NTU refuses to take action against blacklisted foreign academic “poisons”
September 5th, 2010 | 
Author: Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has refused to take action against the blacklisted foreign academic “poisons” and instead issued a stern warning to the whistle-blower not to make comments about them.
A blogger from theliberatingtruth.wordpress.com had earlier posted a “blacklist” of 15 NTU foreign students, including their names, photographs, and nationalities attached with a “testimonial” from fellow students from NTU School of Computing Engineering on their work ethics and attitude.
They were accused among other things of leeching on other students in their joint projects, not contributing to the team and stealing credit for work not done by them.
The stunning revelation sparked a furore among Singaporeans who wondered if the present scholarship system is being abused by some foreigners at the expense of Singaporeans.
When interviewed by the Straits Times, NTU’s Dean of Students said that “students who abuse the Internet may have their privilege of using university computers withdrawn and may also face disciplinary action.”
He also refused to investigate the allegations as they were made by an anonymous blogger and there is no way the university can verify the facts of the matter though all NTU needs to do is to interview the team-mates of these foreigne students to ascertain the truth.
“We advise all students to be responsible and contribute to their fair share of project work as this is an important aspect of their education and they have a professional ethos to adhere to,” he said.
His “advice” is scant consolation to Singapore students who have to put up with the antics of such uncooperative foreign “scholars” in their project teams.
Though the blogger has since taken down the post after it was blown up in the press, some NTU students are adamant that these foreign academic “poisons” deserved to be blacklisted, with one of them urging us to set up a page for them to “publicly condemn these students.”
NTU SCE students may like to prepare and sign a declaration confirming that the allegations made about the blacklisted foreign “parasites” are true and send it to the Dean’s Office if they are serious about making these leechers pay their dues.
Related articles:
>> NTU SCE students on three foreign academic poisons
>> PRC scholars thinking of breaking bonds before arrival in Singapore
>> Blogger published list of academic poisons
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Posted in Editorial
“When interviewed by the Straits Times, NTU’s Dean of Students said that students who abuse the Internet may have their privilege of using university computers withdrawn and may also face disciplinary action.”
So blogging against the PAP’s interest is called abusing the internet???
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oh please. what does TR expect NTU to do??? they were lousy students. some of them got their just deserts by their lousy grades. what you want.. lynch them? if so, i’m sure a whole bunch of SGean academic poisons should also be lynched. TR, this is quite pathetic.
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I thought the ‘NTU’s Dean of Students’ is a PR (maybe he is already a newly minted singapore citizen. fyi I was working in ntu a while ago.
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NTU’s Dean of Students refused in investigate the root of problem to ascertain the truth but focus on issue warnings, which may involve stripping privilages and access to facilities at NTU and face disciplinary actions? Sounds to me that he is not interested in the affairs of troubled and stressed sporean students who are paying him montly salary and for NTU facilities.
Can someone tell me what is NTU’s motto?
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Ai yah ! The ” Dins ” in NTU are “whose” Dogs ??? Jus think with your Backside oso know lah ! …cheapening the degree only lor !
….NTU will become known as ” No Talent University ” lor !
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What do you expect NTU to do? They did not really flaunt any written rules or anything. This is more of a social issue.
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“@When interviewed by the Straits Times, NTU’s Dean of Students said that “students who abuse the Internet may have their privilege of using university computers withdrawn and may also face disciplinary action.
Is the Dean out to scare the students. Bring it on. I will bring this up to Minister for Education and Deputy Minister on the bullying attitude. I would suggest he offer solutions and answer then to throw his weigh around. Just in case he does knows. I do know PM lee family members.
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When we see some truth???
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If anything should be done against leechers, then I believe the leechers who get 0 for their peer appraisals should be forced to redo their assignment in the special semester. Peer appraisal weightages only around 10-30% of an assignment. It would be extremely unfair to give the remaining 70-90% grade to leechers who had contributed nothing.
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Ouch!!!!!!!!!! education is teaching little kids about extortion and blackmail and young adults revenge, retaliation and oppression to get ahead? Spurs driven into the hides are driven too fast and too cruel so early in lives of innocent minds. Maybe in the corporate world, people should learn fast that hatred and contemptible behaviour is the pathway ahead or is it not?
