ACADEMIC STAFF IN LOCAL UNIVERSITIES (Recruitment)

ACADEMIC STAFF IN LOCAL UNIVERSITIES:

(Recruitment): 1.

Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim asked the Minister for Education (a) what percentage of newly recruited academic staff in local universities are Singaporeans in each of the last five years; (b) if there are any plans or efforts to recruit more Singaporeans as academic staff in local universities; and (c) whether good PhD holders from local universities will be recruited as academic staff in these universities.

The Minister of State for Education (Mr Chan Soo Sen) (for the Minister for Education: ): Mr Speaker, Sir, I just want to say that for our universities to be top-ranked, it is essential for them to hire

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academic staff based on merit and not just whether they are Singaporeans or foreigners.

Candidates are selected based on their ability to meet or exceed the needs of their appointment. Each university has its own academic staff selection process but the underlying principle of selecting academic staff based on merit is the same for all three of our universities here.

Sir, in the past five years, about 23% of the newly recruited academic staff have been Singapore citizens, and another 12% have been Permanent Residents. While the universities recruit talent from abroad, they also actively seek out and recruit similarly outstanding Singaporeans with PhDs, whether from local or foreign universities. In addition, the universities develop potential faculty members through their postgraduate scholarship schemes, which are open to Singaporeans as well as Permanent Residents.

Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim (Nominated Member): Sir, that means 65% of the academic staff are foreigners. I would like to ask the Minister of State what is the percentage of these foreign academic staff who have left and what is the average duration of stay within the university.

Mr Chan Soo Sen: I have to say that this number is not quite related to the Question that the Member has asked. Unfortunately, I do not have the number with me. Maybe I just want to ask the hon. Member what is the motivation or thinking behind this particular question?

Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim: Sir, am I allowed to reply to him?

Mr Speaker: Since you are asked, just a short one.

Assoc. Prof. Ong Soh Khim: The rationale behind this is that, as an

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academic in the university, I have observed that many of the academics who have been recruited are foreigners and typically their average duration of stay in the university is less than five years. So in that sense, would we want to put in efforts to recruit locals, who are PhD holders from Singapore or overseas, who would stay longer in the university and therefore make better contributions to research and education?

Mr Chan Soo Sen: As I have said, we do try to look for outstanding local citizens who are PhDs for appointment as academic staff. But I also want to say that it does not follow that if an academic staff is a local, he would stay with the university for life. Because, now for many, many subjects, even academic staff would want to go to the industry to be exposed, and it may not therefore follow that if we recruit a Singaporean PhD, he would stay in the university for 20 years. He may go to the industry after five years, even go overseas and then come back again maybe years later. We do have similar experience with local staff too.