Lee Kuan Yew on why a university degree is not for everyone |
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By hazard.one.actual The late LKY himself consistently argued that university education could not be expanded carelessly without harming the value of a degree, warning in the 80s and 90s increasing the number of graduates would lower standards and create credential inflation instead of improving skills. At that time, this view was controversial and caused unhappiness among parents. Local university spots were limited and a degree was widely regarded as a guaranteed way to success, with many Singaporean families spending a lot of money sending their children overseas when they could not secure a local spot. Over the years, however, the Ministry of Education steadily increased capacity through autonomous universities and private pathways. By the mid-2020s, about 60% of a cohort is now expected to earn a degree, compared to only a small fraction in the late 1980s. The end results have been mixed, however. While access has widened, employers increasingly value skills, experience, and adaptability more than paper credentials. Some graduates report sending dozens or even hundreds of applications without any response, while others seek expensive postgraduate degrees with uncertain payoffs. While these trends demonstrate his concerns on degrees being unable to replace real economic value, and that over-expansion turning a once-rare qualification into just one of many options to be prescient, questions remain if Singapore can really move away from a credential-based model of education and employment. Does it make sense to give everyone a degree if it is supposed to signal elite qualification? Can a paper qualification remain valuable in the market if everyone possesses it? This first appeared as a post on the Instagram page of hazard.one.actual on 23 February 2026. Do join in the discussion over there if you have thoughts to share. |
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