THE popular United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA) will help ease the crunch for places in international schools when it sets up a second campus in Tampines.

The new campus, to be ready by 2010, will have places for 2,500 students. In the meantime, a transition primary school will open in Ang Mo Kio next September to take in 400 students from kindergarten to grade 4 level.

The school said its new campus is in line with the Singapore government's growth initiative.

UWC's Dover Road school now has more than 2,800 students, near the 2,900 capacity it had expected to hit only in 2010.

But demand for places has been strong, despite fees averaging $20,000 a year.

The school runs the British-based International General Certificate of Secondary Education programme, similar to the O levels, and the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma.

Last year, 44 per cent of the 275 students who sat for the IB diploma exams scored more than 36 points - the equivalent of four straight As in the A levels.

The school is also known for its outdoor education programme, which requires pupils from Grade 3 - from age eight and nine - to go for camps, expeditions and community service projects overseas.

The international school, which opened here in 1971, had only secondary levels initially. But in 1998 when its student enrolment grew to 1,800, it decided to expand and started taking in primary and kindergarten pupils.

Students come from 68 different countries, with Britons and Indians making up the largest groups.

Mr Whiteley told The Straits Times that UWC has seen an increase in the number of students whose parents are based in the region.

Most of these 200 students stay in the on-campus hostel in Dover Road.

Only three of the 12 United World Colleges, founded by German educationist Kurt Hahn in 1962, are located in Asia. Besides the one here - called United World College of South East Asia - the other two in Asia are in Hong Kong and India.

The crunch for places in international schools is especially bad for pre-schoolers and lower primary children, who have to wait for as long as six months to a year for a place.

The shortage of places is due to the booming economy, which has attracted many more foreigners to the region. The expatriate population has grown from 798,000 in 2005 to 875,500 last year.

It has, in turn, led to a shortage of places at the 40 international schools that operate non-Singaporean education programmes.

At least four international schools are expanding, including the Australian International School, which is adding a new building at its Lorong Chuan campus to take in 840 more students next year, and the Canadian International School which will open its fourth campus, in Tanjong Katong, this week.

Is this article useful to you?