Are foreigners depriving locals of places in NUS, NTU and SM
-
Are foreigners depriving locals of places in NUS, NTU and SMU? (Part 1)
By Amanda Lian, Social Correspondent
We are sure you are all very concerned about the issue of the influx of International Students at our local universities and whether it has affected the local students adversely. And so, this article is going to look into anecdotal perspectives of whether foreign (International) students are really depriving locals of places in the few Universities in Singapore, and to what extent.With some evidence, though which may not be enough, this is my take on the issue and hopefully, we would be able to gain further knowledge on this widely debated issue.We will look into two main points in the hope of coming to a conclusive answer:1. Statistics have been available to the Singapore public that there has been an increased intake of foreign students. So has this in relation affected the local students who are eligible and made it harder to get enrolled?2. Since only 5% of Polytechnic graduates are eligible for University admission, should we as a nation, reconsider that number and ultimately, decide again on the intake of foreign students in the local Universities?Although on this topic and these points will come up in our minds from time to time, we must also clarify that the answers to them are also able to stand on their own. However, although we might say that it is harder for local students to enter Universities but we are also open to other factors that might affect this conclusion. So before we move into the actual main points, we are going to cover some of these factors.Any caveats? A word of warning first though, this is not an official study but a compilation of all the information that we have our hands on. Therefore, our answers are still highly debatable and tentative to most citizens out there.Why are more and more foreigners coming to Singapore to study? Are there some advantages that they see by flying all the way here? To be truthful, yes there are, including achieving citizenship status more efficiently. On the other hand, would the government be viewing this as devaluing the status of our local citizens?There are definitely stereotype values that foreigners from the West are more valuable than our comrades from the East for some reasons. Would this make Singapore a lost haven? One which we had worked so hard to attain – a haven for people of higher intellect? And because of that, maybe we can also consider why all our high flyers or brain children are going overseas for tertiary education instead.As said in the second main point above, only 5 percent of Polytechnic graduates are eligible for admission into Universities and these graduates have to get a minimum grade point average of 3.5. Yet, how many of these eligible graduates actually have priority to fit into that 5 percent and how many of these are foreigners? Out of all the polytechnic students in a certain intake, 10 percent of them are foreigners. Besides that, shouldn’t scholarships be given out to Singaporean students only, just like most of the other countries?Yes, we are definitely in the know about the new University that is coming up and building that is still using the taxpayers’ money right? Although it is targeted at the local polytechnic graduates, it is still new and has to build a name and reputation for itself from scratch!Another factor to note is that admissions to the local universities are perceptibly different for polytechnic students because they are admitted and enrolled based on paper qualifications or more colloquially, scores rather than skills while they are being trained in that area while in their course.I fully agree that they are generally enrolled into second year University modules because of their advanced standings but how many graduates actually make it through the admission’s interview in the first place? And so, after listing down so many factors, let us go into the main point of whether our local students are being deprived of places in our handful of Universities by foreigners.We are sure you are all very concerned about the issue of the influx of International Students at our local universities and whether it has affected the local students adversely. And so, this article is going to look into anecdotal perspectives of whether foreign (International) students are really depriving locals of places in the few Universities in Singapore, and to what extent.
With some evidence, though which may not be enough, this is my take on the issue and hopefully, we would be able to gain further knowledge on this widely debated issue.
We will look into two main points in the hope of coming to a conclusive answer:
1. Statistics have been available to the Singapore public that there has been an increased intake of foreign students. So has this in relation affected the local students who are eligible and made it harder to get enrolled?
2. Since only 5% of Polytechnic graduates are eligible for University admission, should we as a nation, reconsider that number and ultimately, decide again on the intake of foreign students in the local Universities?
Although on this topic and these points will come up in our minds from time to time, we must also clarify that the answers to them are also able to stand on their own.
However, although we might say that it is harder for local students to enter Universities but we are also open to other factors that might affect this conclusion. So before we move into the actual main points, we are going to cover some of these factors.
Any caveats? A word of warning first though, this is not an official study but a compilation of all the information that we have our hands on. Therefore, our answers are still highly debatable and tentative to most citizens out there.
Why are more and more foreigners coming to Singapore to study? Are there some advantages that they see by flying all the way here?
To be truthful, yes there are, including achieving citizenship status more efficiently. On the other hand, would the government be viewing this as devaluing the status of our local citizens?
There are definitely stereotype values that foreigners from the West are more valuable than our comrades from the East for some reasons.
