THE goverment panel set up to look into expanding Singapore's university sector rolled up its sleeves and got down to work on Friday, as they held their first meeting at the Ministry of Education building.

The committee, chaired by Minister of State for Education Rear Admiral Lui Tuck Yew , comprises eleven committee members from the public and private education sector.

Speaking to reporters at the sidelines of the meeting, Admiral Lui said the Committee will be guided by three key principles as it prepares its recommendations.

Three guiding principles
The first was to keep the economic and manpower needs of Singapore in mind, and the necessity to attract and retain talent, both homegrown and foreign.

The second was to decide what was the best way to expand the university sector in establishing a new institution, or institutions.

Finally, Admiral Lui said such new institutions should add diversity and richness to the university landscape, to cater to different talents, interests and learning approaches of a wider range of students.

Increasing number of publicly-funded university spots
In the short term, MOE will continue to work with the three existing universities to offer more places.

With another spike in cohort size in 2009, Admiral Lui said MOE 'will continue to judiciously increase the number of places over the next two years, inline with the expected cohort sizes and Singapore's manpower needs'.

MOE plans to meet its target to provide subsidised university places for 25 per cent of each cohort by 2009, one year earlier than the original planned target of 2010.

This percentage is expected to increase to 30 per cent by 2015.

No to converting polytechnics
Admiral Lui also said his Ministry will not be pursuing the option of converting Singapore's polytechnics into publicly-funded universities.

'If we were to convert our polytechnics into universities, Singapore would lose a distinctive part of its education system and a source of strength for its economy that we have built painstakingly over the years,' he said.

In addition, the current overall capacity constraints in local polytechnics would not make the conversion a viable option.

Enhancing university landscape by 2015
The committee will consider several options for new models of university education.

These include a fourth publicly funded university, and developing a few niche campuses as affiliates to current universities.

It will also work on ways to increase opportunities for tie-ups between Singapore polytechnics and specialised institutions to offer degree programmes.

Also possibly on the cards is a liberal arts college, which could either be a standalone school or a niche campus in an existing university.

Initial proposals and recommendations are expected to be delivered by the third quarter of next year.