International Students Receiving Tuition Grants and Their Employment Status after Graduation

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Education in each year from 2017 to 2023 (a) how many international students who received the MOE Tuition Grant applied for bond deferments due to their inability to find work in a Singapore entity; and (b) how many were granted bond deferments on that basis.

From 2017 to 2023, on average, about 2,900 international students who received the Tuition Grant graduate each year from our polytechnics and autonomous universities. Within the first three years of graduating, more than eight in 10 are employed. Of the remainder, the majority are granted deferment for further studies.

Sir, I do not think the Minister of State answered my question about how many students have not fulfilled the conditions for the tuition grant, including getting local employment. Is that something the Ministry is pursuing?

Mr Speaker, from 2017 to 2023, we were not informed of the employment status in the first three years after graduation for about 5% of the international students who receive the tuition grant. We take the bond obligations of the international students on tuition grants seriously and we will pursue the international students who default on their obligations.

Can the Minister of State explained how exactly the Ministry pursues these students who do not fulfil their tuition grant obligations?

For those who fail to pay the liquidated damages, actions will be taken to prevent them from working or residing in Singapore. As I had explained earlier on, there is a serious view taken by the Ministry towards the obligations of these international students who have taken tuition grants.

Just one more clarification on that point. The Minister of State said actions will be taken to prevent them from working in Singapore. But is it not that one of the requirements of the tuition grants is for them to work in Singapore for three years after they graduate? So, is there any other measures that the Ministry takes to ensure that they pay back what they are supposed to pay back?

For the individuals who fail to honour their obligations for the tuition grants, we do look at the reasons. Some of them cite genuine reasons such as health and that they find could not employment in Singapore. In those cases, we will ask them to pay the liquidated damages.

As I have said earlier on, majority of deferments that were sought were based on the international students' request for further studies. Not that they do not want to find employment, but they want to pursue further studies. For such cases, they will find employment after they have completed their further studies.

Could I just check with the Minister of State two things? First, what is the breakeven in terms of taxpayers' subsidies for the number of years if one of these students were to stay in Singapore and work, in terms of, perhaps, what they return in tax revenues and the like, that would be taken from them when they work here.

Secondly, if the Ministry would clarify what the overall motivation is for providing these tuition grants – is it limited purely to providing a source of manpower or is there some soft power considerations that are also included?

For the first supplementary question, I do not have the answer off-hand. I ask the Member to file another Parliamentary Question.

For the second one, having international students adds to the diversity of the overall education experience of our students and cultivates our students' sense of global orientation and ability to understand cultural practices across different nations. I think this is a healthy development and we want to encourage our students to be widely exposed to students of other nationalities.

I thank the Minister of State for her answer and the other Members for their supplementary questions. Can I ask two supplementary questions to the Minister of State?

Firstly, if not already done so, would the Ministry of Education (MOE) consider working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to have a sense of how many former MOE Tuition Grant recipients progress to provincial, regional or national leadership of their home countries in the years following their education journey in Singapore, in the Singapore system while making Singaporean friends?

Secondly, does MOE wish to consider working with the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the Economic Development Board to see whether some of these tuition grant recipients in the years and decades ahead grow to become leaders of firms doing substantial business with Singapore?

I thank the hon Member Dr Tan Wu Meng for the two supplementary questions. The answer must be yes. In fact, we do know of international students who previously were on tuition grant in Singapore having actually moved up and moved on to very successful careers within their countries and also regionally. And certainly, this also augurs well for our economy because they stay connected, they understand Singapore's culture, and they do have friends and their networks built in Singapore while they were students here. So, there is definitely benefit in this regard and we will certainly be interested to find the information.