The Moley Prophet

As I was sifting through the stack of papers this morning, the headlines in Home caught my eye, actually it didn't. I just wanted to pick up Home to read it. There were no glaring headlines, you would not have known what happened if you did not read through it. Just after one semester of operation for its soft launch, when its campus was not even ready, UNSW Asia has pulled out.

The Straits Times doesn't seem to be reporting the main reason why it pulled out, except saying that numbers were not enough to meet the target. Of over 700 applicants only 140 were able to enroll, and of these 140, 100 are Singaporeans, while 40 are foreigners. This effectively breaks the agreement between UNSW and the government, as they had previously agreed to a 30% Singaporeans, 70% international student population if you were to refer to this document:

 The current negotiations provided for 30% Singapore National and 70% International students to study at UNSW Asia.

This was part of the republic's plan to become an education hub hosting international students and international schools. Singapore is such a small nation, so small that many Americans, known for having lack of general knowledge, does not even know it exist. For that, how will it be able to fulfill that ridiculous number of international students?

I do not believe that just by basing on the numbers for one semester, UNSW would come to a harsh decision to shut down the campus after huge investments or it may be that the Singapore government had spent even more. UB had even fewer students when it first started out. Numbers would eventually grow as there are many Singaporeans out there who wants to send their children to foreign institutions but are worried about them being overseas alone. I believe that the EDB had a part to play in the decision to close UNSW Asia with pressure of numbers of international students.

I also do not think that high tuition fee charged at UNSW Asia is the main issue. Some people are complaining that the fees are the same here in Singapore and UNSW but hey, we at University at Buffalo (UB) in SIM pay the same as what students pay in UB as well. The advertised 60% less than what international students pay in the states accounts for the other expenses. So if people are willing to pay for a prestigious degree from UB which the usual middle and lower wage earners would not have heard about - including myself - they would be willing to pay for a degree which most people - even primary school children - knows.

The other university to receive invitation by the EDB to set up a campus in Singapore was Warwick. The University of Warwick had declined to set up a campus here citing that besides financial issues there were also issues to deal with academic freedom in the republic. As the fiasco continues with students having to complete their semester within a state of uncertainty, I doubt international acclaimed schools would enter Singapore again if the republic chooses to have its stuck up policies.

Discussion from other blogs:
CNA publishes two versions of UNSW Closure Reports
Questions on the UNSW ASIA debacle

Renhao has requested that I upload this file here for all to read. In addition, he has requested that if you do not understand, please look for Andrea and not him.

MGM 404 Lecture 1

MGM 404 Lecture 2

Arrived in Hong Kong at 10:08 yesterday. How glad I was to land at the airport. United Airlines planes are simply crappy. It was a jerky flight and I got air sick. The route from the gates to the immigration was so bloody long. Had to go up and down, take the train, and walk so bloody far. And then, it took us about an hour to clear the customs. Talking about efficiency and excitement. Wonder how the rating works.

After clearing the customs, we still had to wait almost an hour for the people taking Jetstar. They took off earlier but landed later than us. Wasted so much time there. Finally, after so many hours awake, I fell asleep on the bus to YMCA.

The hotel room was damn small. And everything was so ex. The Internet I'm using now to type this entry costs HKD$40. After settling my belongings, I took a ferry from Wan Chai to Tsim Sha Tsui to look for my Dad. He was waiting for me at Star Ferry with a business partner and we went to a cafe nearby for me to get my lunch.

After lunch, we got back to Shangri-La at Tsim Sha Tsui to dump my laptop there and we took the train to Luo Wu in Shenzhen. We took the first class train there which costs about HKD$70 per person. It was comfortable and fast. We should have such a service in Singapore as well. In Shenzhen, we went shopping for suits. My gosh. Every single brand is there. They even managed to find Fred Perry. Of course, they were all fakes.

After our shopping, we went to Shangri-La Shenzhen to get a cab. And the stupid doorman dared to told us to go away. He even tried to say that the government ruled that you can't get a cab from the hotel lobby, and when Dad's friend told him to shut up or we would get the boss here, he even told us to go ahead. And so, we got the front desk manager out to demand an apology from him. For which, he refused to give. Only the porter who tried to act smart and joined in apologised. I would like to see whether his rice bowl or his mouth is harder when my Dad's friend visits Singapore.

