Global aspirations and local talent: the development of creative higher education in Singapore

This paper explores higher education development and policy shifts inSingapore over the last decade, within a landscape of an increasingly globalisedcreative economy and international cultural policy transfer. Using qualitativeinterviews with key players in policy and higher education institutions, thepaper aims to explain the push and pull factors behind investment in creativehigher education. It considers the emerging dynamics and diverse patterns,embedded in a society where higher education interactions with economicdevelopment have a long history and pragmatic rationale. While still in theearly days of these investments, the paper argues that there are some globalpolicy lessons to be learnt from the case of Singapore and the role that highereducation can play in developing a creative economy, while striving toovercome issues of over-supply and innate vulnerability of creative careers.