In Venturing abroad, S’pore students should not look too far

Summary: In the lecture that was held earlier last month, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong stated that in order to sustain Singapore’s economic growth, we need two wings like a bird. The domestic wing and the external wing. One cannot do without the other. Media reports that many students from SMU, Ngee Ann Poly and NTU has tried to apply for internships not locally but overseas. Mr Goh Chok Tong emphasizes that although Singapore’s domestic market is too small to warrant many senior local positions, Singapore has been remarkably successfully in wooing multinationals to locate their regional headquarters in Singapore.

Opinion: In my opinion, these students are willing to go out despite the risk of going for an internship overseas. Although Singapore’s Senior Minister Mr Goh Chok Tong emphasizes that we must have our internship in Singapore, I find that there are not many business opportunities locally so I find it very logical why many local students from NTU, SMU will go overseas to look for jobs and be a permanent resident there. As you can see how many senior managers are local. Mostly from other countries such as Malaysia, China, Philippines and even Myanmar people are taking up these jobs and not leaving any for local.