UNIVERSITIES OF SINGAPORE AND MALAYA (Student population and financial aid)

Mr Ho See Beng asked the Minister for Education if he has information (a) how many students in the University of Singapore are from West Malaysia, and how many Singapore students there are in the University of Malaya; and (b) how much financial aid is given by the Malaysian Government to the University of Singapore and by the Singapore Government to the University of Malaya.

Mr Ong Pang Boon: Mr Speaker, Sir, there are 641 students from West Malaysia studying at the University of Singapore, and 86 Singapore students studying at the University of Malaya. The Malaysian Government has never given to the University of Singapore any financial aid as such. Any contribution made by the Malaysian Government was in respect of the cost of educating Malaysian students studying in the Singapore University. Similarly, the Singapore Government also made contributions to the University of Malaya to meet the cost of educating our students there.

Prior to the separation of the then University of Malaya into two separate universities, the Singapore Government and the Federation of Malaya Government jointly contributed on an agreed formula towards defraying the cost of running the University which serves students from both territories. The outstanding contributions from the Malaysian Government, on behalf of their students studying in the University of Singapore for the years 1962 to 1966, were discussed and concluded at official level recently and official confirmation is awaited from the Malaysian Government. As a result of these discussions, a sum of $20 million was accepted as the liability for Malaysian students studying in the University of Singapore between the years 1962 and 1966. Of this, an advance payment of $10 million was made in December 1965. The Singapore Government also agreed to settle in full all outstanding dues and claims on behalf of Singapore students studying in the University of Malaya. In the case of Singapore students studying in the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, the contributions have been outstanding for the years 1964 to 1966. This settlement, when confirmed, will conclude all outstanding inter-University financial matters up to the end of this year. For 1967 it has been proposed that a joint Treasury Committee be set up to re-examine all contributions to the two Universities by the respective Governments on a revised basis reflecting present-day conditions. I understand this proposal has been favourably received.