Running to stay still in the knowledge economy

Abstract

To maintain their global positioning, some of the world's most prominent institutions are pursuing strategic transnational alliances. In this paper I examine one such transnational alliance – that between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the government of Singapore. Using governmentality as a framework of analysis, the paper locates the Singapore‐MIT Alliance within the broader policy architecture that underpins Singapore's knowledge economy aspirations. The Alliance demonstrates some of the practical complexities involved in ‘leap‐frogging’ into the ‘value‐added’ realms of knowledge and service‐related production. It highlights the resistances, tensions and contradictions arising from leveraging off foreign expertise to build an education hub. The paper concludes with a discussion of the changing regimes of value arising from aspiring knowledge economies.

Keywords:

• governmentality
• transnational education
• higher education
• knowledge‐based economies

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to all those who gave their time to participate in this study. Thanks also to Sandra Taylor for her comments on this paper. This study was completed during a Fellowship at the Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore and funded by the Department of Education, Science & Training (Australia). My special thanks to Professor Brenda Yeoh for facilitating what was a very stimulating and productive time at ARI. Thanks also to Professor Anthony Reid.

Notes

1. Talent is a generic term used in Singapore to refer to the highly skilled, or high achievers, i.e. those who have the potential to be highly skilled.

2. Currently, students can select the following streams in the SMA: Advanced Materials for Micro‐ and Nano‐Systems, Computational Engineering, Manufacturing Systems & Technology and Computation & Systems Biology. Streams that have been discontinued include High Performance Computation for Engineering Systems, Computer Science and Molecular Engineering of Biological and Chemical Systems.