Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1994)
SINGAPORE Continued from Page 1 other states i>*ongcame to Eugene Iasi year to study business and said she feels (.heated hv rising I lists and ( ills in the program "Thu business school has real Iv suffered since the budget i uts," I.eong said "They don't offer some ( nurses anymore, prides sors have left, and lots of TAs are teaching ( lasses Complaints like Leung's are getting liai k to Singapore and are having an effis 1 on college -hound Singaporeans Budget i uts and rising tuition costs are just part of the reason Singaporean stu dents, once the largest group of international students on ( am [His, aren't coming to the Uni versity anymore Singaporeans attending col liigi-s and universities in the I lint ed States an* ini reusing at a rate of 1 to fi pen ent a year, hut the number of Singaporeans study ingut the University peaked in 1‘lHfi nl 3f>H 'Hiis wos the record [fir international students from one nation Sinew then. the num ber of Singaporeans at tin- Uni varsity has dor lined dramatically Thom nm now only alnnit ‘Ml Sin gaporoans. dropping tho group to fifth pliii ii aiming Internationa! students, behind the Japanese. Taiwanese, Indonesians and South Koreans In general, the numlier of stu dents from Asia at the Universi ty has Issm on the riv Ke< ruiting of non-resident stu dents is a vital part of the Uni versity s (dan to make up for a SiiO-milhon budget shortfall, said (Christopher Simpson, dins tor of the l Imversity Office of (Commu nications and Marketing f very 100 non residents equal anoth er million dollars in revenue for the l Iniversitv Ini reasingly, Asia is seen by llie University ns a good (ilar e to find more non-res idont students, he said About one third of the fi.OOO non resident students at the Uni versilv an- international students. mostly from Asia Students from Asia at t omit for more than $10 million in tuition revenue .t year Despite the dramatit det line m the number of Singaporeans. University ofTu nils don’t («"••! this is a sign of things to t ome with other international students. such as the fapanese. w hose numlmrs have re.it hed )r>8 I kinda doubt it unless the et tinomv falters or the Japanese build more universities and pro \ ido more at i ess. suit! James K Hut li. director of Admissions The Japanese and other students from Asia w ill t ontinue to t ome to the University for the Ameri can exponent o and an opportu nity to get an education, he said However, if tuition < ontinues to rise, it w ill hurl the l Olivers! tv's ahilitx to compote with oth er s< hools for international and other non resident students. Simpson saul The University is still a rnid prieed school at $10,000 a veur in tuition, i ompetmg well with state si hools sin h as the Unixer sit\ of Colorado. whn h < harges non-residents about 51 1.000 a year. Simpson said As long .is tuition at the t 'Diversity does not .■si eod its market pm e he said, non resident students will still come We haven't esi ceded it yet. but yy are dam close " Simpson sn i d The pert option that the value of the 1 'iinersity is going down is playing a major part in the dei ision of Singaporeans to go elsewhere With a S-’.UOO increase in out of state tuition from last y ear it is getting harder to |uslify coming to the University Sin gaporean students said It used to tie pretty cheap and no sales tax.' said sophomore Mery in (’.him Now Chua would eni mirage other Singaporeans to go to states like Texas where fees and tuition are still low S'in I eng I-eong, who is getting a sis otld deg,ree at the Universi ty said her cousin wanted to i time to Oregon also, hut couldn't afford to after last year's large Because this "It'S a free country" Stuff only goes Bo far. It's everyv^riere you. wartt to be. C VtM USA Inc tuition mi rease The loss of the phvsh al edu t .at ion ma|or was i iteii hv Puran Katmun. a student adviser at the Singapore (/insulate in t-os Ange li*s. as an example of how < uts in programs have dis reased the sal lie of the University to students from Singapore ( uts and costs are not the onK fai tors whit h have made it hard er for Singaporeans to attend the University Some of the other reasons are tougher admission requirements, increased i ompetition from oth er universities, too main Singa poreans the lai k of nightlife and even the weather The first year the University had a ties rease in the number of Singaporeans was coin tiding with the University's change in admission require meats Since l'IH7, students from Itritisfi education systems, such as Singapore, ni«ed passing grades m two A level examinations This is equivalent to the freshman requirement i hanged from a high si hool UP A of 7 7ri to 3.0. Buch said Tlearly, changing to two A levels i ut out a t hunk of stu dents,” he said I fie University had been an option for students who could not get admitted to the highly competitive si hoots in their own country But that situation is also chang ing A couple of new colleges have opened in Singapore, mak ing it easier for students to attend school m their own country The University is in addition facing ini reased competition from col leges anil universities in the I 'n it - ed States and Australia Since the late IMHOs, Australian universities have been aggres sivrlv recruiting in Singapore and other Asian i ountries In a hid for the same brain power and tuition revenues, many U S colleges and universities have las-n doing like VS l se 1'ln* I'ni\ ersit y relies mainly on word-of-mouth and dons not actively meruit in Asia, said Margo Kamsing, an internation al student adviser from the Uni versity Office of International Education and Kxchange. Mow ever. University officials do keep in contact with alumni from Singapore. "We ask them to encourage their children and others to come to the University of Oregon," Ramsing said There were just too many Sin gaporeans, at one time The large Singaporean community at the University made some students feel too much at home "The idea of going abroad is to experience a whole new life," Sink Loon I.eong said "if I wanted to study with Singapore ans I i ould have stayed home " Other international students on i ampus feel the same wav "I probably wouldn’t have i hosen the l of () if there were more Japanese here." said Mivu ki I’agut hi. a sophomore from Japan The declining number of Sin gaporean students might have something to do with Kugene's nightlife, said James I.eong, a senior from Singapore "It's just a university town, small, not a lot of activ dies and far from the big < ities," I.eong said "I'm getting a good educa tion but I'm not having a good time " I.eong also feels it is hard to adjust to dreary Oregon weather when you're from tropical Sin gapore "I'm pay ing $ 10,000 a year and getting rained on," I.eong said.
