NEW measures will be put in place next month to better protect the growing number of local and foreign students opting for the private school route here.

Details will be revealed in Parliament soon, the Education Ministry told The Straits Times.

The new measures will mark yet another move to ensure standards in the private education sector, filled with about 1,200 operators offering anything ranging from tuition and computer courses to diplomas and degrees.

Previous moves were focused on protecting vulnerable foreigners who come here in the hope of an education but were left high and dry when schools folded or operators scooted off with their fees.

One move, a fee protection scheme requiring schools to buy insurance or deposit student fees into a separate bank account, has given students some assurance.

But the measures fall short of ensuring standards in teaching and the quality of courses offered, as a Straits Times check on private schools found out.

The more discerning student would be able to weed out the better institutions from the rest but for most, especially foreign students lured by agents, it is a tougher call.

Ms Shirley Lim, 21, chose to study for a business degree at the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM), which is one of the more established and reputed private schools here.

'I was told employers don't really trust the qualifications from the 'two-classroom' type of private schools,' she said.

Foreign student R. Devagi, 22, from Chennai, India, is now trying to win a place at the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS), after having studied at two other schools.

Both had promised more than they delivered. One school, she said, boasted on the Internet of 'a campus'. 'But it had only two classrooms when I got here.'

About 80,000 foreign students are enrolled in public and private schools here, and more are expected to come given the Government's push to have 150,000 students by 2015.

An aspiring school operator need only register his school with the Education Ministry. Those who want to enrol foreign students have to win the CaseTrust for Education mark, under a scheme that was started three years ago.

Consumer watchdog Case screens schools on their cancellation and refund policies, the accuracy of information given to students and their dispute-resolution procedures.

But a Straits Times check on some of the 327-Case approved private schools here showed that the checks fall short - especially on accuracy of information.

Among the breaches were schools offering courses from bogus universities and teaching staff with dubious qualifications.

Background checks on the school operators also raised questions about who should be allowed to run schools.

The reputable bigger schools like SIM and MDIS say more stringent checks are needed.

MDIS secretary-general R. Theyvendran said: 'Every time a private school here goes under, all other schools are affected, sometimes for months and years. Students and their parents in China still remember AIT.'

AIT Academy and Unicampus closed suddenly three years ago, leaving 900 students, mostly foreigners, stranded.

SIM chief executive officer Lee Kwok Cheong agreed that 'reputation is everything' in the education industry.

'Students and their parents are spending time and money. The degree must be of value at the end of the day,' he said.

sandra@sph.com.sg

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