Yes the inflation in the demand to study law in Singapore is directly related to the recent change in the Singapore bar.

I must remind you that you speak only from a Singaporean's perspective.If you were to ask a British citizen or an American for instance which would they pick SMU or Leeds,Manchester,I'm sure the result would sound inane to a Singaporean even though there might be a contrast in the academic requirements of both parties.

The American would probably say they nvr heard of any of them.

thats cos your typical american only knows about america. in fact, we think ang mohs are all so smart but actual fact is they are no different from us. can watch on some of the videos by searching "americans are stupid".

question: "how many sides does a triangle have?"

american: "uhh... four?"


so why do u want to bash your fellow singaporeans? im sure most singaporeans have never heard of overseas unis too, besides the very well known ones like oxford, harvard, cambridge (probably cause we take the gce o and a levels)

The point is, brand recognition is reserved for the top tier. The 2nd tier unis are only respected by the locals and nobody gives a **** about the 3rd tier.

So people from America would respect Michigan or UC Berkeley, but people outside American would think they are merely ok universities.

People from UK would respect Warwick, Kings, UCL, but people outside American would think they are merely ok universities.

Nobody really gives a **** about Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield. People from UK treat them like our own SIM.

The point is, brand recognition is reserved for the top tier. The 2nd tier unis are only respected by the locals and nobody gives a **** about the 3rd tier.

So people from America would respect Michigan or UC Berkeley, but people outside American would think they are merely ok universities.

People from UK would respect Warwick, Kings, UCL, but people outside UK would think they are merely ok universities.

Nobody really gives a **** about Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield. People from UK treat them like our own SIM.

Arrogance is a self-defense tactic to disguise insecurities.

Don't you think the person above your comment is being arrogant?

Some people cannot handle the truth.

This thread is deviating away from the topic. :(

Has it ever not? Hahahahhahahahaha

dont make me laugh.

even UOL accountancy programme is not accepted by the local body as a proper degree.

distance learning will always be distance learning - it is an alternative for people who do not qualify for universities to get a "degree" to inflate their ego.

its sole purpose is to generate income for the lesser known universities.

even locals in the UK shun UOL - what in your right mind ever let you think that a phony cert from UOL can qualify you for the bar in SG?

Well,what you're saying may be true.Although I do have to say that if these people with "Phony certs" are getting admissions into Universities like LSE,Oxford,UCL,LBS for their masters then who needs admissions into Singapore universities anyway?

I want admission to local law school, Not interested in all the above famous unis. Hoping for uol distance learning program to be accepted by local Bar.

Understand the fundamental of education
 

I have come across this forum (by chance) and saw that there is quite a debate on the qualification of private degree and local degree.

In my personal view, I would think that be it private or local degree, the most important thing is the knowledge that the student acquire during the course of their study. As Singaporean, we have slowly forgotten the fundamental of education, which is to receive knowledge and improve our skill set for our career life in the future. The reason why we slowly fade away from this belief is because we linked up money to degree/qualification itself.

This new idea of "having degree will have more pay/prospect" has deeply rooted into our mind, which is why such argument occurs. Yes, it is obvious that having a local degree will tends to have (but not 100%) have higher starting pay but we must remember that that is just a starting point, no one will know what will happen from there on (further studies, PHDs and etc)

We cannot deny the fact that there are some private degree graduates getting more opportunities or better career than local degree graduates, vice versa as well. Of course, getting a head start for private degree graduates is certainly difficult than local degree graduates, like for example management program in MNCs (Banks and etc.) after all, this is a meritocracy society.

However, there are vast opportunities out there in the world, it doesn't mean that graduates with private degree will not excel, but might have more capability to excel more based on the individual capabilities in adapting the market.

My conclusion is that each of us have different opportunities as some of the people might be late bloomer, which cause the opportunity loss in getting to the target that was aim to achieve. So it is not right to say that private degree are worthless or easy to get or 2nd grade, because the student who attend private university also spend time and effort in learning and gaining new knowledge in order to attain the degree. What we can conclude is that the advantage of local degree graduates have are during the beginning of the career life and the rest, is up to individual to achieve.

Sorry for my bad English.

no conclusion needed.

a typical SIM lecture consist of one guy who obviously has no proper teaching qualif standing infront of a class giving them tutorials from london/australia.

the same set of students then proceed to watch some videos, and pray that the lecturer make his way during his supposed 2 days live lecture in SG. there are plenty of times when the lecturer cancels his trip.

that's knowledge?

LSE do not accept distance learning.

neither does oxford.