I am so glad I was born in a different era of “education” even though I never made it beyond kindergarten. My parents’ good education gave me the ropes to survival. At least I am NOT system-infected in this not-so-beautiful world.
Tribalism and PINOPI ( Persons In Need of Protected Interests) survive in the practical world by this golden rule – the rubber tyres of truths ALWAYS WEARS OUT FASTER ON THE ROAD DENSE WITH LIES AND COVER-UPS in the business world. Ask the Italian mafia tribes or the Japanese Yakuza if in doubt, folks, if one cannot learnt anything from the movies of the world of realities.
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While academic plagiarism is everywhere, our incoming FTs will definitely help to push this to new heights in Singapore.
Chinese netizens are exposing many fake degree and fake research incidents in China which implicate well known scholars, faculty members of top Chinese universities and government officials.
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This is obviously xenophobia at its best. Local students have their fair share or “leechers” and “parasites”.
This is a worrying sign because:
1) Our animosity are focused towards foreign CHINESE due to our highly westernized culture. We do not show such animosity towards foreign CAUCASIANS. It seems that we almost forgot that the majority of our ancestors came from China. Our arrogance amaze us as we probably will not remain first world for long.
2) Singapore is an open economy that is extremely dependent on global trade. We should start sucking up to China as we did America soon. Imagine if these highly nationalistic students bring their anti-Singapore agenda back to their highly nationalistic country back home. Our future generations will ironically be the ones blacklisted.
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If that leecher is a sweet PRC mei mei, no problem la, I can do all the work for her, she just have to pay me in kind…..muhahahahaha
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NTU is right to raise a concern. What the student who put up a website did is wrong. The student:
(1) Listed a number of individuals by name
(2) Made CLAIMS about those individuals’ moral character
(3) Did NOT substantiate those claims with proof.
Basically, this is a “he says, she says” situation. It would be just as wrong if I posted up on a website that my neighbor is a serial murderer.
Whether the student who put up the website in question should be disciplined is a more complex issue. Things that need to be raised include:
Before someone jumps the gun, I didn’t say NTU should punish the student. Whether NTU should punish the student requires other considerations like:
(1) Did the student employ NTU resources to post up the website
(2) Does NTU have a student IT use policy, and are students made aware of the policy terms?
(3) Even if (2) is no, does NTU have a student conduct policy that was violated, and if so, are students made aware that their conduct must follow those guidelines?
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So that’s Nantah’s spirit – to sweep the dirts under the carpet created by MIWs
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@Guest
Are you suggesting we accept the ugly Chinese behaviours we took a few generations to rid ourselves off just because we want their businesses? The whole world including HK, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, SE Asia, etc. is resisting unduly bad new Chinese immigrant behaviours to impact their societies. If this is xenophobia, why not! Even the Chinese government is wise enough to limit Chinese mainlanders moving to Hong Kong in case you do not notice.
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You disgust me, guest. Trying to suck up to China. Yuks!!!
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Who is the Dean of Student? Named him out.
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i agree with NTU
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I wouldn’t put too much into this “unfairness” drama.
Usually in group projects like this, we still have to interview them personally to test their involvement in the project. If the two (or more stories) don’t gel up, I won’t hesitate for a 2nd round of “interviews” and be rest assured that the coffee will get stronger…
I applaud the instructors who are able to catch all the people who plagiarize work / don’t put in effort. They are truly the people who uphold the name and integrity of the institution.
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NTU’s university ranking going to drop by a lot soon…
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@ Guest:
September 5, 2010 at 11:35 am
@ Cecil Chua:
September 5, 2010 at 12:13 pm
Are you both FONT of wisedom, ignorance or hypocrisy?
Please turn to page 7 of this Official Chinese Government document guide for foreign teachers in China ( just above the words Green Tea & Coca Cola). It is NOT my fabrication. and it reads
“The Chinese (generally) are very conceited with just cause, and most ofen find out antics & behaviour banal, inane, profane and sometimes grossly offensive”
http://www.china4u2.com/Guide_to_Jobs___Working_in_China__preview_.pdf
So instead of striking out at the messenger, look at the mirror and answer my opening question. Your inner soul should be a bit more soothing afterwards of alleged “xenophobia” and “BIGGER ISSUES” OF SOCIETY AND CULTURE IMPACTING ON US SINGAPOREANS???
