma into year 3, is being offered by many universities includingcoventry, Keele, Lincoln and Portsmouth. Entry for 3rd year suggested 2.7 to 3.0 gpa Advanced diploma can be 2 years if offered by a private institution, not necessarily a higher level than the ordinary diploma from a public institution. Very small number of PG students, hardly worth pursuing. Foundation from O level is also a very small market. The length of time an offer takes is critical to a student considering the offer; the students expect an offer in a few days. They hold their own exhibitions, in Jan, April and 1

Susan Tan, Education UK Manager. Susan.Tan@britishcouncil.org.sg British Council. October, held at the Marina Bay Sands exhibition centre. The dates tie into the exam results being published. Around 70 exhibitors attend from several countries. It is S$1,000 (less than 600) to attend. The exhibitions attract focussed students with the diploma students mainly coming to the January exhibition. David thought the BC exhibition was held at the wrong time of year, as it doesn t fit in with the results. He offered their support on the stand and with follow up. They usually work with about 11 institutions at the exhibition. David suggesting building BUs profile through online marketing. He will send a plan with costs included, they run the promotion in house so they can run a campaign tailored to BUs requirements. They promote on Facebook and through their database of students. Numbers of students going to the UK have been rising, but there is going to be a small dip in demographics from 2018, which will last for the next 5 years. The Singaporean government has increased local higher education provision. The public university places are planned to increase from 27% of those graduating from high school to a target of 40%. There are 5 public universities offering 16-17,000 places with 20% being for international students. Diploma programmes in Singapore have an annual enrolment of 24, 000 students. Australian universities usually allow diploma students to complete a degree in 1 or 1.5 years. In the UK it is either 1,2 or 3 years. Private polytechnics and institutions have no degree awarding powers. They usually have lower entry requirements and have 6 to 18 month programmes. The Singapore Institute of Management is one of the most highly regarded private education institution, offering certificates and diplomas. They have links with several overseas universities including East London. Junior Colleges offer A Levels with an entry of 13,000 and about 2,000 take IB qualifications. The Integrated Programme takes the top 10% of students from Primary School, they progress to study A level or IB qualifications rather than taking O levels. N level is taken instead of O levels by weaker students, they can progress to O levels if they successfully complete N level. Finance, law and business are the most popular 2

subjects along with arts and social sciences. Engineering has declined in popularity due to the perception of it being a harder subject to study and as a job. Australia recruits a similar number of students from Singapore, it is closer, cheaper and easier to get into a higher ranked institution than the UK. Business programmes require a BBC entry for the University of Melbourne. Recently the economy in Singapore has slowed therefore parents are not as keen to spend on their child s education. When they can go to a highly ranked institution such as the National University of Singapore for a far lower cost - around 4,000 pa. The job market is good in Singapore for students with a degree, Singaporeans don t usually want to leave careers to take PG study overseas. Parents generally fund the UG degree, PG is self funded. In local universities PG enrolment is increasing, overseas numbers have remained stable for many years. The government has promoted an initiative called the Skills future which has a strand similar to a CPD programme promoting flexible study time around the demands of work. This makes staying in Singapore more attractive for PG study. They are funding further training for poly students to work and study part time, a bit like an apprenticeship scheme. Singapore has an ageing population. The Government has a population target of 6.9 million. It is now 5.4 million, they feel this is required to sustain and support the economy. Susan suggested we benchmark at: o Final year entry from diploma, above 3.0/4gpa and Year 2, 2.7/4gpa. Polytechnic year finishes in April/May. UK institutions asking students to take IELTS is considered insulting as English is considered to be the first language. Singapore, O level English needs to be assessed and added to the BU 3H list to assist with this problem. I requested syllabus documents from Susan. Susan informed me that UK institutions were being complacent by asking for IELTS. She did not seem to understand that even though it does state the UK institution can make their own decision regarding English proficiency that it is not just a tick box exercise. This was surprising from a senior member of staff at the BC. 3

Action points Tues 14 th November 2017 Action points Jack Study. RS to send an application to David to complete (RM confirmed Vietnam can be added on to the contract as a region). Contract to cover Singapore, Australia and Vietnam. (application sent - completed) Jack Study Abroad need clear guidance on GPA required for each course and if there is advanced entry, then GPA for year 2 and 3. RS to compile a table of GPA levels for year 1,2 and 3 entry from the Public Poly Diploma and for the Private Polys/institutions RS to forward level of AES in Vietnam (completed). RS to review/set level of AES for both UG and PG RS to confirm if BU will accept UG direct applicants or only through UCAS Action points BC RS to ensure BU receives the O level English syllabus from Susan Tan (completed) RS to follow up adding Singapore O level syllabus to add onto 3H list. (Discussed with AL and syllabus forwarded). Points of interest Kuah Ann Soon, Head, Education Services info@asedu.net Overseas Education. (Ms) Nico Putri Safari Senior Business Services Advisor British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) nico@britcham.org.sg Discussions around the Singapore market, they suggest targeting the polytechnic students. Full training given about BU. The BCC work with the High Commissioner and UKTI assisting incoming trade visitors as well as assisting those who are setting up a business base in country. They can arrange targeted events such as guest lectures and alumni events. They can hold events at the High Commissioners residence, from small dinners to large groups. The BCC are able to invite guests as they have links across education and business. They find attendance is good when they hold events at the High Commission as it is considered to be an honour to be invited there. The BC does not cover any commercial activities, where they consider there to be no educational gain. These are all covered by the BCC. Media as an industry in Singapore is still quite small, in general they have vocational training in house. Student exchanges with polytechnics are popular, most students undertake an internship as part of the course. 4

