As the first Dean of the new Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY School), I am pleased to welcome you to our website. I hope you will visit us regularly and review our progress as we strive to develop a premier School of Public Policy perceived as a centre of excellence for academic study and research in the areas of public policy and public management.

The world has not fully recovered from the Great Recession of 2007-2009. We will debate for a long time its fundamental causes. And we will eventually learn many valuable lessons from this enormous financial crisis.

One lesson, however, clearly stands out. We now know that in addition to the invisible hand of free markets, we also need the visible hand of good governance. It was a mistake to believe that markets always know best. This clearly means that schools of public policy have become a sunrise enterprise again. Young people who want to make a difference and create a better world have to seriously consider public policy education.

The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy offers many advantages. Established in 2004, it has grown rapidly from 40 students to 400 students, from approximately 50 nations. It offers a global classroom, which provides the ideal setting to understand the common challenges we face with globalisation.

The School also offers unique insights into the Asian public policy experience at a time when the world has recognised that the 21st century will be the Asian century. This is the place to network with future generations of Asian leaders. The faculty excels in both teaching and research.

The School’s learning environment is further enhanced by a steady stream of distinguished speakers, which has included Tony Blair, Paul Kagame, senior Chinese and Indian ministers, Robert Zoellick, and Nobel Laureates Amartya Sen, Douglass North, Elinor Ostrom and Kofi Annan.

Our network of international partners has also grown. In addition to our long-standing collaboration with the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), we were the first Asian school to join the Global Public Policy Network, established by Columbia University’s SIPA, the LSE, and Sciences Po, Paris. This gives our Master in Public Policy students the opportunity to pursue double degrees with any of these three schools. We were also the first institution to establish a double degree with the University of Tokyo since its founding in 1877.

Finally, the world has come to recognise that Singapore provides one of the best public policy laboratories in the world. Many independent international surveys confirm that several of Singapore’s public policies are among the best-performing in the world.

No other school offers this unique collection of advantages. Young people who dream of creating a better world are invited to join us at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

We at the School are excited by the opportunities that lie ahead. We are convinced that the School can make an important contribution to the development of our region. We welcome suggestions from our website visitors.

Kishore MAHBUBANI
Dean and Professor in the Practice of Public Policy

An Interview with Kishore Mahbubani