DEMAND for private education in top international schools remains strong despite the economic slump.

A few schools have waiting lists up to four years long, and a steady flow of inquiries about enrolment.

Yesterday, the United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA) broke the ground for its new Tampines campus, which will boost its enrolment from 3,000 now to a targeted 5,500 by 2015.

The campus will open in parts from next August, starting with the infant school, where the wait-list is longest. The rest of the campus will open in 2011.

Its head of college, Mr Julian Whiteley, said there is significant demand for places in the school. All classes now are full.

Similar situations exist at the Tanglin Trust School, the Australian International School Singapore and the Canadian International School.

Tanglin Trust has no vacancies at all, while the Australian school has none for its preschool. The Canadian school is also running close to capacity.

The Australian International School has about 160 children pre-enrolled until 2013 so they can secure places early, while the Tanglin Trust School has a wait-list which grows at a healthy rate each month.

The Canadian International School also has a list of close to 100 people who have pre-enrolled their children in the school for the coming years.

With its new Tampines campus, UWCSEA will join a list of international schools which have expanded their premises or announced plans to do so because of an urgent need for space.

The Australian School opened its extension for preschoolers and junior schoolers in July last year. Barely three months later, it announced plans to build a new 35-classroom wing for senior students by next April.

Another school, Global Indian International School, opened its third campus in Balestier last August.

Schools pointed to several reasons for the demand: more younger international students coming in, the rising appeal of the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme offered by some schools, and the entry of many families into the Asia Pacific region.

Even if expatriates lose their jobs, the last thing they want to do is disrupt their children’s education, said Mr Whiteley.

The new 5.5ha UWCSEA campus, which has a 45-year lease, is being built at ‘extremely low’ cost, said Mr Charles Ormiston, a member of UWCSEA’s board of governors.

It missed the peak in the construction market because of the recession, and final costs will be about 15 per cent below initial estimates, he added.

At the ground-breaking ceremony yesterday, the school announced it would offer scholarships every year for two Singaporean students from neighbourhood schools, starting from 2011.

Applications will begin in August next year for entry to the school year in August 2011, Mr Whiteley said. Each scholarship is worth about $60,000, depending on whether the student chooses to stay in the boarding school, and will be to complete the school’s two-year IB diploma programme.

Over the next four to five years, Mr Whiteley added, the school will employ close to 200 teachers from Singapore and elsewhere.

Mr S. Iswaran, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Education, said that the Government’s support of UWCSEA’s expansion – JTC Corporation is leasing the building to the school – underlines its commitment to provide world-class educational facilities for the international community here.

He added: ‘Even as we tackle the pressing economic issues of today, we are also building the infrastructure and capabilities needed to realise our vision of a global city. International schools are an essential part of that architecture.’

Meanwhile, Mrs Joanna Bennett, whose two children, aged five and seven, are studying in UWCSEA’s interim Ang Mo Kio campus, is looking forward to the completion of the school in Tampines.

Said the 41-year-old housewife who is married to a Briton: ‘When we first applied in 2007, there was a waiting list of more than 200 people.

“We were very fortunate – three months later we got an e-mail informing us about a new Tampines campus.

‘But I would still have waited if I had to, because I want the best education for my children.’

Source: Straits Times, 18 June 2009

With work on Jurong West Campus stalling, some parents threaten to stop paying building fee

FOR an institution that is in the business of providing answers, the privately-owned Canadian International School (CIS) has left a group of irate parents with a $7.7 million question, now that the school’s new campus development has failed to materialise.

Since late 2007, $7.7 million has been raised from about 1,600 parents of students in three of CIS’s campuses who have been paying $1,100 per semester for what they believed had been contributions to a Building and Development fund set up for the construction of the school’s new Jurong West campus.

The new five-storey campus will consolidate three out of four of CIS’s campuses on the island. Construction on the campus – slated to open in February this year – has stopped since last October.
‘There has been no explanation for why the work has stopped and they have been less than precise about what will happen,’ said Anthony Phillips, who has paid $8,800 in building fees to date for his two children over four semesters. ‘The site appears to have come to a standstill, but we’ve been getting an invoice every six months for building and development fees.’

When contacted by BT yesterday, CIS’s head of school, Glenn Odland, said that the halt in construction was ‘a function of the change in global economic circumstances’.

‘We have reassured the parents that construction will resume by the end of this school term, which is June 12.

‘By then, we will also explain to our parents in detail the reasons behind the delay and how we’ve resolved them,’ said Mr Odland.

He was unable to provide BT with an estimated date of completion.

There are also conflicting views on what the fund was originally intended for.

