Global aspirations and local talent: the development of creative higher education in Singapore

Abstract

This paper explores higher education development and policy shifts in Singapore over the last decade, within a landscape of an increasingly globalised creative economy and international cultural policy transfer. Using qualitative interviews with key players in policy and higher education institutions, the paper aims to explain the push and pull factors behind investment in creative higher education. It considers the emerging dynamics and diverse patterns, embedded in a society where higher education interactions with economic development have a long history and pragmatic rationale. While still in the early days of these investments, the paper argues that there are some global policy lessons to be learnt from the case of Singapore and the role that higher education can play in developing a creative economy, while striving to overcome issues of over-supply and innate vulnerability of creative careers.

Keywords:

• higher education
• Singapore
• creative economy
• creative careers
• creative policies

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the support of King’s College London and National University of Singapore Partnership Award and the AHRC Research Network Grant ‘Beyond the Campus: Connecting Knowledge and Creative Practice Communities Across Higher Education and the Creative Economy’ for the support towards the travel and research period in Singapore. I also would like to acknowledge Prof Tan Tai Yong at Tembusu College at the National University of Singapore for providing hospitality during the fieldwork. Finally, to all the interviewees who generously gave their time to answer questions and share their views on the topics of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council [grant number AH/J005800/1]; King’s College London and National University of Singapore Partnership Award.