The linkage to economic development is tight and is driven from the top of the government. As Singapore evolved
from an economy based on port and warehousing activities, through a low-wage, labour-intensive manufacturing
economy, and then to a more capital and skill-intensive industry and finally to its current focus on knowledge-
intensive industrial clusters, the education system was expected to ramp up the quality of its education and the
supply of specific skills needed to make Singapore globally competitive.