‘We were told that the money went for maintenance purposes, but that was not what the Building and Development fee was for, and that is unacceptable,’ said Martine Guerin, who has contributed $4,400 for her son who is now in Grade 3 at CIS.

Mr Odland maintains, however, that this was never the case. ‘We have made it clear from the start that the building fee would go towards maintenance of existing structures as well as new developments; it is mentioned in our admissions policy online,’ he said.

In a letter – issued by the previous principal – dated October 2006, the new campus is mentioned as the reason for the Building and Development fee, but not the existing facilities.

The school will continue to include the fee on invoices. ‘The building fee is a common part of the fee structure in many international schools, and it will continue as a permanent element in the fee structure,’ said Mr Odland.

Fanning the furore, news of a Korean school’s impending takeover of CIS’s Bukit Tinggi campus in August 2010 has surfaced, leaving parents to wonder whether their children will still have a middle school campus if the Jurong West site is not ready by then. Mr Odland refused to elaborate on current negotiations with the Korean school. ‘While it is ongoing, it would be grossly unfair to the process for it to be published to the public,’ he said.

Despite a CIS email to parents on Tuesday that reassured them about ongoing negotiations with the Korean school and the resumption of work on the site before June 12, some of the parents remain unplacated.

‘With the new West Jurong campus running almost two years behind schedule, many parents are extremely disappointed at there being almost nothing to show for the multi-million dollar investment in the project,’ said Mr Phillips.

Mr Phillips and John Cappetta will be among the many parents who will not be paying future Building and Development fees. ‘I was initially happy to pay, because my son, who is in Grade 1, would get to use the new facilities. But there has been absolutely no transparency over what’s been happening to these funds,’ said Mr Cappetta.

Parents like them might find themselves in a standoff with the school as a result. ‘We will treat it as we would a delinquent account; we are pursuing and trying to facilitate payment. No family will be allowed to not pay,’ Mr Odland told BT.

Source: Business Times, 30 May 2009

THE Singapore American School is selling guaranteed places in its classes for up to $300,000 – the highest among international schools here.

The school is targeting families or companies interested in securing places for their employees’ children.

It has set aside 75 places – less than 10 per cent of the anticipated student enrolment – for the new school term, which begins in August.

Individuals who want to book a place have to pay $200,000, while companies have to fork out $300,000.

The money is a pure donation to the school: It cannot be used to offset school fees, which cost between $10,300 and $24,400 annually, or any other charges.

The American School is the fourth to offer places for sale, after the United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA), Tanglin Trust School and the Canadian International School.

Several international schools contacted said the economic downturn has not had an effect on enrolment.

All say they have a long waiting list, despite raising enrolment in recent years.

Ms Beth Gribbon, the American School’s director of communications, said yesterday that the wait-list has remained ‘fairly consistent’ over the last few months.

She did not give figures, but said there is higher demand for upper-grade classes, meant for children aged 11 to 18.

Like many other international schools, the American School has seen a spike in demand for places in the last five years, as Singapore’s expatriate population has grown.

It expanded its campus in 2004, adding room for 900 more students.

But the extra places were snapped up, and it was filled to the brim within two years.

It now has 3,800 students aged between three and 18.

To cope with rising demand, other international schools here have also upped enrolment or announced ambitious expansion plans.

The Australian International School, for example, takes in 2,213 students now, up from 1,800 in June last year.

UWCSEA will open a Tampines campus in August 2010 with a target enrolment of 2,500 in five years. Its Dover campus, with 2,950 students, will continue to run.

The Australian International School also announced plans to build a new senior wing last October, barely three months after opening an extension for its preschoolers.

The other international schools which offer guaranteed places charge between $85,000 and $225,000.

Tanglin Trust has a two-tiered pricing policy: $165,000 for a guaranteed place, or $85,000 to get to the top of the wait-list.

The Canadian International School charges companies $150,000 for the first child and $130,000 for the second. The scheme is open to individuals as well, at $100,000 a child.

At UWCSEA, prices have gone up and single places now sell for $225,000. There is also a $350,000 price tag for a bundle – one place at its Dover Campus and one at the East Campus, which is temporarily located in Ang Mo Kio.

Places at international schools here became an issue of national concern when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong mentioned the squeeze on places as a ‘constraint’, and said the Government had stepped in to ease the shortage by helping these schools to expand.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore created a Select Committee on International Schools to look into the issue of places at such institutions for children of employees of its member companies.

According to a survey it conducted last year of 142 members and 58 companies, 93 per cent of respondents felt that access to an international school of choice was an important criterion for expatriates with school-age children to take up an assignment in Singapore.

A large majority – 79 per cent – of respondents felt their expatriate employees would not be willing to enrol their children in local schools if there are no places in an international schools.

Source: Straits Times – 10 Feb 2009