Spending education dollars wisely

In America, many college graduates chalk up a study loan of US$30,000 and could not find a job. The amount of bad student loans is becoming another problem for the banks.

In Singapore, the local students are able to get subsidised education in the polytechnics and universities, so a large part of the cost is borne by tax payers. However, the students are also worried about their ability to find a suitable jobs.

We face a different type of problem in Singapore. There is high job hopping, during good times. It is wasteful for employers to hire local workers, train them and lose their services in a year or less. Another source of wastefulness is that many young workers do not work in the area of study. For example, many engineers work as insurance or property agents!

We need a better system of  managing our education dollars and fitting students into the right jobs, so that their education and skills are put to good use. This is how a competent and productive workforce is developed. Our current approach is quite wasteful.