Educational institutions exist to serve the public good as centres for the transmission of knowledge and as places where new knowledge can be created or discovered. In order to achieve these goals, academic freedom, that is the freedom to teach what one believes to be the truth and the freedom to conduct research wherever it may lead to, is absolutely crucial. Tenure guarantees such freedom. In addition, tenure gives staff the opportunity to embark on long-term research that may not produce immediate results. In light of these reasons, universities, polytechnics as well as certain other organisations involved in higher education, often grant tenure to their staff upon the fulfillment of certain criteria. The aim of this note is to examine what is meant by the term tenure in the Singapore context. This is because, while tenure is quite commonly granted in the context of some educational institutions in Singapore, the exact legal meaning of it tends to be fuzzy. The note also makes some comparisons to the position in America in this regard.