Singapore Citizens Sponsored by Local Universities for Doctoral Studies

Assoc Prof Tan Kheng Boon Eugene asked the Minister for Education since 2008, how many Singapore citizens have been sponsored by each Autonomous University for doctoral studies in foreign universities and for which academic disciplines.

Since 2008, the National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University have sponsored 17 and three Singapore Citizens respectively, for doctoral studies in foreign universities in academic disciplines, such as Physical Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Humanities, Social Sciences and Education.

The Nanyang Technological University has also sponsored Singaporeans for doctoral studies overseas, though it did not award any in the recent few years.

The Singapore University of Technology and Design and Singapore Institute of Technology are new universities and have not provided any sponsorship for doctoral studies thus far.

While such sponsorship is one way for our Autonomous Universities to attract and develop Singaporeans as faculty members, the Universities also recruit faculty members directly to meet their diverse needs. With the increasing stature of our Autonomous Universities, they have been able to attract qualified faculty members from all local and overseas universities, and these recruits include Singaporeans.