BTW XENOPHOBIA EXISTS BEAUTIFULLY ONLY IN THE MINDS OF THOSE WITH SUCH CULTUREED THOUGHTS. In posting this truthful accounting, I dare said, I have shared accomodation with Chinese, Mongolian, Russian, Ecuadorean, Hong Kong nationals, Malaysian, Singjiang Turks, Nigerian and, of course, Singaporeans outside this little red dot. I don’t mind any colour as long as it is true.
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I am disappointed that there is no investigation. If there is no investigation, there will be no TRUTHS. I hope this Dean comes forward and clear this air up with his highest level of integrity instead of sweeping it under the carpet.
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isn’t PR Citizen, a local bred singaporean who is having fun provoking planned respond or actually responding to himself to generate a scence of activities here?
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What the Dean of students is doing right now is considered damage control. There is nothing much he can do, considering that the pictures have been distributed by sources (3in1 kopitiam, Temasek Review, straits times) other than the blogger. At least the blogger (whether NTU or not) have removed the website shortly after it was published in TR. Possibly never had the intention to let it be leaked outside his blog.
The Dean only expects students to refrain themselves from ranting on public forums and blogs, to avoid the damage done. Definitely, such issues would be looked upon with greater importance in NTU since it has already been exposed.
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NTU’s Dean of Students is a disgrace!
He really thinks these scum are not academic poison?
http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?t=72721
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SO CANT GIVE THEM BAD GRADES OR PENALISE THEM.
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@PR CITIZEN:
September 5, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Can I buy you coffee?
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Just some information on the previous blacklists that were even more devastating than this. The EDB released a bond breaker blacklist in the past.
http://www.singapore-window.org/804aol.htm
They had publicly went ahead to shame scholars who break their bonds. Despite some bond breakers had gone ahead to pay off their bonds, their names were still published on the newspapers. The EDB chairman at that time, Philip Yeo, insisted on publicly naming and shaming bond breakers. His rationale was that tax-payers money was used to educate them.
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@ PR CITIZEN
Yes, you are right we cannot touch FT for the time being. You are not here long enough to know what is it like to be a real Singaporean. You will always be looked upon as a leech. From the way you have commented. You are are still very foreign to us. Please do not slap us just yet after all it is us that has granted you this opportunity to share our harvest. So, is it not right that you should do some pay back, wake up, all Singaporeans has a price to pay. Please do your part stand tall be proud and pay us back. Say your new pledge now. ” I will pay you back”. By the way, will you still feel it is right if we go over to your country and rape your harvest?
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what rubbish is this? NTU is a rubbish school anyway.
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Most of these foreigners are Foreign Trash and not specialized Foreign Talents.
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I pray to Melkor, the Dark Lord of the Underworld and Hades
To bring forth Hellfire upon this cursed land and its Evil Old One
Consume him in Flames and banished him into Hell’s dungeons
For all Eternity and Forevermore.
Anon.
May he for endless Aeon be torched in Scorching Flames
This we ask. Deliver us from this Poison And Plague.
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SInce the school is out of top 100, may be they will get into top 10 with “SPECIAL SERVICE” offered by their students you see. Wow, sure alot of guys wanted to enrole there.
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Instead of investigating & rectifying the alleged abuses, NTU (“NO TALENT University”)simply brushed aside the whistle-blowers.
Like PAP, all government institutions think that no one can question them. Accountability is ZERO! They simply could not stand upright under any form of scrutiny.
All administrations in S’pore under PAPies are a JOKE!
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@anonymous:
Two wrongs don’t make a right. Let’s say a neighbor drips dirty laundry water onto my window. That doesn’t mean I have the right to shoot their laundry with my watergun filled with permanent dye.
The other thing you need to realise is that my opinions on issues are nuanced. In this case, I am NOT siding with NTU, foreigners, or anyone else. All I am stating is that the public naming and insulting of another human being with no demonstrable proof beyond “he says, she says” is wrong.
Also, when I write, I try to add something NEW to the conversation. Other individuals have already discussed the general problem of academic poisons. At no point in time have I disagreed that academic leechers, foreigner or otherwise, should be punished. In fact, I went a step further, highlighting that instructors that via their lack of action contribute to the problem should be punished as well. I highlighted the student evaluation as one means of doing this. Finally, I suggested that if a student was in the situation, the student should raise the issue to an instructor in a TIMELY manner. There’s no point complaining about a problem that’s been bugging you for 9 weeks on the last day.
