What you should know about Singapore
Singapore is an island country located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula At 707.1 km 2 (273.0 sq mi), Singapore is one of four remaining city states in the world and the smallest nation in Southeast Asia. Foreign direct investment and a state-led drive to industrialization have created a modern economy focused on electronics manufacturing, petrochemicals, tourism and financial services Singapore is the 6th wealthiest country in the world in terms of GDP per Capita. Its population of ca 5mio is highly cosmopolitan and diverse, ethnic Chinese form the majority of the population. English is the administrative language of the country. Singapore has a successful and transparent market economy, Government linked companies are dominant in various sectors of the local economy. Singapore has consistently been rated as the least corrupt country in Asia. and among the world's ten most free from corruption by transparency International
Singapore has a highly developed market-based economy. The economy depends heavily on exports refining imported goods. Manufacturing constituted 26% of Singapore's GDP in 2005. The manufacturing industry is well-diversified into electronics, petroleum refining, chemicals, mechanical engineering and biomedical sciences manufacturing. Singapore is the busiest port in the world in terms of tonnage shipped and the world's fourth largest foreign exchange trading centre after London, New York and Tokyo.
Singapore has been rated as the most business-friendly economy in the world, with thousands of foreign expatriates working in multi national corporations. The city-state also employs tens of thousands of foreign blue-collared workers around the world. In the past 10 years Singapore’s economy grew fast and steady and for 2008 a solid growth is again expected, supported by 14 bilateral and multilateral trade agreements: Employment continued to grow strongly in this period The per capita GDP in 2006 was US$29,474.
Singapore is a popular travel destination, making tourism one of its largest industries. About 9.7 million tourists visited Singapore in 2006. To attract even more tourists, the government decided to legalize gambling and to allow two casino resorts Cuisine has also been heavily promoted as an attraction for tourists, with the Singapore Food Festival organized annually in July to celebrate Singapore's cuisine.
Singapore is also fast positioning itself as a medical tourism hub — about 200,000 foreigners seek medical care in the country each year and Singapore medical services aim to serve one million foreign patients annually by 2012 and generate USD 3 billion in revenue. The government expects that the initiative could create an estimated 13,000 new jobs within the health industries.
English is the first language learned by half the children by the time they reach preschool age and is the primary medium of instruction in primary school; however other tongues are taught in the respective languages. Many children attend private kindergartens until they start at primary school at the age of six. Singapore's ruling political party, the PAP, is a big provider of preschool education through its community arm.
English is the language of instruction for mathematics and the natural sciences. For the Chinese community, there are Special Assistance Plan schools which receive extra funding to teach in Mandarin. Some schools also integrate language subjects with mathematics and the sciences, using both English and a second language.
Curricular standards are set by the Ministry Education with a mix of private schools and public schools. There are four state Universities in Singapore
Junior colleges like Tampines Junior College and Millenia Institute provide a two or three-year pre-university education route to university. An alternative, the Integrated Program, lets the more academically-inclined skip 'O' levels to proceed straight to 'A' levels. Polytechnics offer courses leading to a diploma for students as a substitute for 'A' levels while tertiary institutions offer various bachelor's, master's, doctoral degrees, other higher diplomas, and associate degree courses. The Economic Development Board (EDB) has been actively recruiting foreign schools to set up campuses in Singapore under the "Global Schoolhouse" program which aims to attract 150000 foreign students by 2015. Insead, a leading business school, opened its first overseas campus here in 2001, while ESSEC Business School, a century-old Parisian business school, provide courses specific to Asia. University of Chicago Graduate School of Business has a campus here as well. Tisch School of the Arts was the latest to set up a branch campus here in 2007.
The official languages are English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil. English has been promoted as the country's language of administration since its independence. The use of English became widespread in Singapore after it was implemented as a first language medium in the education system. Since the 1990s, the government has been striving to promote Singapore as a centre for arts and culture, and to transform the country into a cosmopolitan gateway between the East and West'. An annual arts festival is also organized by the National Arts Council that incorporates theatre arts, dance, music and visual arts, among other possibilities.
The architecture of Singapore is varied, reflecting the ethnic build-up of the country. Singapore has several ethnic neighbourhoods, including Chinatown and Little India. Singapore ’s international network is exciting as the town has the biggest port in all ASEAN countries and its airport has a network of 81 airlines connecting Singapore to 185 cities in 58 countries. It has been rated as the world's best airport for the first time in 2006 by Skytrax.. The national carrier is Singapore Airlines (SIA). The government is moving towards privatising Changi airport.
