The past three months have been busy for the IRS. In addition to opening an office with its Singaporean partner - Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), we were joined by a new Programme Director plus the first cohort of 54 students studying on the BA in Retail Marketing degree.

The Retail Marketing degree programme is offered under the Ministry of Education’s Polytechnic Foreign Specialised Institution (FSI) initiative. This scheme was established to meet the growing and diverse needs of the Singapore economy. The University of Stirling will be the only provider of undergraduate retail education in Singapore under this initiative.

Students with a relevant Polytechnic degree enter straight into Year Three of the University degree programme. What makes the BA in Retail Marketing even more unique, is that all teaching is conducted in Singapore. Lectures are held at the NYP campus where students attend lectures and have full access to all facilities. The programme is also designed to allow students to spend a semester in Stirling (and vice versa). Not only do academic staff travel regularly to the region, the IRS now have staff permanently based in Singapore.