SCHOLARSHIPS TO STUDENTS FROM CHINA

SCHOLARSHIPS TO STUDENTS FROM CHINA: 6.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong asked the Minister for Education if the Ministry has been giving out scholarships to students from China for any other purpose or for other courses of study, besides the teaching scholarships for Chinese teachers.

The Minister of State for Education (Mr Chan Soo Sen) (for the Minister for Education): Sir, the Ministry of Education used to offer teaching scholarships to students from China for the purpose of recruiting Chinese Language teachers. However, from 2002, the scheme was discontinued as the PRC's National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language ( Hanban ) has been providing MOE with good quality PRC graduates to teach in our schools. MOE does not

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currently offer any scholarships to students from China. We support the efforts of our universities and the corporate sector to do so, as part of Singapore's efforts to build up its talent pool.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Sir, in the case of a newspaper report of a China student, Zhang Wei, who was offered by MOE to come to Singapore to study computer science and then he subsequently failed and hanged around in the campus - to cut the story short - why was he offered a scholarship by MOE to study computer science in Singapore, since there is no scholarship given?

Mr Chan Soo Sen: The scholarships are probably offered by one of our Government-linked companies (GLCs). We do have some Government-linked companies that offer scholarships to PRC students.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Clarification, Sir. The newspaper carried a report that the China student, Zhang Wei, was offered a MOE scholarship, not a GLC scholarship.

Mr Chan Soo Sen: I did not know the Member wanted to ask specifically about the Zhang Wei's case. We can check on it. But our understanding is that the scholarship could not have come from the Ministry of Education. As I have said, the Ministry of Education's role in this scholarship is a supportive one. For example, we work with the Ministry of Education in the PRC to effect the agreement. Our education secretary in our embassy in Beijing liaises with the universities and the Ministries to link up the selection panel from the GLCs as well as the institutions.

Mr Steve Chia Kiah Hong: Sir, I thank the Minister of State for clarifying that the

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MOE did not give out any scholarship for any student other than to Singaporeans.

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