Review of Cut-off Points for Undergraduate Courses

Mr Zainal Sapari asked the Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) (a) how the cut-off points for the various undergraduate courses are decided upon; (b) given the declining cohort number due to declining birth rate and having more autonomous local universities, whether this will mean more places are being offered than demand; and (c) whether there are plans to offer more places to local students instead of them having to go overseas for their university education.

Cut-off points for each course is an outcome of the academic results of applicants and the places available. These may vary from year to year.

A larger proportion of local students will be offered places in our publicly-funded Autonomous Universities. This is because the Government has committed to progressively increase the publicly funded university Cohort Participation Rate (CPR) from 30% in 2014 to 40% by 2020.The CPR for 2017 is 35%.

As our economy continues to diversify and do well, we can align industries’ changing demands for manpower with students’ aspirations to attain degrees. In planning for publicly funded university places, a primary consideration is the employability of our graduates.

In addition, our Autonomous Universities will offer more lifelong learning courses and more Singaporeans would be able to enhance their knowledge and deepen their skills at our universities throughout different stages of their lives and careers.