By Sandra Davie, Senior Writer

IF SINGAPORE were to be graded on its efforts in attracting foreign students here, it would surely earn an A+ from even the crustiest professor. In just five years, the number of international students here has doubled to 100,000.

This is remarkable by any measure, but hardly surprising to Australian academic Sandra Harding. The vice-chancellor of James Cook University has long been sold on Singapore as an education destination.

After all, her own university has found a fertile field in Singapore.

In 2003, James Cook University ventured out from its base in the North Queensland city of Townsville to Bukit Merah in Singapore with the modest goal of setting up an offshore campus with a local partner and testing the waters.

It started with just 50 students here, but enrolment quickly multiplied to 1,500 within five years.

A singular success for sure, but in a market as ferociously competitive as education, it does raise the wider question of whether Singapore can stay ahead on the learning curve. After all, increasing competition is coming from regional countries such as Malaysia and Thailand, all eyeing a slice of the US$2.2 trillion (S$3.2 trillion) international student market.

The Economic Development Board, the key agency in charge of the education hub push here, has set a target of hosting 150,000 international students here by 2015.

Prof Harding has no doubt that Singapore will meet the target, but says agencies here should be more nimble to market demands and more flexible in their approach.

The 51-year-old economic sociologist, who took over the helm of James Cook University in 2007, becoming the first woman to head the 39-year-old institution, says that in many ways, Singapore can learn from Australia, which has grown its international student numbers from 100,000 in the 1990s to more than 500,000 now.

With A$15.5 billion (S$18 billion) in export earnings last year, Australia's education is the third-largest export income earner, just behind coal and iron ore.

One aspect that Singapore should consider is allowing all foreign students to work part-time. Currently, only those studying in government institutions and those classed as 'Institutes of Higher Learning', such as the SPJain Centre of Management, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Insead, are allowed to work now.

When private schools called for extending the part-time work allowance to all foreign students, the authorities voiced concerns that some foreigners would come here with the express purpose of working rather than studying.

But Prof Harding points out that these problems can be managed with a few safeguards. 'In most other education destinations, including Britain and Australia, all foreign students are allowed to work for up to 20 hours a week.

'Besides the obvious monetary benefits, allowing foreign students to work here would help them to integrate better. It would be a good rounding-off for their education here, to be exposed to the working environment.'

There are upsides, too, for Singapore's aspirations to increase its talent pool.

'Students will also be able to gauge if they have good job prospects here. It will hopefully induce the talented ones to stay on to contribute to Singapore. After all, Singapore is also in the education business to draw talent and skilled people here, not just for the revenue,' she says.

On the need for more flexibility, she cites the issue of James Cook University's status here: it is currently classified a 'Private Education Organisation' (PEO), similar to local set-ups that offer everything from certificates to degrees with foreign university partners.

The new private education Bill to be introduced later this year restricts PEOs from using 'university' or 'Singapore' in their title. This would apply to James Cook University as well.

But not to schools brought in by the Economic Development Board (EDB) such as the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and SP Jain, which are classified as 'Institutes of Higher Learning'. Their students enjoy privileges such as shorter visa processing times and the freedom to work part-time.

Why the different classification, she asks.

'We came in under the radar and have not cost the Singapore Government any money,' she says, adding that her university has grown its offshore campus here from a small site in an office building in Bukit Merah to a full-fledged campus in Upper Thomson Road.

In the prestigious recent Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings, she notes that James Cook was placed in the 300th to 400th band among all world universities, similar to Nanyang Technological University here.

'To be seen as anything other than a university risks misleading the public - because we are a university, and a world-class one at that,' says Prof Harding, stressing that 'the campus in Singapore is wholly managed by James Cook University Australia'.

'Although we came in with a Singapore partner, PSB, then, we are not a franchise, and we are not managed by anyone else in Singapore. The degree courses offered here follow the curriculum of JCU Queensland, and students in the Singapore campus sit for the same exams as their peers in Australia,' she says.

The Singapore Government may have a preferred way of bringing in institutions, through the EDB.

'But, institutions interested in setting up here may want to take a different route, start small, figure out the market and then grow from there,' she says.

She suggests that the key agencies should encourage a variety of models. To attract a broad spectrum of students it should allow for an array of institutions from different parts of the world with different offerings.

'Different levels, different emphases will all bring something to the hub that Singapore wants to build. Just ensure they are quality institutions.'

She stresses that quality is a 'must-have' if Singapore wants to realise its education hub ambitions, and is fully behind the Government's recent efforts to regulate the private education industry.