University Cohort Participation Rate
Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: Every year, around 9,000 students graduate from private education institutions offering degree courses in Singapore, while thousands more study in universities overseas. Apart from the few who obtain scholarships, most of these students will have to pay full tuition fees for their studies. This can cost them between $8,000 and $30,000 a year at local private education institutions, which vary considerably in instructional quality and resources and an average of $33,000 annually in overseas universities. These are enormous financial commitments for them and their parents.
In contrast, their peers and local Autonomous Universities spent around $8,200 annually for a non-medical degree after benefiting from tuition grants.
Many Polytechnic graduates feel the pressure to get a degree because better job and salary prospects as they compete in a globalised job market even in Singapore. The cohort participation rate in local Autonomous Universities last year was 42%. Can our AUs continue to open up more places, raising the target cohort participation rate to 50%? This will allow more deserving Singaporeans who want to attend the AUs to tap on the tuition grant scheme and benefit from the high quality of education offered by our AUs.
Ministry of Education
3 March 2021
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 