Rupture and adaptation: British technical expertise to the Singapore Polytechnic and the transition to a nation-state |
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| Authors: | Loh Kah Seng |
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| Institution: | Institute for East Asian Studies, Sogang University, Seoul, South Korea |
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| Abstract: | The Singapore Polytechnic underwent a period of both rupture and adaptation as British advisers worked with the post-colonial government to facilitate technical education reform and Singapore’s transition to a nation-state. Established in 1958 and based on the metropolitan model, the Singapore Polytechnic constituted an imperial project for orderly development and decolonisation. It encountered criticisms from nationalists for its colonial links and a brief period of conflict between the advisers and the post-colonial People’s Action Party (PAP) government, underlining colonial Singapore’s uneven transition to its post-colonial future. However, the PAP quickly repaired its relationship with the advisers to plan the next phase of the Polytechnic’s development into a technical university in the 1960s. Unlike many other cases, the history of the Singapore Polytechnic suggests that technical experts, while tied to political interests, did not always fail. |
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| Keywords: | Britain Singapore decolonisation development polytechnic |
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