SINGAPORE: The Institute of Technical Education's (ITE) big ambitions to be one of the world's top post-secondary education providers is eventually getting the physical infrastructure to match.

On Monday, Britain's largest construction conglomerate Balfour Beatty announced that its South-east Asia vehicle Gammon Capital has been appointed the "preferred bidder" to build ITE West College's new 10-ha campus at a cost of £90 million (S$270 million).

Today understands that final negotiations are still in progress, but according to Balfour Beatty, the campus, situated at the junction of Bukit Batok Road and Choa Chu Kang Way, would open its doors in January 2010, bringing under one roof the ITE West College's network of five campuses currently spread across the island.

The public-private partnership (PPP) - which is the first for a Singapore educational institute - is also the first such project the British group is undertaking outside the United Kingdom.

Gammon Construction, recently awarded the contract to build the Downtown Line's Chinatown station, would build and maintain the new campus under a 27-year contract.

According to an ITE market awareness brochure issued in February last year, the new campus will focus on the service and automotive industries, and the bidder would be required to "include spaces and facilities capable of delivering hospitality and automotive engineering education and experience", such as restaurants and practical workshop areas for engine testing or vehicle development.

Catering to 7,200 full-time and 8,100 part-time students as well as 630 staff, the campus will also include a student interaction and learning centre, integrated sports facilities and centres of technology.

Under the PPP, ITE will pay the contractor an annual fee for the facilities and the latter could also generate income from external parties for use of the campus facilities outside lesson time.

When contacted, a Ministry of Education spokesperson said that the consortium would "manage and coordinate all building-related and estate management matters", thus allowing ITE West to "focus its resources and attention on the continued delivery of quality vocational and technical education".

Said the spokesperson: "In addition, the consortium is bound under the PPP service contract to ensure that the building infrastructure, facilities and supporting services promised are consistently maintained at the prescribed quality level."

The ITE's first regional campus, which opened in 2005 at a cost of S$240 million, is at Simei. By 2015, the third and final regional campus for ITE College Central would be built in Ang Mo Kio, also under a PPP.

In September, ITE won the global IBM Innovations Award in Transforming Government, beating contenders from Canada, the United States and Georgia. IBM and the Ash Institute selected it as one of eight winners for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University's John F Kennedy School of Government.

During the ceremony, the judges spoke of ITE's successes, creative practices and scope as well as the potential for global replication. - TODAY/ym