Number of Foreign Students who Have Defaulted on Tuition Grant Bond Obligations

24 Mr Png Eng Huat asked the Minister for Education (a) what is the number of international students who have defaulted on their tuition grant bond obligation in the last three years; (b) what is the amount of grants given to these defaulting students; and (c) what are the results of the recovery efforts made.

The Minister for Education (Mr Ong Ye Kung): The proportion of defaulters is currently about 4% for the last three years. The grant amount to this group of international students is about $5.5 million annually.

For this small proportion of defaulters, MOE takes a serious view. It is not just a matter of money, but also honour and trust. We have managed to recover from a few and we will continue to make suitable recovery efforts. For those who fail to pay their liquidated damages, we will also take actions to prevent them from working or residing in Singapore.

Mr Png Eng Huat (Hougang): Sir, just a couple of questions. In 2016, when I asked the question, the amount of grant given to this minority group who did not fulfil their grant obligation came up to about $30 million. Just now, the Minister said it is about $5.5 million a year now. Is that correct? It means there is some recovery effort. Can the Minister share whether there was any actual recovery in the sense that we have managed to bring it down from $30 million to $5.5 million a year now for those grants?

Secondly, can the Minister also share how MOE has tightened the recovery process because one of the answers given then was that if they were to apply for work here in Singapore, they may face some severe consequences? But then, again, these people are smart enough to gain the system and they have escaped without any consequences, so they will be smart enough not to come back here to work. Can the Minister share on how MOE intends to recover those grants given?

Mr Ong Ye Kung: When the Member asked the question a few years ago, we had a backlog of international students whom we were still trying to contact. Some were working here but they did not declare to us. So, they became question marks. And others are, indeed, defaulters. So, at that time, we put all of them together and it came up to $30 million still being unaccounted for. Of course, a couple of years have passed. We managed to contact practically all of them and, therefore, we can ascertain now it is a 4% default rate, representing about $5.5 million a year. But, again, that is a nominal figure.

We have tightened the recovery over the last few years. It means there is no running away from calling them, giving them the right forms to fill at the right time and then also having good border controls. I think once we have their names and identity number, they cannot game the system to come back to Singapore. We will prevent them from working or residing in Singapore. If they want to work elsewhere, I think our enforcement cannot extend beyond those countries.

But the fundamental point is still – so long as we believe that we need a suitable proportion of international students in our system and then we provide some tuition grants and scholarships to them, we will expect some of them to default and not fulfil their obligations. That is inevitable. But we will try to tighten the selection, make sure we pick the right people and make sure that they will continue to fulfil their obligation.