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Bursaries and Scholarships awarded by the Autonomous Universities

Last Updated: 04 Nov 2019

News Parliamentary Replies

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Ang Wei Neng, Jurong GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education (a) how many bursaries and scholarships (number and quantum) have been awarded by the respective Autonomous Universities (AU) in the past five years using (i) their endowment funds and/or reserves and (ii) government funding; and (b) what are the criteria of awarding such bursaries and scholarships.

Response

1. In Academic Year (AY) 2018, more than 34,000 bursaries and/or scholarships were awarded to full-time Singaporean undergraduate students at the Autonomous Universities (AUs). This has increased significantly from AY2014, when around 21,000 were awarded. Please see Table 1 below.

Table 1: Number of bursaries and scholarships awarded by the AUs to Singapore Citizen full-time undergraduate students between AY2014-AY2018.

AY2014 AY2015 AY2016 AY2017 AY2018
Government Bursaries and Scholarships 12,380 14,490 16,870 19,320 20,430
AU Bursaries and Scholarships 8,620 10,430 11,110 12,220 13,630
Total awarded 21,000 24,920 27,980 31,540 34,060

Notes: A student may concurrently hold a government bursary, an AU bursary or a scholarship, depending on the terms of provision for each bursary or scholarship.

2. In FY2018, the Government spent a total of $65M on bursaries. As announced at the National Day Rally in August 2019, the Government will further enhance bursaries to cover up to 75% of subsidised tuition fees from AY2020 onwards. Government bursaries provide financial support for Singaporean full-time undergraduate students from lower- and middle-income families with gross monthly household income up to $9,000 or gross monthly household per capita income up to $2,250.

3. Apart from government bursaries, the AUs also provide their own financial aid and scholarships, which are funded through AUs’ endowment fund returns and reserves. As these are administered by the AUs, the eligibility criteria may also vary. These could include students’ family financial circumstances, academic merit, and/or co-curricular performance. The quanta vary, as the award may range from one-off awards to full scholarships. The sizes of AUs’ endowment funds are available in their annual reports. In FY2018, the AUs spent $23M on bursaries alone for Singaporean undergraduates.