Profile of Undergraduate Population at Local Public Universities

Parliament of Singapore · 16 January 2012

Official Report, 16 January 2012, Vol 88, Issue 10 · Open in the reader (summaries, search, filters)

Heng Swee Keat Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap

Mr Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap asked the Minister for Education (a) if he can give a breakdown of the undergraduate population at our local publicly funded universities by nationality and the four main ethnic groups for 2001, 2006 and 2011 in absolute numbers and percentages; and (b) whether there is any ethnic quota for entry to our local publicly funded universities and, if so, what is the rationale for such a quota.

Mr Heng Swee Keat: For the past 10 years, the Ministry of Education has capped the number of International Student (IS) at 20% of the total intake. In AY2011, IS comprised 18% of undergraduate intake. Most of the IS are from the ASEAN countries, China and India.

Entry to all our institutions is by merit and there is no ethnic quota. The proportion of Chinese, Malays and Indians among Singapore citizens admitted were 89%, 5% and 4% respectively in AY2011. The corresponding proportions in AY2001 were 93%, 3% and 3%.