Singapore: Thin dividing line

A US ACADEMIC CLAIMS THAT AN INSTITUTE AT a Singaporean university where he used to work is a œveneer for government and industry research. Robert Bianchi, who until April was visiting research professor at the Middle East Institute (MEI) at the National University of Singapore (NUS), says he was dismissed after speaking out about problems at the institute. Prof. Bianchi signed a two-year renewable contract at MEI in August 2011. œThere is some confusion and misrepresentation of its relationship with the Singapore government, its degree of academic autonomy and the duties of senior faculty, he told Times Higher Education. Three of the institute™s nine board members are representatives of the Singapore government, three hold directorships of companies, and the chairman of the board is also the chairman of Shell Companies in Singapore, according to the MEI website. Prof. Bianchi says that people who spoke at the institute during his time there appeared to be œguests of the foreign ministry and government. œIt became more and more apparent that the so-called independent research institute with a scholarly veneer is an arm of the Singapore foreign ministry, he says. Prof. Bianchi claims that the early termination of his contract followed œrepeated retaliation for highlighting problems and expressing professional opinions that differed from the institute™s director at the time, Michael Hudson. In March 2013, after raising issues during a meeting of the institute™s international advisory council, he received a letter from Prof. Hudson reprimanding him for an œangry and erratic tirade and for œinsulting the institute and its visitors. It listed a further nine alleged incidents of professional misconduct dating back to October 2011. Prof. Bianchi says that the letter was œfilled with distortions and absurd allegations that were completely unfounded and that he was previously unaware of most of the incidents listed. In February 2014, Prof. Bianchi wrote to members of the NUS senior management and MEI board members expressing concerns about the choice of a successor for Prof. Hudson. He also met with the provost to discuss the matter a few weeks later. By the end of March, he had received a letter terminating his contract. A spokesman for the university says there is œno truth in the claim that Prof. Bianchi had been dismissed for expressing professional opinions differing from those of Prof. Hudson. œProf. Bianchi was released from the MEI¦ following numerous serious complaints from colleagues as well as the leadership of MEI about his inappropriate conduct, he maintains. Competency education attraction A RECENT REPORT FROM A MANAGEMENT consultancy, McKinsey, titled Education to Employment: Getting Europe™s Youth into Work, paints a dismal picture of the state of vocational education. In four of the seven countries surveyed, more than half of young people taking an academic course said they would have preferred a vocational one. But they had been put off by disorganisation and lack of prestige. Britain has more than 20,000 vocational qualifications offered by 150 different organisations. In America, responsibility is scattered among government departments. The great exception…