I do not interpret the problem of academic leechers as a foreigner problem. I see it as a governance problem.
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They can only advise. What a stupid action by NTU to safeguard their reputation.
So next time if a lecturer kena rape by a foreign fucker, then the police will just advise the lecturer not to have an asshole in the future. And the police will probably advise the foreign fuckers not to anyhow rape people if you don’t intend to pay money in the first place.
What CRAP! Advise. It also means that they can’t be fucking bothered! Or they have no solutions to this! Or they really think that this is a minor issue! NTU, wake up your idea, otherwise even Indonesian universities will over take your place in the next 5 years!
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@ Cecil Chua:
September 6, 2010 at 2:38 am
We live in a different world and/or walk different pathways. I can’t see the “oxygen” in your cliche that “two wrongs don’t make a right”. THERE IS HONESTLY NO TWO WRONGS HERE and it is NOT an issue or relevance to race or nationalism. IT IS A DIFFERENTIATED CULTURAL GAP IMPOSSIBLE OF MEETING OF MINDS for the young blogger in question. He or she either lack or incapable of experiences that my life journey ( and maybe yours as well) walks and walking through to comprehend.
Contrary to your published thoughts, the blogger MUST NOT, in any circumstance, be sanctioned. I will comment on this point later. You are welcome to rebut most rebustly if you disagree.
I see only one wrong here WHICH I AGREED WITH YOU ABSOLUTELY as spoken poignantly in your concluding comment…” I see it as a governance problem.”
As you can see from my earlier weblink, the “cultural gap” is well and truly admitted by official sources in the Central Government of the PRC at page 7. I did NOT lie on small aorta. The Chinese knew exactly how they behaves as if of given right. You might see that as a virtue. I prefer that these values do NOT transplant into our institutions of higher learning, our culture and our society. MANY FOREIGN COUNTRIES WOULD NOT WANT THAT TOO – they are too alien and “grossly offensive” in the official words of Chinese guidance advice of adapting to China for their hordes of foreign teachers. Btw. it is some foreign experts in Shanghai who gave me the link of this stunning disclosure document. I knew what China is like from professional experiences there but I did NOT expected it to be in written “advice”.
Leaving that for a moment, the “offending” blogger is at a tertiary institution of learning. Be careful of what you do or what you want to do to disciplined this alleged “offence” and the message one transmitted. I don’t say for NTU but ALL ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS WORLDWIDE AS A GENERALITY. There is no place for the kind of authoritarian thinking your proposed of discipline or threat of discipline. In my mind, you cannot and must not manage institution of higher learning the same way you manage a prison or a corporate foreign exchange dealing room. The academia must be open, interactive, accepting of all contrary views – even unorthodox views to encourage inquisitive enquiry, questioning thoughts and a capacity to breach all OB markers and push frontiers of learning and INNOVATION. Can you sit back and reflect this reality – if I am hypothetically teaching accounting and the Vice-Chancellor came in and shouted at me – Dummy, you teach my student good accounting or I fire you!. But how is the super stupid Vice-Chancellor, auditing my teaching knows that I am teaching dud accounting. instead of Asset – libailities = shareholders funds, I tell my students Asset + liability = shareholders fund. I CONNED HIM AND CONNED MY STUDENTS!!!
I met a Chinese professor in Shanghai. He won’t failed his students unless very grudgingly. He told me something I will never forget – KNOWLEDGE IS AN EXPANDING CIRCLE – the more you learning, the more you discover you don’t know and need to find out and learn. if you failed and punished that student ruthlessly, YOU BREAK THAT CYCLE besides destroying his or her life. HOW CAN THIS LEARNED PROFESSOR BE WRONG??????
Learning is a 4 stage sequential process
- unconsciously incompetent
- consciously incompetent
- consconciously competent and finally
- unconsciously competent
When you have an authoritarian mindset in institutions of higher learning, how can you NOT disrupt that learning cycle?? I AM FURIOUS. Good students learn a lot in universities BUT THEY LEARN A LOT MORE OUTSIDE. So why that vindictiveness, retaliation and oppression on someone vocal and pushing frontiers – even if politically unpalatable to the host institutions?? YOUR SUGGESTION OF DISCIPLINARY ACTION is out of this world.