It's Shangri-La for goodness sake. Anyone who steps into the hotel, is a customer. And they just offended one of their big customer in China. Even if we don't stay in that particular Shangri-La, or any other Shangri-La, I don't give a damn. As far as I am concerned, as long as you belong to a particular franchise, you act in the goodwill for it in any part of the world. And they just ruined their reputation for Shangri-La in the world.

When I was with a friend at Grand-Copthorne Waterfront in Singapore, we went to the concierge asking for directions. Even though we do not stay there, and we definitely look like it, the person went on the Internet, called the place we were looking for to check out the exact location. This is the kind of service a hotel should provide. China surpassing the rest of the world in globalization? Impossible with the kind of service they provide which is prevalent even in a five star hotel.

P.S Although Cheryl said you can't expect much from service providers in China, I beg to differ. More than 10 years ago while I was in Beijing, I stayed in Hilton as well as Holiday Inn, 5 and 4 stars respectively, yet, they provided excellent service. 

As Jeremy Clarkson said, we can tell you how good the car is, but only you can tell us the experience you have with the car, the dealer and such. Well, since I get to use th software for 3 months, I am able to share my truthful comments as well. Firstly, we shall start with pfingoACTIVE.

This software does not have much of use for me. It's supposed to be able to connect with MSN, Yahoo! and Google users. However, the only users I get to add are pfingo users. Wonder how it works. Fault lies with the difficulty in getting help as well. The forum which is supposed to be available in April just went up while I'm writing this entry. Couldn't be more than 4 days before, as I tried it then. I couldn't really figure out the use of pfingoACTIVE except using up space on my computer.

Now going on with the pfingoMAIL, I don't really know how the pushmail function works, but after reading the forum, I think it only pushes the mail to your phone and not pfingoACTIVE on your desktop. It may be lack of knowledge about the product on my part, but hey, it wasn't explained to me. And the service which incorporates all POP3 to my pfingoMAIL, I do not really find it great. I could do it with my Yahoo! Mail and I believe GMail as well.The so many stuff listed on pfingoMAIL with its small print does not appeal to me like the Yahoo! Mail Beta interface. I think that the team needs more marketing research done here.

And the most important service in pfingo. The pfingoTALK. Yes, yes. It's all very good. But there are flaws. Firstly, it does not work occasionally. It shows that you are connected, but you can't make a call, and people can't call you. Worst, it does not divert that call to my mobile phone. And sometimes, while I'm trying to make a call, it suddenly rings, and I haven't even finished typing the number out, or clicked call. I supposed someone was calling me, but do not know who it is as there are some numbers which I already typed. And then, I couldn't find anything in the call list. The call list is flawed as well, don't know if I mentioned in my first review, it does not reflect details such as missed calls or received call status. Everything is under received. Worst than my Motorola, which I think sucks totally. The phone book is another crap feature. Every time when I click the call button, I will have to choose which number of the person I want to call. It should stick to a default number instead. Going on to the SMS feature, which also uses the crappy phone book, I am terribly disappointed by it. Firstly, I have to receive replies via my mobile as it displays the SMS as being sent out by my mobile. SMS sent to the pfingo number would also have to be retrieved on the website though I haven't tried. And at $0.06 per SMS, I think it's bit of over priced. Since it's done online, I expect it to be about half the price.

Moving on, theres the website for pfingo. Firstly, I think it should cover the full 1024 area and finally, it should also be XHTML compatible! I don't know what is wrong with it. But I couldn't access the page with Firefox. Don't they know people are switching over in flocks to Firefox? It should be about time all webpages are XHTML compatible.

Sometime ago, I wrote about the need to eliminate the politics in our younger generation. The students in schools who are fighting for power in councils and other such committees in schools. Even when we have not settled the issue, more problems have emerged. Corruption practices has bloomed. Ever since I joined the council as a sub-committee member, I have witnessed the horrible acts people from the past council had done. Lack of proof for payments, lack of records for everything, and improper usage of council property, and much more.

The lack of concern by members of the past council to verify, and the multiple posts that a single person held, all contributed to the thriving of such practices. Just like having a scale for measurement of corruption in governments, students may want to research about corruption in school organizations and their councils.