POLYTECHNIC GRADUATES TAKING UP DEGREE PROGRAMMES

Column: 898

POLYTECHNIC GRADUATES TAKING UP DEGREE PROGRAMMES: 6.

Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim asked the Minister for Education (a) what are the percentages of polytechnic graduates taking up degree programmes in local and overseas universities respectively; (b) with respect to these percentages, are polytechnics becoming another category of junior colleges; and (c) what is the original intention of polytechnic education and has the original intention been largely fulfilled.

The Minister for Education (Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam): Mr Speaker, Sir, in recent years, about 60% of each cohort of polytechnic students have gone on to pursue a university education, either locally or overseas, within five years of graduation from polytechnic. Of these 60% of polytechnic students, about 13% go on to an undergraduate education at our three local universities and the other 87% or so obtain degrees elsewhere, either other locally-run programmes or distance learning programmes offered locally or at overseas universities. By 2010 when NUS and NTU would have expanded their capacity, the proportion of polytechnic students that will be going to NUS and NTU would more than double to over a quarter of the total number of polytechnic students who go on to obtain a degree. Over a quarter of them would be able to obtain their degrees at NUS and NTU.

Assoc. Prof. Ong had asked if the polytechnics are therefore becoming another category of junior colleges. They are not becoming like junior colleges. Our junior colleges and polytechnics provide

Column: 899

distinct but complementary paths within our post-secondary education system. The JCs offer an academically-oriented programme to prepare their students for a university education. Our polytechnics provide students with a technically-oriented tertiary education that prepares them well for good careers and which meets the needs of the economy. The hallmark of a polytechnic education is the applied and practice-oriented teaching and learning approach. While many polytechnic students do go on to obtain a degree, they tend to retain this technical and applied orientation when they return to the workplace.

Our polytechnics are also well-placed to nurture students with a certain entrepreneurial spirit, a "can do" spirit, and encourage their students to engage in innovation and design work. The polytechnics will continue to review and update their curricula, and work closely with the industry, so as to keep up their reputation both locally and abroad, develop the talents of their students and provide well-trained manpower for the Singapore economy.

Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim (Nominated Member): Sir, I have three supplementary questions. With regard to the 60% of students who actually went on to pursue higher degrees locally or overseas in the next five years, is that indicative that the polytechnics are actually attracting a significant portion of the top "O" level students such that less good students are actually going to the JCs and subsequently the universities in Singapore?

My second question is this. It is well known that a polytechnic foreign university degree path is shorter than a JC local university path. So, has polytechnic education become a short-cut to obtaining a degree?

My last question is, in view of the recent calls by SM and MM for more top

Column: 900

students to attend local universities, how does the Ministry propose to attract more top students to attend JCs and local universities, instead of taking the polytechnic foreign university degree path?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: First, I should just clarify that the 60% of polytechnic students who do go on to obtain a degree, I was not referring to the next five years. But that is the current status. This refers to people who within five years of graduation tend to go on to obtain a degree.

Are they attracting more of the brighter students - those who would have been eligible to enter the junior colleges? There was some increase in numbers, particularly as the polytechnics open up courses which appeal to students, eg, digital media and courses like that. But it has stabilised. Basically, about a third of our polytechnic students would have done well enough in their "O" levels to be able to enter a junior college but chose to go on to polytechnics. I think it is not a bad thing that we have some diversification of the pathways that our students take. They have different talents, different intellectual orientations. Not everyone is well served by JC education. But not everyone is well served by pursuing the polytechnic route either. So we should preserve both routes. I think that is the strength of the Singapore system - that we have two totally credible routes of post-secondary education for students of both high intellectual abilities as well as those who have other types of abilities which are best served by a non-JC path to post-secondary education.

Is it a short-cut? Well, it depends. It depends on which university they are going to, how many years of credit do they get, either one or two years' credit off for their polytechnic degree. I think

Column: 901

this is something we leave it to the marketplace.

Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim: Sir, I have a supplementary question again. So we leave it open, ie, there is a JC local university degree path and there is a polytechnic foreign university degree path. However, if you flip open the newspapers nowadays, it is quite well known that many foreign universities actually offer one to two years' exemption, while the local universities, at most, only offer a one-year exemption. Would the Ministry help the local universities to also provide a shorter path, so that we can actually pull these good students to the local universities after their polytechnic education, instead of going to a foreign university?

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: This is something for the universities to decide for themselves - what admission standards to set and, having admitted the students, how much credit to give for the course work that they have done in the polytechnics. Universities vary quite widely in their standards. Ultimately, the real judge is the employer's marketplace. How much worth an employer attaches to a degree from a particular university will depend also on the standards that the university applies. So, it is something which our local universities have to think hard about. Yes, they are facing some competition from foreign universities that are quite liberal in offering credits for work done in the polytechnics. Some of these are good universities. For some others, the market has to judge what their worth to be; some are lesser. I would not want to push the local universities to try to be as liberal as possible just for the sake of competing with everyone in the marketplace of universities abroad. I think it is something they have to consider very hard. But this is something that is best

Column: 902

not decided by the Ministry but by NUS, NTU, SMU themselves.