Sunday, October 02, 2011

Reputable private school goes under

It had good reputation, accredited with the Singapore Quality Class, which means good business practices. It was profitable. The boss also helped other foreign students in their paying their fees, gave places in the school to students when their schools folded.

Cambridge Institute, better known for English Language classes, is folding up when it ran up hundreds of thousands in debt and unable to pay its teachers. The affected students are being transferred to Bristol Business School and Coleman College, both have EduTrust certificates and are authorized to take in foreign students.

While it is good that private students’ welfare and well being are now better handled, the repeated failures of private school is something to worry about if the Singapore brand as an Educational Hub is worth protecting. It cannot go on like this. As it is, the number of foreign students coming here is already declining. It will affect the business for sure.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Redbean,

What is your opinion of the private schools, colleges and universities that are blossoming in neighbouring Iskandar Malaysia?

Will Educity become a strong competition/rival for Singapore education hub?

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Iskandar will have its own competitive edge. It is only how they packaged its products taking into consideration its strength and weaknesses. Cost is definitely something that Singapore cannot beat.

Foreign talents will definitely be attracted to Iskander if it can provide the same standard and international recognition of the degrees.

It also has its own local market as well. But getting Singaporean students will be more difficult unless the cost is so much cheaper to outweigh the distance, inconvenience and security issue.