The world now is so complex, so turbulent, so intertwined of inter-disciplinary interconnectedness, and you proposed an authoritarian management governance? if you look at the practical world, A LOT OF SO CALLED YOUTHFUL ROTTEN REBELLIOUS KIND MAKE IT TO THE BEST AND THE TOP IN THE WORLD. Jack Welch jnr and Robert McNamara were street fighting kids, James Strong, the CEO or Chairman of Commonwealth Bank of Australia had far more exotic experience than academic. Richard Branson, the dare-devil entrepreneur who make it really good. How many academic can survive a day out in the corporate world and make it to global headlines? I have NOT discover one.
Globalisation and computerisation HAS NOT CHANGE education BUT IT CHANGED LEARNING. The Chinese professor told me that when he tought his lab class using PC, his students surfed porn. So does he walks around the class and randomly check and whipped with a fat cane like the good old days decade ago in teaching pre-tertiary schools those who surfed porn which he can find out from his teaching platform? He just tell them that I have got your name in my black book and if you fail my examination, don’t come crying for re-assessment of your grade. I check the black book before I will or will not agree to review your grade or give you a second chance.BUT HE SAID HE NEVER KEEP THEIR NAMES ON HIS BLACK BOOK AND IF HE DOES, HE WON’T USE IT AS A DETERRENT – only as a limited tool to encourage real learning.
IT IS POSITIVE, NOT NEGATIVE APPLICATION OF ACADEMIC POWER. I admire this young professor.
Coming back to cultural difference, it is very wide for the Singapore blogger to breach. How is China and Indian sub-continent different from us and maybe the rest of the world? Here is a sample of the differences
Chinese bought degrees
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8004911.stm
Students fake foreign status to enter China universities
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1030344/1/.html
Chinese scientists caught faking research papers
http://www.smh.com.au/world/science/chinese-scientists-caught-faking-research-papers-20100108-lyw9.html
Tell China we deal from different deck
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/in-depth/tell-china-we-deal-from-different-deck/story-e6frgah6-1225830279397
Unwritten rules rampant on Chinese campuses
“recent stabbing of a Beijing college professor over an affair with a student has lifted the lid on an academic system riddled with corruption and scandal”
“In August, renowned professor Liang Maocun, 70, of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, admitted to having sex with a female student.”
“Professors conduct academic plagiarism and parents bribe to make sure their children achieve.”
“Other unwritten rules include students having to buy books written by a professor to pass a course…”
A BIT LIKE OUR KIDS FORCED TO BUY YOG TICKET AND SUPPORTING YOG TO GET ECA POINTS – THESE ARE SYMPTOMS OF VERY SICK INSTITUTIONS AND I OBJECT FERVENTLY.
http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20091112-179459.html
SOUTH ASIAN POSTGRADUATE STUDENT S WENT ON STRIKE IN FOREIGN UNIVERSITY OVER ASSESSMENT – NEVER HAPPENED IN EDUCATIONAL HISTORY
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/cash-cow-students-take-a-brief-stand-
Corporate world disgust OF chinese business ethics
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ae64093e-b677-11df-86ca-00144feabdc0.html
foetus dumped into rivers
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/dead-babies-found-in-river-in-eastern-china/story-e6frg6so-1225847791020
food corruption
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/a-top-chinese-food-and-drug-safety-official-is-the-subject-of-a-corruption-probe/story-e6frg6so-1225879556000
renting white foreigner to deceive their own kind
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/06/29/china.rent.white.people/index.html?hpt=C2&fbid=Cd_cLKKgd2D
suicide at Foxconn
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/another-suicide-bid-at-apple-factory-20100528-wi4i.html
And in Shanghai, I lost count of a number of legal contracts I seen that foreign “experts” been duped into signing – which if they know –they would either negotiate differently and signed outside China instead ( in Hong Kong perhaps) or decline to accept. I LIVE IN A PRACTICAL WORLD.
IAM SICK OF THESE NONSENSE – NO CULTURES IN THE EAST NOR WEST BHEAVES WITH SUCH DEPRAVITY, don’t you Cecilia Chua????
THE STUDENT WHO BLOGGED THE REALITIES IN HER ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE IS TO BE COMMENDED, NOT SANCTIONED.
