COS 2012 Debates: MOE – Foreign Scholarships

by NCMP Yee Jenn Jong


Our government awards some 1070 undergraduate scholarships each year to foreign students, with an annual value of up to $25,000 dollars each. With up to 4 cohorts of students at any time, this is a large yearly expenditure.

Sir, I am not anti-foreigners. I recognise that talented foreigners can add vibrancy to our institutions. We welcome them in our universities, subject to the quota allocated to foreigners, at their own expenses, just as most Singaporeans study overseas at our own cost.

I am uncomfortable to learn that only 67% of foreign scholars graduate with high honours. Any scholar, local or foreign, should aim to graduate with at least second upper. I am sure PSC set high standards for our local scholars. If we cannot attract enough good foreign scholars, we should immediately cut intake by 33% to admit only those with potential for high honours. If scholars do not maintain the cumulative GPA good enough for 2nd upper during their course, scholarship should be suspended until they do well enough again. I also hope MOE can also explain its criteria for selecting foreign scholars and review this decades-old policy to see how many foreign scholars we actually need, how we can better assimilate them into our society, and how to better engage them after graduation.