Would this make Singapore a lost haven? One which we had worked so hard to attain – a haven for people of higher intellect? And because of that, maybe we can also consider why all our high flyers or brain children are going overseas for tertiary education instead.
As said in the second main point above, only 5 percent of Polytechnic graduates are eligible for admission into universities and these graduates have to get a minimum grade point average of 3.5.
Yet, how many of these eligible graduates actually have priority to fit into that 5 percent and how many of these are foreigners?
Out of all the polytechnic students in a certain intake, 10 percent of them are foreigners. Besides that, shouldn’t scholarships be given out to Singaporean students only, just like most of the other countries?
Yes, we are definitely in the know about the new University that is coming up and building that is still using the taxpayers’ money right?
Although it is targeted at the local polytechnic graduates, it is still new and has to build a name and reputation for itself from scratch!
Another factor to note is that admissions to the local universities are perceptibly different for polytechnic students because they are admitted and enrolled based on paper qualifications or more colloquially, scores rather than skills while they are being trained in that area while in their course.
I fully agree that they are generally enrolled into second year University modules because of their advanced standings but how many graduates actually make it through the admission’s interview in the first place?
Now after listing down so many factors, let us go into the main point of whether our local students are being deprived of places in our handful of Universities by foreigners.
The answer to it is actually quite easy: “Apparently not”.
As said by the former Senior Minister of State (Education) Aline Wong in 2000:
“All local students who qualify will have a place in Singapore’s educational institutions and Singaporeans get priority in primary and secondary schools and junior colleges”.
From what I gather here, foreign students do not interfere with the competitive education environment with us, other than the JC and Polytechnic divide.
On the other hand, as far as us, the citizens know, it is the policies that the Education Ministry has set a benchmark on and the university admissions department has to strictly adhere to the intake numbers of local students and foreign students and the both of them are not correlated.
[To be continued in Part 2 tomorrow]
About the Author:
Amanda Lian graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in English Language, Creative writing and Child Psychology from the University of Western Australia. She worked as a staff writer for Hardwarezone and is currently an editorial executive at Cre8 Singapore Pte Ltd.
Are foreigners depriving locals of places in NUS, NTU and SMU? (Part 2)
By Amanda Lian, Social Correspondent
We are sure you are all very concerned about the issue of the influx of International Students at our local Universities and whether it has affected the local students adversely. And so, this article is going to look into anecdotal perspectives of whether foreign (International) students are really depriving locals of places in the few Universities in Singapore, and to what extent. With some evidence, though which may not be enough, this is my take on the issue and hopefully, we would be able to gain further knowledge on this widely debated issue.We will look into two main points in the hope of coming to a conclusive answer:1.Statistics have been available to the Singapore public that there has been an increased intake of foreign students. So has this in relation affected the local students who are eligible and made it harder to get enrolled?2.Since only 5% of Polytechnic graduates are eligible for University admission, should we as a nation, reconsider that number and ultimately, decide again on the intake of foreign students in the local Universities?Although on this topic and these points will come up in our minds from time to time, we must also clarify that the answers to them are also able to stand on their own. However, although we might say that it is harder for local students to enter Universities but we are also open to other factors that might affect this conclusion. So before we move into the actual main points, we are going to cover some of these factors.Any caveats? A word of warning first though, this is not an official study but a compilation of all the information that we have our hands on. Therefore, our answers are still highly debatable and tentative to most citizens out there.Why are more and more foreigners coming to Singapore to study? Are there some advantages that they see by flying all the way here? To be truthful, yes there are, including achieving citizenship status more efficiently. On the other hand, would the government be viewing this as devaluing the status of our local citizens? There are definitely stereotype values that foreigners from the West are more valuable than our comrades from the East for some reasons. Would this make Singapore a lost haven? One which we had worked so hard to attain – a haven for people of higher intellect?And because of that, maybe we can also consider why all our high flyers or brain children are going overseas for tertiary education instead. As said in the second main point above, only 5 percent of Polytechnic graduates are eligible for admission into Universities and these graduates have to get a minimum grade point average of 3.5. Yet, how many of these eligible graduates actually have priority to fit into that 5 percent and how many of these are foreigners? Out of all the polytechnic students in a certain intake, 10 percent of them are foreigners. Besides that, shouldn’t scholarships be given out to Singaporean students only, just like most of the other countries?Yes, we are definitely in the know about the new University that is coming up and building that is still using the taxpayers’ money right? Although it is