Military Service is taken after O levels unless they go onto further education, then it can be deferred. They serve for 2 years then have additional duties for the following 10 years. Men undertake this training, ladies are exempt from Military Service. Action points RS to send contract of representation to Overseas Education (completed). RS to continue to develop the relationship with the BCC. Wed 15 th November 2017 Points of interest AUG Singapore. Nick Lim, Country Manager. nick.lim@augstudy.com Gladys Goh, Deputy Manager, Operations Gladys.goh@augstudy.com British Chamber of Commerce, Singapore. Nicole Wharfe, Membership Manager. Nicole@britcham.org.sg General discussions about the market and options for BU. Full training given about BU. Nick suggested 2.6gpa for 2 nd year entry and 3gpa for final year entry from the diploma. He said Australian universities are becoming stronger and visiting more often. They suggested it is important for BU to publish their entry grades on our website as many of the Australian Universities do this. Students make their choice by using this information and do not research further. Nicole manages the Chamber s membership and advises companies setting up in Singapore. Nicole is a former BU employee and will assist us with formal and informal contacts in country. Lunch meeting held to develop the relationship. Nanyang Polytechnic (NP) Eugene Wong, Manager, International Relations and Development. School of Interactive & Digital Media. eugene_wong@nyp.edu.sg Dr Ng Kian Bee, Deputy Director, School of Interactive & Digital Media. Ng_kian_bee@nyp.edu.sg Srinivas Bhaka, Senior Lecturer, Animation. School of Interactive & Digital Media. Bhakti_srinivas@nyp.gov.sg. Eugene hosted my visit and gave me a guided tour of the School. They have excellent facilities with separate rooms dedicated to each of the 6 diploma programmes they run. This includes: Animation, Digital Game Art & Design, Digital Visual Developments, Game Development & Technology, Interaction Design, Motion Graphics and Broadcast Design. They have a games lab, sponsored by Sony, the course has elements related to their Play Station 4 games development. NP has a business incubation unit, one section centres on games development for Sony. They have an intake of around 40/50 students each year to each course. Students take internships in Singapore for 6 months or overseas for 3 months, around 40% travel overseas. Their students take part in projects and competitions overseas, they have a group in Finland currently. In summer 2018 they will be taking part in a worldwide competition hosted at 5

Leeds Art University. The students work on live industry projects for the government and the Singaporean TV network. Eugene is keen to develop the relationship with BU in many forms such as exchanges, joint projects etc. Action points RS to forward application of representation to AUG (H/O in Malaysia) RS to forward all NP info and contacts to Chris Williams and Guy Starkey in FMC. RS to forward details to Angelos Stefanidis in FST. Thurs 16 th November 2017 Points of interest Singapore Polytechnic (SP), School of Digital Media and General discussions around opportunities for SP students to progress to BU from their Diplomas. Infocomm Technology. Michael (Pei Jie) Tan, Head, Education & Career Guidance and Senior Lecturer The run courses in: Digital Animation, Music & Audio Technology, Visual Effects & Motion Graphics, Business Information Technology, Infocomm Security Management and Information Technology. Michael_TAN@sp.edu.sg They work with several universities, mainly in Australia. Leon Chua, Senior Lecturer and They would like to make a more formal Academic Mentor. progression link for students entering into the 2 nd Leon_chua@sp.edu.sg or 3 rd year of the UG degree at BU. I was given a brief tour of the facilities. Michael and Leon were having another meeting with an Australian university, so they had limited time. Sam Tam, Regional Manager (South East Asia UK and USA Sam was not available to meet during my visit due to commitments in Malaysia. Pathways) sam.tam@kaplan.com We had general discussions by email. Kaplan. Agents I visited in country were familiar with Kaplan and Sam kept in contact with them. Action points RS to forward all SP information and contacts to Chris Williams and Guy Starkey in FMC. RS to forward details to Angelos Stefanidis in FST. Quantitative Data interactions with stakeholders Country: Singapore Number Meeting with representatives. 3 Meetings with stakeholders (funding bodies, 2 academics, BC etc). Institutional Visits. 2 Exhibition days attended. 0 Students met/interviewed. 0 Total 7 A detailed itinerary is available if required, please email rsunderland@bournemouth.ac.uk Report completed by: Rachel Sunderland (IMSRT) 6

Date: November 2017 7