Dhiraj Sinha:

A university’s reputation is built around factors like academic course structure, career opportunities, research output and the presence of alumni in reputed organizations among several other factors.

Singaporean universities are ranked high in some international rankings, but it may not linearly translate into an equivalent level of career opportunities for the students. For example, if a student wants to work at the Intel’s chip fabrication plant in Portland, a degree from a local university in Oregon or some other university in the USA will offer a higher level of opportunity in comparison to a degree from Singapore.

Another key aspect of Singaporean universities is that, they started investing in research seriously, only in the last 20 years. Prior to that, research was not a high priority for them. The result is that, you would not find many alumni from the universities in Singapore as CEOs of global companies or as faculty members in leading universities of the world. Currently, there are some groups in NUS and NTU, which are well known internationally and their reputation is slowly finding traction. But the density of original inventions and discoveries with their origins in Singapore still remains relatively low in comparison to many universities in the West, whose overall rankings are low.

The third aspect is the universities in Singapore are still working hard to translate their education and research output into entrepreneurial ventures. The number of companies with global footprints with their origins in Singaporean universities are not that high. In contrast, you will find that apparently unknown universities in many countries in the USA, UK and elsewhere, have been cradles for great technologies and companies.

The fourth important aspect is the hot and humid weather of Singapore is something which even Singaporean do not admire much. They are keen to spend some time in cold countries.

To sum up, in a school setting, there could be a linear relationship between marks which you get and your knowledge and admission prospects in future. The linearity breaks down completely in the context of a higher education, where, international rankings may not have a direct relationship to job, career prospects and overall student experience.

Jeff Raghav:

Originally Answered: Why do Singaporeans prefer to go to the UK for university instead of better ones in the US?

Firstly as other answers have said, it is a lot easier to gain admission into top UK universities if you just have good grades and have taken relevant subjects to your course. Your personal statement just has to demonstrate why you want to take your course, which is easier for people who already know what they want to do.

For US universities you usually gain entrance into the Department you want your course in or just the college itself, so admission is based on academics AND your extracurricular activities, which don’t necessarily have to be in the course you want, making admission a lot more competitive for top US universities.

Secondly, UK degrees tend to be just focused on the course you’re studying and nothing else(though there are some other degree options that are more flexible) where as in the U.S it tends to be either liberal arts or your major with a bunch of electives. This makes some UK Bachelor degrees shorter by one year, which can be preferable when you want to save money(international fees are high everywhere and Singaporeans are savers not spenders).And some people know exactly what they want to do and don’t want to bother with electives, so this is obviously preferable for them.

And as others have said, the cost of getting a degree at a top UK uni is usually much cheaper, sometimes half the cost of getting a degree at a top US uni.

Anonymous:

Originally Answered: Why do Singaporeans prefer to go to the UK for university instead of better ones in the US?

These questions have been asked to death on Quora, for whatever reason.

To put it simply, getting a degree in the U.K. is a lot cheaper than getting an American degree. And students can always take advantage of the superior resources and training of U.S universities by applying for funded graduate programmes. Most American PhD programmes are funded while it is not necessarily the case in the U.K.

Mel Chen:

Originally Answered: Why do Singaporeans prefer to go to the UK for university instead of better ones in the US?

Is USA universities better? How?

I have my degree from USA and 2 masters from Canada, which is very much like USA. I can tell you, North America is far too easy, when I compare notes from my friends from UK.

Mind you, the math at UK O-level, which is equal to grade 10 in the north American, is far more difficult than University first year.

In Chemistry, UK O-Level started doing equation in the molecules at sec 3, which is grade 9 for north American system, which the North American only doing it in grade 12.

Go check it out before talking about which university is better.

BTW, do you know the differences between UK and US degrees? If not, ask me, I will explain them to you in details.

Marsha Brightly:

What is the TOP university in Singapore ; NUS or NTU

QS and Times Ranking factor arent enough to beat up Singapore Universities in world wide
How could you compare Singapore Univ. who dont have any Nobel Laureates alumni with NOT-SO-GOOD univ.
A lot Univ est. more than 500 years that has been graduated great influential people in their field rather than Baby university that found in early 1900
do not over proud to University Ranking that the score Based on un - measurement factor like Reputation etc. because it can be manipulated by order

Anonymous:

Originally Answered: Why do Singaporeans prefer to go to the UK for university instead of better ones in the US?

Top US universities, while qualitatively better, are ridiculously expensive. Living costs are also much more expensive in the US. Also, it is much harder for Singaporeans to be admitted to top US universities compared to top UK universities because Singaporeans take the Cambridge A-Levels. UK universities are also much more willing to accept a student merely based on his A-Level results whereas at a school like MIT, it is inadequate.

That being said, I don't know if Singaporeans actually collectively prefer to attend UK universities. There are many Singaporeans at top US universities as well. As far as graduate school is concerned, one would be insane to do their PhD at a UK university (even at Oxford and Cambridge). So I figure most Singaporean with overseas PhDs would've gotten them from US departments.

Soo Kwok Heng:

Because the government seems to prefer sending its top scholars to overseas universities. An influential trickle-down effect.

Anonymous:

*I’m assuming your definition of “not-so-good” universities in the UK/US refers to Oxbridge-reject schools such as UCL, LSE, KCL, Imperial, Exeter, Manchester, Liverpool etc, and any university with the word “state” in it in the US.

Many Singaporeans apply for very competitive courses at NUS/SMU/NTU but not all get in. The failure in being admitted to law and medicine is a huge push factor for many Singaporeans to study at second-tier British universities and universities in Australia. Other than Oxford and Cambridge, I don’t see any university in the UK as being better than NUS/NTU/SMU.

There are no undergraduate law or medicine programs in the US, so for Singaporeans who attend schools third-rate schools in the US, they must have been rejected to everywhere else. Many American state universities have criteria so low, that I’ve personally seen people with O-levels get admitted. Popular destinations are Ohio State University, Louisiana State University, CSU, CUNY, SUNY, and other rubbish American universities.

Singaporean students who go to America are usually interested in graduate school (not always true but that’s my understanding). For graduate school, it is not a wise move to do your undergraduate work at a local university because top American graduate departments do not rate Singapore universities highly, contrary to what MOE tells us.

This friend I know from Hwa Chong Junior College who attended UCSB because it was one of the only two universities he applied to, the other being UCLA. He didn’t apply to anywhere else because he couldn’t be bothered as he was planning to go to graduate school.

He picked UCSB over UCLA, having been accepted to both, saying he liked Santa Barbara better. He is now doing his PhD at Stanford.

Reason: it is always better to be a big fish in a small pond in America. In a country with 300 million people, you need to stand out to succeed.

Additionally, those who go overseas are a very small percentage of the graduating JC population. These people are rich and they can afford to make such choices. If I had money, I would not have attended NUS, because even with a First-Class from NUS, I was rejected at every graduate school in America I applied to.

I then did an MA in America, and got admitted to UPenn for my PhD.

It’s just not the same to study in Singapore. I guess it’s fine if you’re just after a job. But if you’re after prestige and a PhD, NUS will get you nowhere.

Tim Reynolds:

Originally Answered: Why do Singaporeans prefer to go to the UK for university instead of better ones in the US?

Why go to the US where you have to spend a fortune on health insurance and are likely to get shot. Better to go to a civilised country.