Impact of COVID-19 on Foreign Students Who Need to Serve Out Their Tuition Bonds

1 Mr Darryl David asked the Minister for Education (a) in the last five years, how many international students have been accepted into local Universities under the Tuition Grant Scheme (TGS); (b) what are those numbers as a percentage of the total University student population; (c) whether this number of TGS international students will be reduced in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and, if so, whether this reduction will mean more places for Singaporean students; and (d) what will be the consequences for international students who cannot meet their TGS bond commitments in this present COVID-19 employment market.

2 Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Education (a) what contingency plans are in place for foreign recipients of scholarships to serve out their bonds given the tightened restrictions on access to employment and other foreign-worker passes; (b) whether the Ministry will consider alternative mechanisms for recent graduates to serve out their commitments such as a deferral of the bond period or service of their bond periods with Singapore-owned or Singapore-affiliated companies abroad.

The Minister for Education (Mr Lawrence Wong): Mr Speaker, beg your pardon. I would like to take Question Nos 1 and 2 together.

Mr Speaker: Please proceed.

Mr Lawrence Wong: The objective of our education system is to serve the needs of Singaporeans. Places in the Autonomous Universities or AUs are planned first and foremost for Singaporeans, in line with the cohort participation target of 40%. This year, we set aside more places at the AUs, to cater to Singaporean students whose overseas study plans were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The AUs first admit Singaporean students who are able to meet their admission standards. They then raise the bar a few notches and admit a small number of international students, over and above the local students. As such, no Singaporean is displaced from an AU because of an international student.

Over the past five years, the number of international students who received tuition grant in each cohort averaged around 1,600, less than 10% of each intake. For Academic Year 2020, we are still finalising the numbers, but expect to see similar trends of less than 10%.

Having some international students adds to the diversity of the overall education experience and cultivates students’ global orientation and inter-cultural skills. It also better prepares them for the future workplace, where they may have to interact with different nationalities. We will continue to review and adjust the number of international students on tuition grant in the future, taking into consideration the quality of applicants and other factors.

We understand that recent graduates may face challenges finding employment in the current economic climate. Our priority remains to support locals in finding employment. However, we will also give fair treatment to tuition grant holders obliged to serve a three-year bond after graduation. These students can serve out their obligations in Singapore or overseas with Singapore-registered companies.

In particular, MOE works with the Universities and other public agencies to facilitate their applications for work pass arrangements here, while keeping to the Fair Consideration Framework. Flexibility is given when assessing these students’ work pass applications. The students are also given time to stay in Singapore to look for a job. Those who have genuine difficulties finding employment – be it here or abroad – may reach out to the Universities and MOE, and we will assess their situation and see how best to assist them on a case-by-case basis. We will continue to monitor the situation and adjust our approach appropriate to the economic situation and outlook.

Mr Darryl David (Ang Mo Kio): Mr Speaker, I thank the Minister for the reply. It is very heartening to hear what Minister said, specifically that no Singaporean student will be displaced from a position in our AUs because of an international student. I just have two supplementary questions, Mr Speaker.

First is a question to the Minister that when we decide on the international students to admit into our AUs, do we consider or look at a ratio or a good balance of which countries these international students come from? And if we do, is this ratio periodically reviewed?

The second thing is when we determine which areas or field of study that we offer these international students places in our AUs for, would we also consider not only the needs of Singaporeans but whether or not the respective industries that these students could be graduating into are able to absorb these students into the workforce?

Mr Lawrence Wong: Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for the questions. On both questions, the answer is that the Universities look at taking in students from a range of different sources. So, they are very mindful of having a variety of nationalities. As I had highlighted earlier, these international students come in over and above the local students.

When the Universities consider the applications from international students, they will look at them coming in from a range of different countries, bearing in mind that they do not want concentration from any single source and they will also look at them coming in to study in a range of different disciplines, different subjects, bearing in mind the desire for diversity across the student body and also taking into consideration the absorption capacity of the industry.

These are all considerations that the Universities would take into account.

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim (Sengkang): Mr Speaker, I thank the Minister for his response. I am just curious if he could clarify the typical career path of scholarship recipients, in this case, especially in terms of the ratio of students who end up taking up Singapore Permanent Residence or Citizenship after they have completed their studies.

Mr Lawrence Wong: Mr Speaker, we are referring here to Tuition Grant holders, not to scholarship recipients. They are a different category. These Tuition Grant holders come in, they apply to the Universities; they do not need to apply for a Tuition Grant, but if they do so, they would have to serve a three-year bond. Quite separate from scholarship applicants. I do not have on hand the data on the percentage of Tuition Grant holders who go on to apply for Permanent Residence (PR) or Citizenship, for that matter. But just to make the point that Tuition Grant applicants and recipients are quite different from scholarship recipients.

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim: I thank the Minister for clarifying the distinction between the two and I apologise for the loose language. I am wondering, since he has brought up that distinction, whether it is possible to elaborate on the approximate ratio of Tuition Grant recipients versus scholarship recipients in terms of foreign students choosing to study here.

Mr Lawrence Wong: Again, if the Member would like to file a separate question asking for those details – number of scholarship holders, number of Tuition Grant holders – these are data that from time to time, Members in this House have asked for and we have released those data. Likewise, if the Member would be interested in the proportion of scholarship holders who have gone on to take on Citizenship or PR, he may file a separate question and we would be happy to provide the information.