Any type of corruption and scams will die out under public exposure IF THINGS ARE REALLY THAT BAD OF HER PERSONAL EXPERIENCES.
LET HER PEERS AND SOCIETY BE THE JUDGE. CECILIA CHUA, YOU AND I ARE NOT THERE TO KNOW. But my personal experiences tells me the blogger is likely to be of truthful accounting. It is an eye-opener for someone like you – out of touch perhaps in the real world. I seen many beyond what I read on internet.
LET ONE FLOWER BLOSSOM, the seeds will germinate the academic world and allows that to bloom, rejuvenate and grow society for the economic and political development and future of this little red dot which you and I love dearly. I TRULY APPLAUD THE BLOGGER. THE GOVERNANCE PROBLEM IS ONE-SIDE ONLY and the fault is not the one who shared her world experiences with us. The academic world all needs a lot of soul-searching if they want to be relevant in a fast changing globalised world.
Over to you, if you want to contest robustly my thoughts.
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If native Singaporean students are not able to tolerant leechers from other countries, how are they able to work with foreigners when they graduate?
Their foreign colleagues will shamelessly take credit for things they did not do, steal their ideas and will contribute minimally to any projects.
Things are made worse if their bosses/managers are also foreigners or foreigners-turned-citizens too. They will publicly endorse their foreign subordinates’ actions and condemn native Singaporeans for being “troublemakers” and will keep saying “We work as a team!”.
You know the world is not fair. It is made even more unfair by certain people who could have done something to make things fairer… You know whom we are talking about – the guys who allow them in.
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@Hope:
September 6, 2010 at 10:38 am
You brought up a valid point of corporate survival. In the business or academic world, an organisation filled with lechers will collapse on its own weight BECAUSE THERE ARE STRONG COMPETITIVE PRESSURES. AS a generality,Japan industrial might is well fortified by a very strong base of technological ingenuity and innovative capacity and South Korean is on the same trajectory.
What about China? If you creamed out the top 10 Chinese universities, the rest is practically “rubbish”. China has maybe 300 to 500 institutions of higher learning, how many made it into the top 100 in Shanghai-Jiaotong global ranking? How many Indian university made it there in the last few years. That is telling of reality. China is the workshop of the world’s industry, anyhting indigenous of Chinese technology that is pacing the global competitive map? How about India now also aspiring to be the workshop like China but no innovation capacity to sustain global challenge? IT IS AN INDICTMENT OF THEIR EDUCATION AND GOVERNANCE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
Corporates infested with leeching worms will be eaten fast by passing birds. They won’t last. It will be in the P & L and market share depletion. I strongly believe that in the aftermath of GFC, the fork-spoon-knife economies and cultures will surge ahead again, the chopstick and hand cultures and economies will still be the dumb followers for this century unless mindset change of how we do things.If I was the CEO, leechers will disappear from my payroll so fast that sunrise and sunset is too slow – my customers and shareholders won’t wait for me. I am market and reality-driven. PINOPPI ( People-In-Need-Of-Protection-of -Protected Interests) will destroy civilisation and society faster than you think.
AND YES I AGREE WITH YOU, SINGAPORE’S POLITICAL LANDSCAPE MUST CHANGE. THERE IS NO MORE TRIAL-AND-ERROR and FIDDLING WITH PINOPPI at the margin. THE OLD WAYS OF DOING THINGS DOES NOT WORK ANYMORE.
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The Singaporean who put up the list must be identified and expelled. It should serve as a lesson to locals that xenophobia will simply not be tolerated. Foreign students come all the way form their motherland to improve the standards of this little dot, and a blacklist is what they get? Unacceptable.
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I wonder if NTU would take any action if those academic poisons happen to be local people…
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I am surprised that there is so much PRC bashing. The list is almost entirely made up of scholars from India.
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@ devil:
September 6, 2010 at 1:29 pm
The list is NOT PRC bashing. If there had been locals on the lists, would you say that racism or nationalism been in the picture? The lists identify shortcomings known to the blogger and other bloggers also seems to be “confirming” in cyberspace – there is NO MORE AND NO LESS to it.
What is happening around in global campuses is troubling, degree buying, academic blackmail, academic sleaze destroying learning environment and generally a steep decline in academic standards such that so many graduates are “competently” incompetent of basic knowledge – it is staggering. And when public money is involved – there had better be some stringency and control over accountability, academic standards and achievement of goals expected.
