the uol programme is a distance learning programme that doesn't require teachers. it is meant to be distance learning, you are provided with the textbooks, syllabus, notes, and perhaps some other materials from the university. you can study in the toilet if you want to. maybe you are not intelligent enough to learn yourself and figure things out yourself but many are.
it is similar to the
psle, o, a levels. it doesn't matter if you self-study in your toilet, go to bishan park secondary or catholic high. the only thing that matters is the
psle/o/a level certificate. an incompetent and dull catholic high guy may fail while the intelligent guy who studies in his toilet may get straight as.
ditto for the cat, cfa, ielts, gre, sat, etc tests.
so what, now your village ass is going to call the
psle/o/a levels as 'private' lousy qualifications as well?
once again, where are the notable alumnis of the local universities if their teaching is so good? in fact, where is the truly notable/world class research that changed the world produced by a singaporean??
zero. nil. zilch.
they have absorbed the top 30% of each cohort (so they do have good material to begin with), processed them, and turned them into...what? people who can't speak/write/reason/solve problems (can only memorise and repeat answers for exams) and compete with the best in the world? or people who would rather go and work in an mnc for a 'stable income'?
look at the list of world-changing alumnis of the uol external programme (we don't want to include the entire uol full-time/part-time list because that would be truly astounding).
the uol is world class. i am pretty sure if you go to tokyo, new york or australia, your uol external degree would be regarded as equal to an
nus degree by most employers.
kudos to
nus and
ntu for ranking high (by getting foreigners to publish for them). it benefits all singaporeans. but, like i said, where are the prominent world-changing alumnis? or even world-changing research/inventions?
i will look at another world class uni in asia, the uni of tokyo. according to wikipedia, they have had something like 8 nobel prize winners who are alumnis. i won't include all the world renowned businessmen, inventors, chemists, physicists and all the world-changing research/inventions the university produced.
the uni of tokyo takes in the same number of students annually as
nus.
so, where are the great thinkers, great businessmen, world-changing research, great intellects from the local universities?
Kishore Mabuni and Goh Chok Tong.
WOW. I am so impressed by the high and mighty local universities.