Business courses boom

Demand for business and management degrees ranked high among students and working professionals looking to change careers.

According to a report by the Singapore Press Holdings, private education organisations which participated in the CATS Classified Learning For Success Exhibition at Suntec Singapore reported that psychology and business programmes were the more popular courses that many of their prospective students who visited the event were making inquiries about.

Mr David Aw Yong, Senior Marketing Manager of the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS), said: “We have quite a lot of demand for business courses, as these are much more general. The bulk of the inquiries have been about diplomas, and quite a number are working professionals seeking to change careers.”

One person who signed up for a degree in international business and management with MDIS was Ms Irna Jumahat, 23, who said: “I’m actually signing up for this course for my 20-year-old sister, not for myself!”

TMC Academy and PSB Academy were two other schools which confirmed that business courses were popular. Said PSB Academy’s Marketing and Communications Executive, Mr Ken Peh: “People see business courses as the norm in the business industry where qualifications are concerned.”

But psychology and programmes relating to health-care also put in a good showing.

At Hui & Kuah Educational Consultants, Mr Philip Kuah, Managing Director, commented: “I’m seeing a lot of interest in health science courses. People are more affluent and living longer, and the Government is promoting the importance of health care, so there’s more interest these days.”

At education consultancy CMS (Pte) Ltd, Mr David Teo, Managing Director, said: “The courses I’m getting a lot of inquiries about are medicine, law, biometrical sciences, psychology, mass communications and business.”

Other organisations besides CMS which saw an interest in psychology courses included education consultancy AS Educentre, and Arium School of Arts & Sciences.

Ms Maria Lee, Academic Advisor of Arium School of Arts & Sciences, said: “Psychology, child psychology and criminology are among our most popular courses. The childcare industry is growing in Singapore, and teachers and parents are more interested now in finding out how to use psychology to get children to learn.”

Education institutions participating in the event saw inquiries mostly from Singaporeans rather than from international students.

“I would say that 70 per cent of my visitors have been Singaporeans,” said Mr David Teo of CMS (Pte) Ltd.

More than 4,500 people have visited the exhibition. Visitors to the exhibition were able to choose from hundreds of courses from 105 universities and other academic institutions from countries like Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, France, New Zealand and Canada. The programmes available spanned all academic levels – certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate. They are available to students based in Singapore, thanks to partnerships between the overseas institutions and the 18 local private education organisations represented at the exhibition.

Besides checking out the academic programmes, visitors could also find out about study loans. And those who signed up for a course with any of the exhibitors were entered in a draw to win an Asus laptop worth $1,598.

This education exhibition is held annually by CATS Classified to give its education-sector advertisers an opportunity to connect face-to-face with prospective students. Besides providing advertisers with an additional platform for branding and exposure, it also gives members of the public a convenient venue where they can browse through programme offerings from a wide spectrum of education providers.

The event was supported by a Learning For Success newspaper advertising feature published in CATS Classified in The Straits Times.