Cecil Chua is COMPLETELY right of his concluding comment. IT IS AN ISSUE OF GOVERNANCE. It is only racism or xenophobia in the minds of only racists. Nowhere else!!
Whilst I am critical of academic world, who can honestly say I am racist given my shared life experience with races from Asia, Australia, South America and Africa??? It is the same in the corporate and business world. Multi-nationals do business in China and Chinese investment spread globally as well, yet MNC are very critical of Chinese business conduct, does that make the MNC xenophobia against Chinese or any other race or nationality when their business is GLOBAL AND DON’T HAVE THE SAME STRANGE CULTURAL FRICTIONS elsewhere????.
Examine your inner soul and admit the truth. Things will work out well for yourself and your country’s future. No foreign investors in Australia, Canada or US received that tight scrutiny as Chinese or Indian. Japanese, South Korean, Thai, Hong Kong investment are NOWHERE REMOTELY so GLARINGLY HIGH PROFILE OF REPUTATION CONCERNS in Australia, Canada or USA or EU.
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To sensible PR. The academic poisons should be expelled. We cannot tolerate people who don’t contribute whether to the team if they are in university or to our country if they are working adults like what our PM says. FT come to Singapore to CONTRIBUTE. Otherwise why should they be allowed to share in our very very limited resources. Their places can then be given to deserving citizens.
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@ disgusted:
September 6, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Yes, those who blatantly and persistently REFUSED to make the effort and subsequently failed to make the grade, they should be expelled. Otherwise, it is unfairly denying someone else a deserving opportunity. In any case, they are unemployable outside for any reasonable length of time because they can’t deliver.
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what do you think NTU can do to these people? they are there with the blessing of the government the type of people who will make up the intellectual pool which is much needed for Singapore to progress not forward but rearward. For us citizens if we can’t make the grade they’ll chuck us out into the cold. I am really really concern for our young citizens who are capable and able to succeed.
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Hey guys …
I am a Singaporean myself and i know these “academic blacklists ” some of them r true but the way it has been portrayed is completely wrong and i feel sorry to say this but this is a clear case of racism by my own kind at my fellow friends . I am pretty sure i can get more Singaporeans to vouch for couple of guys. What i am worried is about TR’s motives of inciting racial outrage at our foreign guests. Tomorrow if someone sends testimonials about a Singaporean , will TR post it ?? I have couple of friends whom i am damn pissed at .. total smokers … would TR post it ?? i would do it right away then … i know TR wont post it because TR is here to create a racial disharmony … People get a life and stop accusing these foreigners .. If they get angry they fail u and they write about you too .. The guy behind this will face huge consequences .. so if your school life is dear to you its better you stop doing it and if you have the spine come out in the open and accuse him publically not like this hiding behind a wall.. You have professors to go complain to .. this is not the way you should go .. you have a long life young man .. dont do this and screw up your life… once expelled forever sorry
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Frnd of Indians@ you made some valid points but tell them to stop raping our harvests. Tell them to go back home if they refused to behave themself nor adapt to the culture and the way of Singapore. Also I find native indians mostly, not all but majority lazy and rude. More are caught for rape/molestations. In the recent years, rape and molestations cases were down because singaporeans are truely scared of rotan cane and thus well behaved.
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@BoBo
Comparing Indians to rapist/molestors is a very racist comment. The article here is talking about Foreign/Indian students here who don’t put in effort. Unless you can prove that there are indeed credible sources to prove that their students are involved in such crimes, else it’s really bad to generalized them due to the few molestation cases that are caused by their fellow countrymen.
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Anon@ Native indians are mostly pervert. I have met some of them back in india. They keep pestering me for sex. of course I rejected them. You don’t need proof because you are probably a guy. If you are a lady, you will be pestered by them all the time. I am not saying indians are pervert but mostly natives are due to lack of social interaction in modern city since they grew up in rural areas. Even students who are native indians can be one of them though they act innocent. Just ask any ladies who know groups of native indians, they will tell you the same thing. otherwise why pap wants to bring 40k bangladesh females, which was discussed publicity last month.
