Singapore to help Honduras set up economic zones

Singapore will help Honduras set up special economic zones (SEZs) in the Central American country under an agreement signed yesterday.

The Honduran economy is based mainly on agriculture but it plans to develop SEZs in various locations and wants to utilise Singapore's expertise in establishing these areas.

The first step was taken when the Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with visiting Honduran officials, including President Porfirio Lobo.

It will involve the SCE working with private and public sectors here in collaboration with the Honduras government.

They will undertake feasibility studies to identify potential SEZ sites and plan their development.

Singapore will also help out with advice on best practices in areas of governance and commerce for the export-oriented zones.

The SCE is an agency jointly set up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Trade and Industry to respond to the many requests from overseas to tap on Singapore's development experience.

Financial Times ranks 2 Singapore MBA programmes among top 35

The National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School's MBA programme achieved 23rd position in the latest ranking of the top 100 full-time global MBA programmes by the London-based business newspaper, Financial Times (FT).

This is the programme's highest-ever rating by a major agency and the highest FT ranking ever achieved by any Singapore MBA programme. The NUS MBA was ranked 35th in 2009 but was left out last year due to a technicality.

The MBA programme of the Nanyang Business School (NBS) - part of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) - also made the honour roll but fell six spots from last year's 27th place to the 33rd.

Its MBA alumni, however, had the highest average salaries among those who attended programmes here.

Measured three years after graduation, the NBS alumni have an average salary of US$104,952 (S$134,000), trumping by a slim margin the NUS Business School's US$100,456.

It was also ranked 69th in The Economist's Top 100 MBA ranking last year, making it the highest-ranked here.

NUS' post-MBA salary increase of its graduates stood at 140 per cent, compared with the 125 per cent for the 22 higher-ranked schools.

This means that a student's pre-MBA salary of, for example, $45,000 would have jumped 140 per cent to $108,000 three years after graduation.

Over 90% of Singaporeans happy with quality of life

Commissioned by Reach, the Government's feedback arm, the survey last year saw more than 90 per cent of the 2,013 respondents express satisfaction with their overall quality of life, compared to 2009.

When asked if they were satisfied with the way Singapore was being run, 96 per cent of respondents, who were aged 17 and above, said 'yes'.

A high percentage were also satisfied with the Government's economic policies, the quality of the public service, their living environment and issues such as the education system.