Your education is the key to your future. As such, it is important for you to invest time and effort to make sure that you end up with a good quality education that will help you advance in your career in future.
Before signing up with a private school, you should find out more about the history and reputation of the private education institution and the courses it offers. Where possible, you should visit the school's premises and observe the study environment prior to making your decision.
Make Sure the Private School is Registered with the Council for Private Education
All private schools must be registered with the Council for Private Education in order to operate in Singapore. To be registered, the private school must meet the basic requirements in corporate governance, quality of provision, and information transparency.
Corporate Structure
A private school must be either a registered society or company.
Premises
The premises and facilities of the private school must be cleared or approved by the respective regulatory authorities. Except for lessons conducted in the auditorium, each student should have a classroom space of at least 1.5 square metres. If it has only one classroom, the private school is not allowed to share premises with more than one other private school; if there are more than one classroom, sharing of premises is limited to a maximum of three private schools.
Academic and Examination Boards
Unless otherwise permitted by the Council for Private Education, all private schools should have an Academic Board and an Examination Board that will oversee and help make sure that the quality of academic programmes and examination processes in the school are maintained.
Managers of a Private School
In every private school, there must be managers appointed to oversee the proper functioning of the private school. They play a very important role, especially in maintaining standards in corporate governance and information disclosure.
In the unfortunate event of closure of a private school, the school's managers must ensure that all enrolled students are informed of the impending closure, and necessary arrangements are made for them to complete the same course or a similar course in another registered private school.
Information Disclosure
Private schools in Singapore are required by law to disclose accurate information about themselves and the courses they offer. In all advertisements, private schools are only allowed to refer to themselves as being ‘registered’ with the Council for Private Education. They are not allowed to use words like “approved”, “accredited” or “endorsed”.
It is an offence for private schools to make false claims or intentionally mislead students in their advertisements.
Courses and Teachers
Private schools are only allowed to offer courses which have been permitted by the Council for Private Education, except for certificate level courses which are shorter than one month or 50 hours in duration.
The private schools must also ensure that suitable teachers are deployed to teach the modules or subjects of the courses. These teachers must meet at least the baseline requirements in terms of academic qualifications and related experience as specified by the Council. for Private Education. The schools must further ensure that the qualifications of the teachers are conferred by education institutions which are recognised by the relevant authority in the country or territory in which they are established, and that the qualifications have not been conferred as honorary degrees.
Certificates Issued by Private Schools
As Singapore does not have a central authority that accords recognition to certificates and/or qualifications obtained from private schools, recognition and acceptance of certificates for employment or further study are entirely at the discretion of the individual prospective employer or education institution.
In Singapore, private schools are only allowed to issue certificates and award qualifications in their own names up to Advanced Diploma level. Only Singapore’s four autonomous universities, and the nine approved private universities (comprehensive and specialized) are allowed to offer their own degrees. Interested students may refer to http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/post-secondary/ for more information on these post-secondary institutions.
Private schools may offer external degree programmes through partnerships with bona fide foreign universities. Only external degree programmes permitted by the Council of Private Education are allowed to be conducted or offered in or from Singapore.
Selecting a Course at a Private School
Here are some questions to help you determine whether a private school and the courses it offers are reliable, especially those that are offered online:
beware as it might be a degree mill.
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Does the private school claim accreditation when there is no evidence of this status?
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What are the required hours of attendance?
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Are there any academic assessments? How easy is it for students to earn credits?
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Is the duration required to obtain a diploma or a degree much shorter than the
generally accepted standards in most public or accredited institutions?
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Can the diplomas or degrees be obtained solely on experience or resume review?
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Is the registered office of the private school identified only though a telephone number,
an e-mail address or a mail box address?
from a country where recognised or reputable institutions are accredited?
Check whether a course offered by a private school is permitted by the Council for Private Education.
Fee Protection Scheme
The Fee Protection Scheme is meant to protect the fees of students paid to private schools.
Private schools must subscribe to an insurance scheme approved by the Council for Private School in order to collect more than two months course fees at any one time. There are two types of insurance schemes: the industry-wide insurance scheme and the Fee Protection Scheme (FPS) insurance scheme. Under the Fee Protection Scheme, private schools may opt to set up escrow bank accounts for their students instead of subscribing to the industry-wide insurance scheme.
Unless a private school is able to show proof that their students’ fees are protected by either the industry-wide insurance scheme or the Fee Protection Scheme (either insurance or escrow bank account), it is not allowed to collect more than two months of course fees from its students at any one time.
Check whether my fees are protected by the private school that I am enrolled in.
Student Contract
All private schools and their students must sign a contract for any course longer than two months in duration. Before signing the contract, you should read through the Advisory Note to Students and ensure that the following information has been included and is accurate:
part-time basis;
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The commencement date and end date of the course;
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The scheduled holidays, if any;
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The dates of all examinations, major assessments and assignments;
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The expected date of the release of the results of the final examination, which should
not be more than three months after the completion of the final examination unless
otherwise permitted by the Council for Private Education;
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The expected date of conferment of the award;
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The full names of the developer or proprietor of the course, and the person or
organisation or institution conferring the award;
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The components of all fees payable by the student;
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The fee collection schedule, including any late fee payment policy; and
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The fee refund policy of the private school.
Private schools are not allowed to include clauses in the Private Education Institution-Student Contract which would allow them to make unilateral changes to the terms and conditions, or enable them to collect fees from students who have withdrawn from the course for the semesters or modules of the course which have not yet commenced.
Responsibility of Students
We urge you to exercise caution when selecting a suitable private school and course to enrol in, and to make the effort to understand your rights and obligations before entering an agreement which will be legally binding.
The Council for Private Education is responsible for investigating any private school for any contraventions of the statutory requirements, as well as any person or organisation suspected of issuing fake degrees in or from Singapore.
Students may notify the Council by e-mail: CPE_CONTACT@cpe.gov.sg or write to 2 Bukit Merah Central, SPRING Singapore Building, #05-00 Singapore 159835, if they have any information about any unauthorised private school operating, or representing itself as being, from Singapore.
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