In 2018, Professor Emeritus Arnoud De Meyer, then President of the Singapore Management University (SMU), reflected on the fact that Singapore had built an excellent and diverse system of higher education in less than 30 years in a conversation with the Ministry of Education (MOE)’s Permanent Secretary Lai Chung Han, Minister Ong Ye Kung and some colleagues. Shortly after, he received an invitation from MOE to document the system of university education in Singapore.