LBS might - under UOL.

but anyway, hears a joke when i was attending a LSE alumni dinner.

one of my coursemate remarked, (hes a brit btw). one of his backoffice guys chat him, asked him if he was from LSE. he said yea, and that guy said he was too. and he asked if he met mr XXX, who was a course lecturer for finance. my friend was puzzled, and asked which year was he from, and apparently that guy's in our course. so my friend said, well, theres quite a number of SG in LSE, so how you find the school, london (just being polite) and that guy was like, i never been to london - he studied.

my friend being all british and polite, said oh i see. he then asked us what's SIM, cause hes only ever heard of the simpsons.

Good one. I liked the last line. A worthy contender together with "SIMian".

Sorry to burst your bubble,but I think the SIM lecturers are more qualified than you will ever be.

Check out this famous UOL lecturer
://.lse.ac.uk/study/UOLIP/Success%20Stories/Dr_Zhang_Jianlin.pdf
This guy should be considered as a role model for fellow SIM students.
He was a student studying at SIM UOL in his time and who would have ever thought he would get a scholarship to study at LSE and then proceed to acquire a PhD from NUS?

few things:

1. hes a FT from China, who only chose SIM probably because his standard of english dont qualify him for the NUS/NTU courses - doesnt mean hes not smart unlike the other SIM applicants
2. hes lecturing at SIM. not exactly a place i want to lecture at if i have a PhD

I don't understand why you people have to be stereotypes all the time.

Because he is from China his English is supposed to be bad? Because his English is bad he lectures in SIM? Having a PhD and working in SIM is bizarre? Maybe he is volunteering to help other students to do well? It's all a question mark but people always pick out the negative ones all the time.
Don't you know to get LSE in the first place you need GMAT and IELTS scores? Then if he dodged that bullet then how did he make it to PhD in NUS if his English was bad? Are you saying NUS accepts students who cannot speak well?

I wonder what is your qualification and what are you doing. Talk as if you are of higher mortal.

For all you know, he is earning a higher pay than you. And yet, you are criticizing on others. hahaha.

I can confirm you have not been to nus or ntu before. There are china profs in nus who can mix up one and two in English.

well you see, most lecturers in SIMs are not profs.

btw, most SIM- students dont know what's "prof". guys there are not "profs".
just lecturers.

SIM is not classified as a proper university - working in sim will not get you a professorship.

its an open secret that the 3 local unis do not hire their own phd students for obvious reasons - there is no way nus will hire him on their teaching staff.

i've contemplated doing a post grad with nus - but theres no point. you can only lecture at unis in malaysia/brunei etc. or private unis where you wont get the professorship.

this guy obviously cant get a job elsewhere. granted hes smart.

and pls be honest with yourself. if you can qualify for nus, would you knowingly choose to study in sim? thats probably the reason why he went into sim. hence, my hypothesis is correct.

May I ask what is the reason of why 3 local unis do not hire their own PHD students?

$3k Basic (bank sales)

Lol
 

This thread is suppose to be for SIM-UOL grads but some local grads wanna kepo for what? their ego too big i guess.CB this thread not even meant for u. READ THE F***ING thread name lah bodoh.

to prevent intellectual imbreeding. the 3 local unis are not the only one doing it.

Then if that is the case, what's the big hooha about NUS not employing their own PHD students? :rolleyes:

It's all lies la how can they not employ their own PhD student?When you ask local U student for proof they won't have any to support their hypothesis.they would probably say oh because he doesn't have bachelor degree from local U even though he has PhD from local that's when you must say go fork yourself la....

That doctor is a prime example of a role model for a guy in SIM who wants to achieve high in life.All local U guys can do is stfu and accept the fact.

Instead they say oh local U doesn't accept their own PhD students.Idiots.They trying to make up **** to put him down.

u sound like a kpop idol teenage fangirl

lol. i'm an sim uol grad. nothing great. but i'm earning more than local grads, same age, and 2nd upper class hons. now you'll say, their increment is going to be more and they'll catch up with me. lol, gap is too big to get caught.

omg nice. and my pay's more than LHL.

time for recess now boy.

this is what i call SIM DELUSION - its a symptom that only exist for people, usually singaporeans who attend sim. they are deluded into thinking that they are graduates, with a degree. damm tok kong.

hello, take a step back. if you can enter nus/ntu, would you have gone to SIM? hell, you didnt do that well in poly to make it, so just accept the fact.

it is a FACT that no local uni will rehire their PhDs. in a non-teaching capacity maybe, but definitely not as a professor. btw, sims dont even have profs. gee. whatever. happy thinking you are a legitimate graduate.

now school holidays

Firstly, I am an SMU student.

