By Amelia Tan

ALTHOUGH she graduated among the top students of her class pursuing an optometry diploma, Singapore Polytechnic student Jess Chay was planning on going out to work instead of furthering her studies.

Going overseas to Britain to upgrade her diploma to a degree in optometry would have cost her at least $100,000 over two years, a sum which her mother, a day-care centre assistant, cannot afford.

Then came the polytechnic's announcement last November that it was bringing in Manchester University to offer a degree programme in optometry at a fraction of the cost - $8,000 a year in tuition fees.

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