Closure of New York University Tisch Asia's Singapore Campus

Ms Janice Koh asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) how has the Singapore arts and media scene benefited from our partnership with New York University Tisch Asia; (b) how many Singapore citizens and PRs have enrolled in and graduated from its programmes since the Singapore campus opened in 2007; (c) what impact will its closure have on the local arts and media industry; and (d) how will EDB support existing Singapore students to enable them to complete their studies in Tisch in New York.

Tisch School of the Arts Asia (Tisch Asia) was set up by New York University (NYU) in 2007 under EDB's Global Schoolhouse initiative. The Global Schoolhouse initiative aims to develop Singapore into an education hub offering a diverse mix of quality education services to the world and to build industry-relevant manpower capabilities for our economy.

Tisch Asia has enhanced the scope and diversity of Singapore’s education landscape and the vibrancy of our arts and media scene. Several Tisch Asia graduates have received international recognition and awards1. Local talents, such as Adeline Foo, author of "Diary of Amos Lee", and Wee Li Lin, filmmaker and recipient of the Honorary Award at the Singapore Short Film Awards, are Tisch Asia alumni. Furthermore, Tisch’s links with influential international practitioners allowed Tisch to bring them in to teach and conduct workshops at Tisch Asia.

Tisch Asia was established on the basis that it would be financially sustainable after a few years. However, the school faced financial challenges in its operations in Singapore. Its revenues turned out to be lower than projected while its costs exceeded projections due to factors, such as the appreciation of the SGD against the USD and the construction boom in 2007. To address this financial gap, NYU contributed over S$20 million in subsidies to Tisch Asia from 2007 to 2011.

EDB worked closely with NYU and various stakeholders to explore options for the long-term sustainability of Tisch Asia's operations. EDB and NYU considered fund-raising and the establishment of an undergraduate programme. Unfortunately, none of these options were viable or sustainable, and Tisch Asia made the difficult decision to close down.

We regret Tisch Asia's decision to pull out, but recognise that this was a decision made after careful consideration by NYU. Investors know their business better than the Government and are in the best position to assess the viability of their plans. There will be specific circumstances that affect the

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viability of a school’s operations in Singapore. Our role is to facilitate and support projects where there are benefits for Singapore, while ensuring that public monies are used judiciously and that processes are in place to monitor the progress of these projects. EDB provided Tisch Asia with a level of support that was commensurate with the anticipated benefits of having the school in Singapore.

To date, EDB has disbursed S$11.68 million in loans and S$5.3 million in grants to Tisch Asia. EDB stopped disbursements when it realised that Tisch Asia was facing financial difficulties. EDB is in close discussions with NYU on the details of the loan repayment.

A total of 21 Singaporeans and PRs are enrolled at or have graduated from Tisch Asia. NYU has confirmed that Tisch Asia will continue to operate at its campus until 2015 when all existing students in Singapore complete their programmes. This means that no existing students will have their Master’s programme disrupted.

While we regret the loss of Tisch Asia from our arts and media education landscape, there are other institutions which offer quality arts and media education catering to industry needs in Singapore. These institutions include the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the LASALLE College of the Arts and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) as well as Polytechnics and private schools which offer specialised programmes for media practitioners. There are also existing schemes and programmes – such as MDA's Talent Assistance Grant Scheme and the Media Education Scheme – which provide students and media practitioners with opportunities to further their studies in reputable local and overseas universities and take on apprenticeship stints with global media players. We are confident that these programmes will be able to provide the talent pool for our arts and media industry.

Overall, the Global Schoolhouse initiative has been successful in helping to build Singapore’s brand name in education and provide courses which meet the manpower development needs of our economy. EDB has thus far attracted 11 renowned foreign tertiary institutions to set up independent branch campuses in Singapore. These include French business school INSEAD, the Technical University of Munich as well as the Digipen Institute of Technology2.

EDB remains committed to developing the education sector to support the manpower and talent needs of our economy. Through the Global Schoolhouse strategy, EDB will continue to attract top foreign universities that can

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complement our local tertiary education landscape and develop and retain talent that the Singapore economy needs.