UNIVERSITY AND POLYTECHNIC FRESH GRADUATES (Financial assistance for further study or self-improvement courses)

Mr Simon S C Tay asked the Minister for Trade and Industry, in view of the slowdown in job creation, whether the Government will consider measures to assist fresh graduates from universities and polytechnics, including bridging repayments of any outstanding study loans the students have undertaken and helping to finance further study or professional courses for self-improvement and skill upgrading.

The Second Minister for Trade and Industry (BG George Yong-Boon Yeo): Mr Speaker, Sir, the maximum loan repayment period is 20 years for university graduates and 10 years for polytechnic graduates. University graduates are given up to two years and polytechnic graduates up to one year before they commence their loan repayment. However, the institutions will exercise flexibility in helping students who are genuinely not able to begin their repayment within the stipulated timeframe.

Graduates who wish to pursue further studies can do so at NUS and NTU, which offer research scholarships leading to Master's and PhD degrees. This option is best suited for graduates with an interest to pursue a career in research and development, especially in the areas of science and engineering. NUS and NTU will continue to offer more research scholarships so long as there is a demand by interested and qualified graduates.

Mr Simon Tay: Yesterday, we heard that the hotels will be given higher tax rebates or tax concessions for refurbishing. In similar light, would the Minister consider that fresh graduates from polytechnics and universities might usefully use this slowdown to upgrade their own skills and would the Minister consider increasing loans or tax concessions to assist them?

BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: As the Nominated MP has put it, the scheme will be quite complicated because what constitutes a worthwhile programme will be hard to define. But if the Nominated MP has got a scheme which is well-defined, we will certainly consider it.

Mr Simon Tay: Would the Minister consider that for those in the polytechnics and universities a further degree or professional degree would be a scheme worth considering?

BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: If it is a postgraduate effort which is sponsored by a university, then, as I said earlier, scholarships are available. But if it is something for self-improvement, it is very difficult to distinguish between, say, a toastmaster course to improve your public presentation or a course to improve your second language skills or a course to improve your professional standing. Inherent in the subject that Mr Simon Tay has raised is the great difficulty in defining what constitutes a worthwhile programme, and we do not really want this to be a tax loophole.

Mr Simon Tay: Given that the hotels themselves do have approved refurbishment, is the principle not the same for studies? And leaving aside toastmaster courses, would courses by recognised universities or other institutes here and abroad not be worthwhile projects?

BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: In theory, yes. But, in practice, it is very difficult to define such worthwhile courses and to police it in a way which makes the system fair and not open to abuse.