OVERSEAS AND LOCAL UNDERGRADUATES (Difference in costs of subsidy)

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

The following Question stood in the name of Mdm Ho Geok Choo -

Mdm Ho Geok Choo: To ask the Minister for Education what is (i) the difference in the costs of subsidising undergraduates who are sent overseas for exposure to foreign entrepreneurial cultures and those who go through the normal course of study in our tertiary institutions; and (ii) the percentage of undergraduates being sent for such overseas stints relative to the total student population.

Dr Lily Neo (Jalan Besar): Question No. 1, Sir.

The Minister for Education (RAdm Teo Chee Hean): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Government has actively encouraged an entrepreneurial spirit among Singaporeans. Our universities - the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and the Singapore Management University - have responded to this call by promoting a culture of enterprise on campus by various means, for example, mounting relevant academic modules, establishing entrepreneurship centres and technology relations offices. These provisions are available to all students of the respective universities.

The National University of Singapore has also launched the "NUS Overseas Colleges". This is a strategic programme aimed at providing a small number of select students the opportunity to be nurtured into dynamic and resourceful entrepreneurs by immersion in vibrant entrepreneurial hubs which are anchored by strong academic institutions. Students will be sent on a one-year stint to these overseas colleges to work as interns attached to high-tech start-ups, and attend entrepreneurship courses at partnering universities. NUS has to date set up two overseas colleges - in the Silicon Valley in partnership with Stanford University, and in the Bio Valley, in partnership with University of Pennsylvania. 38 students are currently in the Silicon Valley, and another 10 are expected to set off for the Bio Valley in January 2003. By 2010, NUS plans to send 250 students (or 4% of the average NUS annual cohort) each year to its overseas colleges.

The additional cost incurred for a student who spends one year at an overseas college is about $35,500. About two-thirds of this cost is borne by the internship companies which our students are attached to. The other one-third is borne by the Government. Students on the programme therefore do not pay additional fees for the duration of their programme in the overseas college.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan (Hong Kah): Sir, once the students return from their overseas stint, I would like to ask the Minister if there are any programmes in place to allow them to continue to nurture their entrepreneurial spirit or mindset. Is there any programme in place to ensure that in future when they graduate, this overseas stint would also be helpful in helping them to become entrepreneurs?

RAdm Teo Chee Hean: As I have explained earlier in my answer, the universities do have a variety of programmes to help students set up companies if they are interested in doing so. They have incubators, technology relations offices and so on. Apart from that, the various economic agencies also have a variety of programmes available for not just graduating students but other Singaporeans who are interested in starting up their own companies or venturing into their own enterprises to go ahead to do so.