targeted at the local polytechnic graduates, it is still new and has to build a name and reputation for itself from scratch! Another factor to note is that admissions to the local Universities are perceptibly different for polytechnic students because they are admitted and enrolled based on paper qualifications or more colloquially, scores rather than skills while they are being trained in that area while in their course. I fully agree that they are generally enrolled into second year University modules because of their advanced standings but how many graduates actually make it through the admission’s interview in the first place?And so, after listing down so many factors, let us go into the main point of whether our local students are being deprived of places in our handful of Universities by foreigners.The answer to it is actually quite easy: “Apparently not”.As said by the former Senior Minister of State (Education) Aline Wong in 2000, “All local students who qualify will have a place in Singapore’s educational institutions and Singaporeans get priority in primary and secondary schools and junior colleges”. From what I gather here, foreign students do not interfere with the competitive education environment with us, other than the JC and Polytechnic divide.On the other hand, as far as us, the citizens know, it is the policies that the Education Ministry has set a benchmark on and the University admissions department has to strictly adhere to the intake numbers of local students and foreign students and the both of them are not correlated.As stated by the then Director (Higher Education) with the Ministry of Education, Mr. Lim Chee Hwee in 2005, “An estimate of approximately 21 percent of primary one cohort gets admitted to our local Universities every year. From this pool, about 2 percent comes from the polytechnics while the remaining comes from the Junior Colleges. Looking into the future, in 2010, 25 percent of primary one cohort will gain admission and by then, the polytechnic graduates who will enter the local Universities would be increased to 6 percent.From the above, we can see that it will be more competitive for JC graduates to enter Universities and good news for polytechnic graduates while the percentage of foreign students remains the same.Following the above information, let us now look and organize some data on our hands from the Education Statistics Digest Online. Below, we have the total number of graduates entering Universities from previous years in our local context.As said by the former Senior Minister of State (Education) Aline Wong in 2000:
“All local students who qualify will have a place in Singapore’s educational institutions and Singaporeans get priority in primary and secondary schools and junior colleges”.
From what I gather here, foreign students do not interfere with the competitive education environment with us, other than the JC and Polytechnic divide.
On the other hand, as far as us, the citizens know, it is the policies that the Education Ministry has set a benchmark on and the university admissions department has to strictly adhere to the intake numbers of local students and foreign students and the both of them are not correlated.
As stated by the then Director (Higher Education) with the Ministry of Education, Mr. Lim Chee Hwee in 2005:
“An estimate of approximately 21 percent of primary one cohort gets admitted to our local Universities every year. From this pool, about 2 percent comes from the polytechnics while the remaining comes from the Junior Colleges. Looking into the future, in 2010, 25 percent of primary one cohort will gain admission and by then, the polytechnic graduates who will enter the local Universities would be increased to 6 percent.”
From the above, we can see that it will be more competitive for JC graduates to enter Universities and good news for polytechnic graduates while the percentage of foreign students remains the same.
Following the above information, let us now look and organize some data on our hands from the Education Statistics Digest Online. Below, we have the total number of graduates entering Universities from previous years in our local context.
Of these numbers, how many of them are from our local Polytechnics and how many are from other countries, or more colloquially, foreigners? From the Junior College list above, you can easily work out how many of the students are eligible to make it into our local Universities.
Following which, you should subtract that number from the local university intake and you will get the number of foreign students and those from the Polytechnic pool. From the Polytechnic list, you should work out the 5 percent that is eligible and then you will get the total number of foreign students every year.
From here, I must also point out that this number might not be accurate as every year, more and more locals are draining out of the country to pursue their education overseas.
Before 1998, Teo Chee Hean stated “the inflow of foreign students stagnated at around 10 percent of the undergraduate intake”.
However, in 1998, the influx of international students swarmed to 16.5 percent and by 2000, the capped 20 percent is reached every year.
Putting all the information together and analyzing it together with our own beliefs and accounts, we, the locals are not deprived of places in Universities. Rather, it has become more competitive and we have the reassurance that the total influx is capped at 20 percent every year till the next big thing comes about.In fact, to some locals, it might have been made easier to enter the local Universities. However, for a more detailed and conclusive result, further research has to be done and this might not be how it seems to most Singaporeans.
About the Author:
Amanda Lian graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in English Language, Creative writing and Child Psychology from the University of Western Australia. She worked as a staff writer for Hardwarezone and is currently an editorial executive at Cre8 Singapore Pte Ltd.
Source: The Temasek Review