Education and human capital management in a world city: The case of Singapore

Abstract

There is considerable evidence to suggest that the human capital needs of the world city differ from what Robinson calls "ordinary cities" or what Markusen and associates term as "second tier cities". This path is blazed most notably in the field of world cities and the flow of skilled labour, in the work by Sassen and with case examples (finance, law, accountancy) provided in the work by Beaverstock and his associates. This focuses on producer services and migration flows needs to be matched by an accompanying look at city-based strategies. This paper represents an attempt to provide this by providing a case history analysis of Singapore in three stages of growth - as port city, industrial city and as world city - in order to show how the evolving infrastructure associated with human capital (education, immigration and labour policies) allows human capital to be developed, attracted, harnessed, deployed, released and retained. © 2011 National Institute of Education, Singapore.