The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy celebrates its fifth anniversary

04 Sep 2009

The success of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) owes a lot to the founding fathers of Singapore, whose legacy of principles, policies and institutions continue to amaze and often inspire the rest of the world. Dean of the LKYSPP Prof Kishore Mahbubani was speaking at a gala dinner to mark the school's fifth anniversary on 2 September 2009. The event was graced by Guest-of-Honour Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. Some 800 guests including government ministers, ambassadors, business and civil-society leaders, the School's governing board, faculty and students attended the gala dinner held at the Shangri-la Hotel.

During the dialogue session with MM Lee, some of the issues raised at the session included the reasons behind the failures in governance which led to the global financial crisis, governance in India and China as well as lessons for developing countries.

At the gala dinner, Prof Mahbubani announced that former United Nations Secretary-General and Nobel Laureate Kofi Annan will be appointed as the first Li Ka Shing Professor, a professorship created following the donation of S$100 million by Dr Li Ka-shing in 2007. Mr Annan's appointment will take place in early 2010.

On the School's fund-raising efforts, the LKYSPP Dean said: "With the help of Mr Wong Ngit Liong, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of NUS, and Prof Tan Chorh Chuan, President of NUS, we set a target of raising S$5 million for this fifth anniversary."

He added: "I am pleased to announce today that the LKYSPP has raised S$16.5 million. After including the Government's matching grants, we would have raised S$33 million, far exceeding our initial target. We have also received pledges for new scholarships to the School."

Within five years, LKYSPP has grown in many aspects. The School first started with 40 students from a few countries, offering only two Masters Programmes. It now has some 300 students hailing from over 40 countries enrolled in three Masters programmes and a PhD programme. In addition, more than 800 public officials are trained each year through the Executive Education programmes.

Recognising LKYSPP's achievements, the School was the first Asian school to have been admitted to the Global Public Policy Network set up by the School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University, the London School of Economics and Sciences Po, Paris. Over the years, LKYSPP's traditional partnership with the Harvard Kennedy School has also grown in strength.

Adding to the success of the School, LKYSPP now has five research centres to study Asia's role and contribution to globalisation, as well as the issue of national competitiveness in Asia. The five research centres are the Asia Competitiveness Institute, Centre for Asia and Globalisation, Institute of Policy Studies, Institute of Water Policy and the Information + Innovation Policy Research Centre.

In the span of five years, prominent figures who have graced the School and shared their insights include MM Lee, Tony Blair, Thomas Friedman, Paul Kagame, Ma Ying-jeou, Douglass North, Amartya Sen and Robert Zoellick.