To the person who wrote this forum letter today. PLEASE WAKE UP YOUR IDEA!!!! She has got all the facts reversed.
In the 1970s, NUS was the hotbed of political activities. Students were actively championing worker's rights, human rights and urging the government to be more open. They were like any other campus of other democratic countries. ...that was our university education more than 30 years ago!!!
Of course the government of Singapore has to ensure that there is progress from what it was 30 years ago. For their own good, students are made more and more to focus on their academic work and spend less time on politics. Look when you go to a multinational company, they will pay you higher if you score more A's. So concerned for the financial well-being of students, the govt step in to clamp down on time wasting political activities. Student activists were arrested under the ISA and some like the very harmful notorious Tan Wah Piao had to escape to England. He is now a well known lawyer and helping the under-privileged there. Thank goodness, we got rid of him otherwise an evil person like him would have harmed our society.
So NUS/NTU students are very much focussed on their academic studies and ECAs. They understand the importance of studying hard getting good honours so they can get high paying jobs so they have alot of money to buy cars, condos and do lots of shopping during their lifetime. ...see how meaningful it is.
Warwick has alot to learn from Singapore, they are like 30 years behind us...and still doing what we did 30+ years ago with student activism. We must wait for Warwick to catch up and learn from the Singapore system, before they are ready to set up here. Otherwise, Singaporeans enrolled in Warwick will be taught not to use their time optimally to increase their economic buying power after they graduate. If they spend time fighting world hunger, Iraq war, poverty and the rights of taxi drivers ....their grades will suffer and they will have less money for shopping and tours.