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Anon@ I am saying that native indians were caught for molestation/rape as it was highlighted in straits times. I am not refering to FT students. I would like to highlight you the facts that native indians face great discrimination in Australia which resulted in loss of lives for them during the riot period last year. Police had to be called in to stop the attacks on native indians. Why are the chinese, vietnamese, thais are not targeted for discrimination. you know the answer is very obvious even though there is no proof. The only proof is your eyes which see the way how native indians interact and behave in the society since they were brough up in the rural areas, lacking social etique. This is clearly demostrated by the foreign indian students, leading to discrimination in spore. ntive indians like to pester for sex and chinese women mostly do not want to be near them as they are getting lack of respects.
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Put it in the hole like tiger woods haha Trey does it again
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I’m forced to come here because the Straits Times discussion board is closed.
The root of the problem is in mixing up teaching and research. Good teachers need not be good researchers. Conversely, good researchers may not be good teachers. International university rankings currently in vogue are based on criteria which combine both: relative weightings may vary. Instead, these rankings should be split into two: one ranking for teaching and another for research. Why should the two be mixed?
At the undergraduate level, what matters most is the quality of teaching. At NTU, where my daughter is now studying (an undergraduate), teachers (whether professors or lecturers or tutors) seem to be driven by staff performance measures which favour the publishing of papers (which in turn are rated according to their subsequent citations), more so than actual teaching or supervising / guiding of students in their laboratory work. In the first place, laboratory experiments are often not aligned with the lessons in theory, thus leading to a situation whereby experiments may have to be performed and reported upon even before the relevant theory has been covered in the lectures! The supervision of lab work is left to PhD students (mostly from China and India). Most of those from China cannot speak English that is understandable, not even by my daughter’s Chinese classmates. So she is forced to rely on her classmates to help translate what is being said better in Mandarin! There are lecturers who are total failures in the classroom, either because they struggle trying to express themselves in English or they merely read out from the lecture notes (which the students are themselves fully capable of reading). They seem to have not heard of Feynman’s famous stipulation of the purpose of a lecture: to illuminate. On the other hand, my daughter has also talked about some excellent foreign lecturers from China, India, Japan, New Zealand and UK.
If only the NTU administration had cared to carefully analyse the feedbacks it has been receiving from students about problems in teaching and supervision (of lab works, projects and such), the deterioration could have been stopped much earlier.
I will finish by reiterating my key point: do not mix up teaching and research. We now know better of how credit rating agencies abetted the global financial crisis. Let’s not allow these western models of university ranking lure Asia away from the need to first get the basics right. Let’s first aim to build up world class teaching institutes (at the undergraduate and Masters level). Singapore should first distinguish itself in the quality of teaching, and then in the much more dicey area of research. These teaching institutes can draw upon the research institutes for special lectures by appropriate researchers, but again only those who can make themselves understandable! The teaching and research institutes may even constitute two wings of the same university, but resourced, managed and driven differently. I hope this suggestion will be taken up so that at least future generations of undergraduates will benefit.
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@ Parent:
September 19, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Your statement below might shock non-believers but it is TRUE.
“There are lecturers who are total failures in the classroom, either because they struggle trying to express themselves in English or they merely read out from the lecture notes (which the students are themselves fully capable of reading)”
And there may be a cultural dimension to that. I have friends who are PRCs academic and I have friends whose children graduated from Chinese universities. And yes, many local Chinese lecturers walk into the class, read page 24 to page XYZ until the bell rings and he or she closed the class and walks out. My PRC friends kids told me that is usual and it was also confirmed by a “young” PRC professor now teaching in one of the top 12 Chinese university but he is different. Why?? He got his PHD from a top Canadian university and taught in universities in North America, so he prepared his lecture and talked of his head literally instead of reading textbook back to his students who could do the same but would otherwise just fell asleep in “polite” silence.
And yes, I agree with you completely that “good” researcher are not necessarily “good” lecturers and good lecturers are not necessarily good researchers but it is hard to fund research without contribution from teaching efforts.
I think the real “solution” is to vet them at point of recruitment and if they do not perform, terminate them after the semester. Good lecturers, I believe, as you said, is able to “illuminate” and may I say, get their students to think and “mentally walk” the lecture as the lecturer progress from one concept to another and linking them in a chain of informed and illuminating thoughts.
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When Pakistani official Ijaz Butt suggests that England cricket players threw the last match in return for bribes, is he talking out of his Butt? LOL!!
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