I have observed that most of the bickering centralises around these three topics:

1) Is an SIM degree a degree?
2) Is UOL-LSE comparable to LSE?
3) Do top SIM students gain places at top UK universities?
4) Recommendations for all private degree students

1) Is an SIM degree a degree?

A degree from Stanford > a degree from LSE > a degree from SMU/STUD/NTU/NUS > a degree from SIM > other private degrees

When employers say that they want a "degree holder", it goes without saying that they do not mean any programme that churns out a certificate with the 6 letter word "degree" printed on it.

Obviously, they want a certain standard of degree. Different employers have different cut-offs! Certain jobs or programmes, such as an MA programme at a local bank, state that they require at least a 2nd upper degree. It would be silly to take "2nd upper degree" literally. Does it mean any 2nd upper degree? No! They generally mean a 2nd upper degree from SMU/STUD/NTU/NUS. Does it mean that you must have a 2.1 or 1.1 printed on your degree? No. If you are a 2nd lower from Stanford, they will probably consider you too. This is because Stanford is considered to be much higher tier than the local unis. It is perceived that a 2nd lower Stanford student who goes to SMU/STUD/NTU/NUS will get a 1st class.

Is an SIM degree is a degree? Taken literally, it is.

Is it is wrong if you tell other people that you are a degree holder? No it is not wrong. You are a degree holder.

However, understand that certain employers(esp govt) when they state "degree programme", they mean SMU/STUD/NTU/NUS tier degree and above. Certain overseas degrees won't be considered sufficient even if you studied at their campus. An SIM degree might not be considered to be of a comparable tier.

On the bright side, SIM is probably the most recognised private degree in Singapore. Hence, SIM degree holders have an advantage over other private degree holders.


2) Is UOL-LSE comparable to LSE?
No. The truth is harsh.

LSE only gives the UOL-LSE distant learning programme direction, just like how Wharton gives SMU direction when it started and how MIT gives SUTD direction. SMU doesn't even bother mentioning about Wharton anymore since it is now well established. Is the NUS-Yale programme a Yale degree? It is not. NUS-Yale students recognise that and will never complain about employers preferring Yale students over them. Unfortunately, there seems to be some disillusion that plaques certain UOL-LSE students into thinking that their degree is an LSE degree. A UOL-LSE degree is a UOL degree, just like how an NUS-Yale degree is an NUS degree.

The most common myth I hear is that UOL-LSE students are COMPETING against students at LSE. When you score an A for a UOL-LSE exam, you did better than students at LSE.

Well, are you taking your exams after midnight? If you're not, how can you be sitting for the same paper? Do you think the LSE students are taking their exams at odd hours to synchronise with the DL programmes?

The truth is, the exam is set by LSE, but you are not competing with LSE students! If you think that you are receiving an LSE standard of education, you are not. Bluntly put, LSE cannot put UOL-LSE DL students through the same academic rigour because they are not as smart as their students. Just like how NUS-Yale programme students are not as smart as Yale students, obviously they are not studying the same content.

3) Do top SIM students gain places at top UK universities?
Yes they do. There is news about this lying all around.

4) Recommendations for all private degree students
Your degree is generally perceived as a lower tier than other degrees. Besides getting a first class for your degree, what can you do to step up your game?

a) Do internships. Use work experience to close the gap. Internships also give you an opportunity to prove that you are better than the ordinary private degree student (that is, if you are).

b) Network. Join networking events.

c) Gain external accreditation. Such as CFA, ACCA, etc. Learn something that will set you apart, like a foreign language. If you are really good, follow the route of top SIM students and take a masters at a top UK university.

d) If government organisations don't recognise your degree, then screw them. Go private. Choose an area which you can excel. Some organisations are flatter than others.

TLDR:
1) Is an SIM degree a degree?
Yes.
2) Is UOL-LSE comparable to LSE?
No.
3) Do top SIM students gain places at top UK universities?
Yes.
4) Recommendations for all private degree students
Do other stuff to compensate your weaker degree and avoid govt institutions.

Not just local uni, other top tier universities worldwide also practice this.

SIMians are simply nowhere near level, so they think it is all imaginary.

Simply amusing.

Thanks for the hard truths. LKY would be proud. A bunch of people wasting time debating over whose paper is better quality. Meanwhile a FT with a piece of paper from SPU is taking our jobs.

Obviously a low self-esteem SIMian. Who else will write 1500 word essay justifying a purchased degree on some anonymous forum?