As SUSS Gets a New Campus, Let's Ask: What Does Success Mean in Singapore?

Many students from local universities outside the Big Three feel they have missed out. This is wrong and needs to change.

- Chew Yi Wei

The wait is finally over and Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing has announced that the dedicated new campus for the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) will be located in Rochor. Like the other five autonomous universities (AUs), we too will have a space to call our own.

A city campus is a game changer for our students, whether undergraduates, postgraduates, or adult learners. Many mature learners juggle full-time work with evening classes and the new location promises them far greater convenience. This is vital if SUSS aspires to be the institution of choice for this demographic.

No longer will we share premises with the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) and Ngee Ann Polytechnic, nor will we be mistaken for SIM. Building a strong, independent identity is critical for our future, and a dedicated campus is an important step towards achieving that.

A campus is not just a collection of buildings; it is a repository of meaning: an idea, and perhaps even an ideal. Having the new campus at a site so central is symbolic of Singapore's commitment to strengthen the profile of SUSS as the only university in Singapore guided by the raison d'être of lifelong learning.

That said, while the above reasons are surely worth celebrating, it still pays to pause and take stock, for there are underlying concerns that continue to linger—concerns that are not often discussed openly but are deeply felt.

IS SUCCESS JUST A BRAND NAME?

Here's the reality check: there are the big boys—National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and the Singapore Management University (SMU). And then there are the others. We fall into the latter category.