I was at a NUS Master of Intellectual Property Management seminar yesterday, executing an inquiry into whether it is worthwhile to invest in a Masters degree.
And I was appalled when I read the application checklist.
"A financial statement indicating a total of at least S$12,000 or equivalent".
And verbally, it was mentioned that one must pay NUS the entire course fees before the course starts.
I had started this line of inquiry because one appeared to have the possibility of becoming a patent agent. And hence, I enquired on ROI and how long it would take to recover the investment. It turned out none of them was well equipped to answer the question. They're not aware what is the average or minimum monthly salary of a person who graduates from the course, because, no one has graduated from the course yet, as the first intake of the course was in Aug 2006. That is logical, but wouldn't one be aware of how much a person who works in the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore earns, at the minimum?
Hmm, I might as well have been talking to Indians. I had not commented so, but it would appear to be lots of "smoke and fire" to me.
In any case, it is my opinion that collecting the entire sum of course fees before a course starts makes NUS no less mercenary than con-men who demands to be paid before they provide their products or services.