Saturday, January 25, 2014

Top Indian university students are brilliant


"Students in the top universities of India are brilliant. India is a world leader in many areas particularly in low-cost engineering. We have to learn a lot from India," said Peter YH Pang, assistant vice-president (university and global relations) NUS during his visit. Peter Pang was reciprocating the visit of the Indian academic team led by NIT-T director Sunderarajan in October last year to NUS, to explore the possibilities of academic collaboration.’…The Times of India

This kind of statement generally is applicable to all countries as their best students must be in their top universities, otherwise the country will not progress. The only exception is the USA where many rich families could buy places in top universities for their D grade scions.

Low cost engineering is definitely a niche in India. This has nothing to do with the low cost labour we have here that India is exporting. India is able to do a lot of engineering stuff cheaply, like cheap cars and equipment. This is the forte of India.

NUS is looking like embarking on an academic collaboration with Indian universities to introduce low cost engineering into our university syllabus and soon we will be opening up a new industry for low cost engineering stuff. Singapore could then have two Science Parks, one for leading edge science and engineering and another for low cost engineering. We can dove tail our economic growth strategy with two engines of growth.

This is like having the best of both worlds. And our industries that are relying on low cost labour will become even more competitive with low cost engineering products.

What a way to go. Come to think of it, it is like a first world city with a third world vitality. The future of Singapore is getting brighter.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Fake certificates widespread in India

TRE reported an article from AFP that job applicants in India are so desperate that they have resorted to all kinds of sophisticated scams to get a job. This is the first 3 para of the article in TRE,
 

‘AFP published a news report [Link] on 12 Jan highlighting widespread use of fake CVs flooding the Indian job market.
 

In fact, the scam is so sophisticated that even when companies attempt to call the previous companies listed by the errant job applicant who said he had worked there before, there will be people answering calls and giving illustrious testimony about the person.
 

The scam was uncovered when an IT company in New Delhi was puzzled that 30 of the job applicants had listed the same employer which they said they had worked in….’
 

Singapore is so lucky that all the Indian job applicants coming here used genuine certificates and CVs. I am confident, 101%, that all those in employed here are worth every cent they are paid. I have not heard of a single case of false CVs from India been discovered here. I swear.
 

With our first world talents and the sophisticated technology and smart people in charge, if there are any cheats, they would have been caught. The fact that practically none is caught is testimony to the good credit of our regulators and the authenticity of all the India graduates working here.
 

We shall celebrate this clean record and bring in more talents from India that used only genuine certificates and CVs. Maybe the Indians know that we are an honest and clean society, so only the honest and qualified Indians would want to come here.
 

Well done Sinkies, for having the top and genuine talents from India working here. Only the frauds and cheats remained in India or elsewhere. We have an excellent and dependable system and talents to fall back on. I really feel very good, very safe that we are in good hands. It is a good feeling to know that we are not cheated by 3rd World cheats.
 

The MOM must be credited for the clean record.

Monday, January 06, 2014

Another achievement or empty glory?

‘Singapore tops IB exam in region for fourth year’, screams a headline in the Today paper and maybe other papers as well. The first para, ‘For the fourth consecutive year, Singapore has topped the Asia Pacific region in the International Baccalaureate(IB) diploma examination. Of the 1,747 students here who took the IB diploma exam last year, there were 43 who scored a perfect 45 points – two more compared to a year ago.’ The report went on to show how well the rest of the students have done with an average of 36.53%, higher than the global average of 29.95%.
 

With such an achievement, not only in IB but in O level, A level as well, Singapore must be teeming with very clever and talented people. The achievements of the young citizens must translate to a pool of very intelligent adults and talented workforce.
 

Unfortunately the truth is far from it. Singapore has been proven to be lack of local talents and had to import feverishly from the regional countries for talents to help the dull and untalented locals. And many of these students who have perfect scores in IB, O and A level, will eventually work under the supervision of talents from 3rd World countries with average academic scores or even fake certificates.
 

What went wrong with the education system and the scintillating academic achievements? Don’t ask me. All I can see is crap. Either the exam results are craps or the students are craps or the employment scene is crap. Something must be crazily wrong.
 

I would want to believe that the students genuinely did very well academically and it is the silly system that allowed foreign craps to rule over local talents that is at fault. And you have silly people creating such a system to disadvantage the local talents and driving many to joblessness, unemployment or to depression.
 

What to do?