Aug 2, 2006, 11:57 GMT
Singapore - The University of Nevada at Las Vegas opened a branch campus in Singapore Wednesday for students eager for a career in the hospitality industry and with an eye on two casino resorts planned in the city-state.
Well-known in the United States for its hotel-management courses, the university is the first among niche institutions to set up in Singapore under a government push to make specialized education available.
Noting that the university also chose to site its first overseas campus in the city-state, Minister for Manpower Ng Eng Hen said the school was reaching out to the 'broader base of students' in the Asian region along with Singaporeans.
'The campus will further develop our goal to be a global schoolhouse,' Ng said at the opening ceremony.
Branches of 16 leading foreign universities are already located in the city-state with 70,000 international students.
'We are on track to attract 150,000 international students by 2015,' Ng said. Reaching the goal would hike the education sector's contribution to Singapore's gross domestic product to 5 per cent.
The newest campus has filled 33 of its 50 undergraduate places, and its master's programme has taken three students so far.
In a drive to increase its slice of the Asian tourism pie, Singapore lifted a long-standing ban on casino gambling in 2005. The two casino resorts to be completed in 2009 were expected to generate 35,000 jobs.
Tuition at the University of Nevada, at about 23,000 Singapore dollars (14,556 US dollars) per year, is four times the amount at local universities but comparable to other foreign universities with branches in the city-state, such as the University of New South Wales.
Wednesday's opening ceremony included a traditional dragon dance and rolling pineapples and oranges for luck. Among those attending was US Ambassador Patricia Herbold.
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