Research

Born in a small, poor fishing village, Lee Kuan Yew made Singapore one of the strongest “Asian Dragons”, with a GNP in the top five in the world. In addition to his innate strength of character and intelligence, Lee Kuan Yew deserves the epithet “giant” of Asia for his courage and decisiveness in tailoring policies to develop Singapore, which is the dream of many other countries. Because of the way he founded and nurtured Singapore, the former Prime Minister has become a unique example for other nations and businesses. To gain a deeper understanding and find out how we can apply the same dedication to education, DTU organized the seminar “Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew, What Can DTU Learn?” on April 20th, with the participation of many staff and lecturers.

International Collaboration and Meritocracy

Associate Professor Nguyen Ngoc Minh, DTU Vice-Provost, gave an overview of Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore over the past fifty years. Lee Kuan Yew was widely admired internationally. Under his leadership, the island nation of a mere 700 km², with a population of 5.4 million and no mineral resources or fresh water at all, became a developed country with a GDP of $120 billion and an average per capita income of over $60,000 per year in 2013. The Singaporeans enjoy a quality of life on a par with that of Japan and countries in Europe and North America.

Dr. Minh said: “To achieve success, Lee Kuan Yew applied many strategies, such as a foreign policy based on a broad and deep vision of the world, wrestling serious problems and finally solving them, always fostering education, being consistent when making choices, being tough at work but sensitive in life, battling corruption and setting policies to create, foster, and attract talent. In a way, there are parallels in his efforts to build a prestigious image for Singapore and the way that DTU has been implementing policies to develop into a strong university over the past twenty years. Among them, DTU has been “feeling the pulse” of the world today by initiating international collaborations to improve education. The American and British universities that closely collaborate with DTU today have brought new strengths that will create major advances in Vietnam in the near future.”

In the same vein, Professor Vu Xuan Quang, Director of the DTU Institute for Research and Development, affirmed: “Apart from his acumen and sharp wit in managing specific issues in the growth of the country, the fight against corruption, and attaining ethnic harmony, Lee Kuan Yew always strived for expansion in many different directions of Singapore’s development, all at the same time, from economic development to the creation of a healthier and cleaner working environment for his citizens. In particular, Lee Kuan Yew really cared about the survival of his country, and so he collaborated with nations of similar political orientation and military and economic strength to increase Singapore’s internal powers and enjoy the support of nations worldwide.”

Known as the “Strong Lion”, not only in Southeast Asia, each aspect of Lee Kuan Yew’s life will incite our emotions and influence our personal decision-making. Using a different approach, Mr. Tran Hong Phong, Dean of the DTU Faculty of Political Science, aims to gain an understanding into the ways that the founding father fought the resentment of his enemies. Lee Kuan Yew thoroughly created special economic mechanisms to ensure that he would never meet obstacles when fighting budding corruption. At the same time he also built a highly-modern defense system for his citizens, with the support of other developed countries.

Dr. Le Nguyen Bao, DTU Vice-Provost, gave his deep appreciation for the former Prime Minister’s strategies, at each stage of Singapore’s development, of concentrating all his resources to focus successfully on very specific goals. Apart from gaining renown as a major seaport, Singapore rapidly fulfilled other subsequent objectives, becoming the center of both Southeast Asian education and finance. Then, after that, Singapore has become a center for medicine, tourism and recreation. In order to reach those objectives, Lee Kuan Yew enacted special preferential policies to attract talent from all over the world. Just like Singapore, DTU has set specific goals in each phase of its development, in order to attain the best possible results. DTU is currently expanding international collaboration to improve its educational quality. Together with its partnerships in the US, UK, Singapore and elsewhere, to gain access to new training programs and send its students abroad to study, DTU also has a policy to attract talented  professors and PhDs who are graduates of renowned universities all over world, from the US, Russia, France, Germany, Canada, Korea, Belgium and so on. A skilled team of lecturers and researchers will provide a strong foundation from which DTU will be able to realize its current targets and turn its objectives towards a broader vision.

Education and Human Interest

“For the people to break through, education must break through,” affirms Dr Doan Hong Le, Director of the DTU Center of Socioeconomic Research, having thoroughly researched the life of the former Prime Minister. Singapore’s founding father very efficiently realized this ideal by offering students new opportunities, creating directions for the development of freshmen and appointing talented people to the country’s well-paid key positions. Lee Kuan Yew trusted in and awakened the aspirations of young intellectuals who then contributed to major breakthroughs in education, spurring Singapore to become as strong as it is today.

Dr. Phan Ngoc Thu, DTU Vice-Provost and Chief Editor of DTU’s Journal of Science and Technology, said: “As a progressive Confucianist, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew harmoniously joined western philosophy with eastern wisdom in his management of the country. Even though they use different research and evaluation methodologies, these two teachings both stress the role of the individual, the importance of the person. One has to realize that people are all imperfect and deficient and that they should never stop learning how to lead a better life. Over the last 20 years, DTU has also dedicated its efforts into improving the lives of its staff and lecturers and to win people’s trust in its road to “cultivate the people”. This was something worth considering for a leading private university in Central Vietnam, and it has to be harnessed even more.”

The seminar closed with the short but the very meaningful and enthusiastic words of Distinguished Teacher Le Cong Co, DTU President and Provost. He said: “It is not an accident that former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s state funeral was held at the National University of Singapore. That is Lee Kuan Yew’s message to us, the absolute faith in the power emanating from universities. It is there that most preeminent people and the most influential research develop. Furthermore, statistics indicate that many of the outstanding students and workers in Singapore are Vietnamese. That is a valuable lesson to be contemplated when assessing Vietnamese talent. Learning from former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, DTU is also doing its utmost in the formation of teams to improve education. A stormy new era of change and development in all sectors will be a challenge to all of us in education, including DTU. Nonetheless, with its special achievements over the past 20 years of construction and development, DTU will always strive, according to the motto “The Duy Tan Dream: International Collaboration, Broadening our Intellect for a Brighter Future, Marching into the World” for a better future.”

(Media Center)