UNIVERSITY fees have been raised regularly every year for the
past few years, bar the economic crisis year of 2009.
After the latest increase this year, undergraduates and a Forum
letter-writer ('How would increased revenue benefit students' by Mr
Tay Xiong Sheng; Jan 18) sought information on how the additional
fees were being used, such as increasing the teaching
staff-to-student ratio. I must have missed the answers that were
given.
But yesterday's report ('NTU campus poised for major makeover')
provided part of the answer: 70 new-age classrooms, giant
interactive screens, meeting places 'where the humanities girl
can meet the engineering boy', new ponds to collect rainwater
for irrigation, a 'hotel' where researchers stay on the same
floor.
The National University of Singapore, Singapore Management
University and other tertiary institutions may well follow Nanyang
Technological University's (NTU) major renovation initiative, which
may fuel further spikes in university fees.
Our universities are funded by public funds, donations and
alumni contributions.
Can NTU explain how much capital is being spent on the major
makeover, the additional yearly depreciation and operating costs
that will be incurred, and whether these could have resulted in
higher fee increases?
Can the humanities girl meet the engineering boy, or the
professor engage students, or meetings between art and engineering
professors occur in humbler, less expensive surroundings?
Presumably these interactions are already taking place?
Wong Tuck Yin