POLYTECHNIC FEE REVISION FOR PERMANENT RESIDENTS AND INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

POLYTECHNIC FEE REVISION FOR PERMANENT RESIDENTS AND INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS: 1.

Mrs Josephine Teo asked the Minister for Education whether the recent fee revision for permanent residents and international students studying in polytechnics gives the impression that Singapore is no longer as welcoming to foreign students in our institutes of higher learning.

The Minister for Education (Dr Ng Eng Hen): Mr Speaker, Sir, the fee increases for Singapore Permanent Residents (PRs) and international students (IS) attending our polytechnics are appropriate as they reflect a differentiation between Singapore Citizens, Permanent Residents (PRs) and foreigners. Even after the increases, polytechnic fee at about $13,000 for a three-year course to obtain a diploma still remains highly subsidised and competitive. Let me just give two examples to illustrate, just for comparison. The first example: international students studying in Hong Kong pay as much as around $18,000 to attain an associate degree, which is quite similar to our polytechnic diploma. Similarly, courses which lead to foundation degrees in UK cost up to $52,000. So, $13,000 for a polytechnic diploma as compared to Hong Kong and the UK.

Prospective students would know that our polytechnics offer a high quality of education and industry-relevant training. More importantly, to signal that we still welcome PRs and IS into the polytechnics, there are, in place, readily available financial loan assistance schemes to help these PR students and international students.

Mrs Josephine Teo (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Mr Speaker, Sir, one supplementary

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question. I would like to ask the Minister how far the fee differentiation is likely to go. In the UK, international students may pay three to four times the fees paid by the local students, whereas in Australia the difference could be even sharper, sometimes five to six times higher. Does the Minister foresee fee differentiation in Singapore between the local and the foreign students going as far as in the UK and Australia?

Dr Ng Eng Hen: Mr Speaker, Sir, I would not preclude any further changes but, generally, our philosophy is that we want to keep a differentiation between citizens and PRs and international students. Yet, at the same time, we are also aware of the competitiveness of our polytechnics and our universities in attracting students. So, we do not have a fixed timeline and fees for all institutions are reviewed from time to time. And if we feel that the market signals are correct as well as that it continues to be competitive and as the costs of education go up, there may be adjustments from time to time.