|
[Photo:Dunman High student Lee Chee Guan, 17, tries his hand at grinding grain at a geological park on Chongming Island during an immersion trip to China in December 2008. She was in China as part of the Ministry of Education?s Bicultural Studies Programme (BSP). The programme aims to groom a core group of bilingual students who can understand and engage China as well as the West.]
By Cai Haoxiang
WHEN Ms Tseng Xin Ying visited Beijing University in 2007 as part of the Education Ministry's Bicultural Studies Programme (BSP), she was amazed by the sight of people reading in every nook and cranny on the campus.
Many students were so deeply engrossed in their books by the picturesque Weiming lake that they did not realise they were attracting a tourist's attention.
Then 17, the young Singaporean was so impressed that she decided to apply to study Chinese language and literature and international relations there.
'I wanted to go to a university with a conducive atmosphere, so I decided that this was it,' said the former Dunman High School student.
She is one of the more than 300 pioneering students who have graduated from the BSP programme and are now in their first year of university, studying a range of subjects here and abroad.
Running from Secondary 3 to the second year of junior college, the BSP aims to groom a core group of bilingual students who can understand and engage China as well as the West.
Launched in Hwa Chong Institution, Dunman High and Nanyang Girls' High in 2005, the BSP attracts an average of 330 students each year. River Valley High School also started offering the programme in 2007.
BSP students cover an intensive curriculum in the Chinese language, culture and literature. Some go overseas for lengthy immersion trips, spending up to six months in China.
The most outstanding students from each cohort are offered the BSP scholarship, which provides an allowance of $1,000 a year. Scholarship holders make up a third of the 300 or so students every year.
The scholarship holders have to take China Studies in Chinese at the H2 level, which is roughly equivalent to the A levels. They are heavily subsidised for two overseas immersion programmes, one lasting two to six months in China and the other, two weeks in another country.
A Straits Times check with the three schools which started the scheme found that many BSP graduates are now in fields like law, medicine and economics.
At first glance, the disciplines seem totally unrelated to the Chinese language, history or culture. But the students interviewed said they were positive about the many opportunities offered by the programme.
The most popular course with Hwa Chong's first batch was medicine at the National University of Singapore (NUS) with 10 students, or one-eighth of the cohort, pursuing it. The next three most popular courses were business, international relations and law.
Mr Branden Seow Zi Xuan, 19, a former Hwa Chong student, had dreamt of becoming a doctor since childhood. But he also wanted to know more about Chinese culture and contemporary China.
When the opportunity came, he realised that he could take China Studies at H2 level, along with chemistry, biology and mathematics, which would enable him to apply to medical school at NUS.
Having travelled to Zhejiang, Beijing, Shanghai and Hainan under the BSP, he felt his experiences in China will enable him to establish a better rapport with Chinese patients in the future.
'I will ask my patient which part of China he comes from. Then I will know what to ask, to strike up a conversation and generate goodwill,' said Mr Seow, who is now studying medicine at NUS.
'It's still early, but I'm keeping an open mind. If Chinese patients were to come to Singapore, I can help in managing their care as I believe I will be able to establish a rapport with them.'
The 62 pioneering students from Nanyang Girls' are studying a range of subjects from international relations, science and medicine to economics, accountancy and business, and law. Dunman High's 124 students are also pursuing a similar range of subjects here and abroad.
Said Ms Tan Mei Hui, 19, a former Dunman High student who is now pursuing a Bachelor of Music at the Royal College of Music in London: 'Although the BSP did not have a direct influence on my decision to study music in Britain, it has further enhanced my ability to appreciate the beauty of other cultures.'
She added that the BSP helped make students more appreciative of other cultures, and more socially conscious.
Next >>
| 
