Performance of PSC Undergraduate Scholarship Holders

Mdm Speaker, over the past five years, more than 97% of PSC scholarship holders graduated from local and overseas universities with good Honours, that is, a Second Upper and above or equivalent. There is no exact equivalent. We are not able to provide all the details requested by Mr Yee, as PSC scholarship holders pursue their studies in a variety of countries and institutions, some of which do not follow the Commonwealth "Honours" classification system.

We would like to stress that PSC scholarship applicants are not assessed based just on academic results, but on whole-person qualities to determine their suitability for the Public Service. Beyond academics, PSC scholarship holders are also encouraged to seek out diverse experiences by participating in internships, community initiatives and other programmes. This seeks to broaden their perspectives so that they can contribute better as public officers.

I thank the Deputy Prime Minister for the answers. I am glad to know that 97% of the PSC scholars graduate with good Honours, which I take it to be Second Upper and above. I just want to know whether the PSC and MOE look at the comparison between the standards expected of PSC scholars and foreign scholars that are given scholarships. I understand from previous answers that the rate of international scholars who get good Honours is 65%, which is very low, compared to 97% for PSC scholars.

Mdm Speaker, the basis for awarding these scholarships is quite different. There is a variety of scholarships to our Universities which are awarded by the Universities, MOE and a range of bursaries and so forth. Scholarships awarded by the PSC are of very high standards. The expectations are that they do perform to very high standards. If the Member has a question on the performance of other scholarship holders in general, he may want to direct that to the Ministry of Education.