2005 ADMISSION FOR NTU AND NUS

2005 ADMISSION FOR NTU AND NUS

40.

Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim asked the Minister for Education for the 2005 intake for the Nanyang Technological University and National University of Singapore, (i) how many of the 850 students who entered life science courses in 2005, (ii) how many of the 4,400 students who entered engineering courses, and (iii) how many of the students who entered Medicine and Dentistry, are in the top 5% and top 10% of the admission cohort.

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam: NUS and NTU take in students with various qualifications - Singapore-Cambridge GCE 'A' levels, polytechnic diplomas or other qualifications like the International Baccalaureate, or those from the region and further abroad like the UK 'A' levels. For example, in the life sciences, which Assoc. Prof. Ong has enquired about, almost a third of students matriculating at NUS and NTU do not enter with 'A' level qualifications. Further, in addition to applicants' grades in any examination, some faculties conduct their own tests and interviews to identify students best suited for the courses offered. There is therefore no neat or accurate comparison of the proportion of top students entering various faculties.

Assoc. Prof. Ong may be trying to get a comparison of grades in the Singapore-Cambridge GCE 'A' levels of students matriculating in various courses at NUS and NTU. NUS and NTU, like most universities, do not release information comparing the grades of students entering specific courses of study, but I can give her a broad sense.

We can look at students who get perfect or near perfect 'A' level points. A slightly higher proportion of the student intake in the life sciences at NUS and NTU falls within this category of top 'A' level scorers, compared to engineering. This is not surprising as the life sciences intake is also much smaller than the engineering intake (about one fifth the size of the engineering intake). There are in fact more students with perfect or near perfect 'A' level grades entering engineering than the life sciences, but they account for a smaller proportion of the engineering intake.

We can also look at a broader base of students who do well at the 'A' levels - those who obtain at least three As (in full 'A' level subjects). The proportion of such students is slightly higher in engineering than in the life sciences at NUS. Overall, taking NUS and NTU students together, the proportion of such students in the life sciences is slightly higher. There is a high share of such students in both disciplines.

NUS medicine and dentistry, however, attracts a significantly larger proportion of top 'A' level scorers compared with other courses, including life sciences and engineering.