By Lee U-Wen

ONE of Singapore's top private education providers is rolling out scholarships worth $500,000 a year for deserving local and foreign students.

They will be given starting next year to those with exemplary academic results or achievements in sports and arts, and to those who want to take up short-term overseas programmes, Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) chief executive Lee Kwok Cheong said yesterday.

Speaking at the official opening of SIM Global Education's new 4.5-hectare campus at Ulu Pandan, he said: "We hope to develop students who not only excel academically but are competent global citizens with character and a healthy work-life balance."

Four types of SIM GE scholarships will be awarded. One will be for freshmen, while the other three will be for academic leadership and excellence, education abroad, and sports and artistic talent.

The scholarships are in addition to what is already on offer by SIM University, which has given out scholarships, sponsorships and study awards worth $1.8 million so far, benefiting more than 100 students.

Attending the opening ceremony was Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who was education minister until a Cabinet reshuffle earlier this year. Also present was Singapore Exchange chief executive and SIM board chairman Hsieh Fu Hua.

Mr Tharman praised SIM for going beyond focusing on teaching, and instead providing a comprehensive education experience for its students.

This is SIM's third campus after its headquarters in Clementi and another at Namly Avenue. The new campus is on a site that used to house the army's School of Military Medicine.

Mr Lee said the campus is "timely" as the rapid growth in SIM's student population – 60 per cent over the past five years – has "burst the seams" of the other two campuses. The number of international students has increased from just 390 in 2003 to more than 2,500 today.

"We are in dire need for more facilities for classes, sports, recreation and social activities," said Mr Lee.

The Ulu Pandan campus can handle up to 2,500 students at full capacity and has hostel beds for 428 students. It also has a gymnasium, tennis courts, dance studio, cafeteria and mini-mart.

This article was first published in The Business Times on Sep 19, 2008.