The government’s role in improving the quality of our educational institutions

This unpublished article was written some time ago. Minor edits were made prior to its publication here.

Photo courtesy of Benilda.

Singapore has set its sights on becoming an educational hub. To be a hub that attracts the very best of students, its institutions not only has to provide a quality education, but also has to be at the forefront of most, if not all disciplines as well. This means that the delivery of quality instruction and top notch research has to go hand in hand. The common belief is that if the research is top-notch, there will be a transfer of knowledge garnered from the research to the students. Thus, it doesn’t come as a surprise that many learning institutions are also judged by their quality of research as indicated by the number of papers published and their impact factors.

I was given a rare opportunity to present on the topic of academic freedom during a human rights seminar, and one recurring point that I addressed is the fact that the academic institution must be free from political control and influences in order to be progressive and produce top quality research. This is especially true for the social sciences and legal disciplines in which scholars and experts are encouraged to research and explore areas that are deemed taboo and out-of-bounds. Even if the topic being addressed isn’t favorable to the government, the study and intellectual debates must still continue, all in the name of academic freedom, which when practised will lead to the betterment of our institutions. Academic freedom is practised and valued by many institutions; the potential lack of it was cited as the reason why the University of Warwick did not set up a campus here in Singapore. Thus, in as far as the goverment’s role in the area of academic freedom is concerned, a hands-off approach and tolerance of views contrary to its own should be adopted.

But how can our government assist in improving the quality of research in our institutions? One obvious way is to share information with our institutions of higher learning. All our government bodies inclusive of statutory boards and ministries would have databases of information collected through various means. For instance, our police force has a huge stockpile of criminal records that could be useful to the research of legal scholars, psychology experts, forensic experts and others if they were able to access them. Our medical faculty will also benefit greatly from improved access to our armed forces medical centres due to increased access to injuries as a result of trauma or other forms and sicknesses suffered by our national servicemen.

Our government will also indirectly benefit from increased information sharing with our institutions of higher learning. When it encounters a particular tricky problem that requires an effective solution, it is sometimes best to have solvers from diverse disciplines and schools of thoughts who can attack the problem from unique angles. Although the government can turn to its own panel of experts, inbreeding through groupthink do not always produce the most optimal solution. In allowing our institutions to gain access to government data, the latter is also exposed to the everyday problems and issues that the government faces. The government on the bright side would have an ally boasting a diverse set of academic views to help solve the problems it may face.

Thus, our government can actually play a pro-active role in improving the quality of our educational institutions. First and foremost, it has to be tolerant to the extent of allowing ‘deviant’ views (not destructive) to proliferate in our institutions of higher learning without any form of restrictions whatsoever. It can also allow the institutions to access data and other ministries in a way that can add value to the quality of research carried out. At the same time, the government will benefit from the inputs of academics and experts within the institutions in grappling with problems and issues encountered during the running of various ministries and statutory boards, and ultimately the country itself. In a sense, this also gives our institutions of higher learning a rare opportunity to be part of the nation building process.