08 April 2020

Almost all continuing education and training classes will take place online starting from today till May 4, with the possibility of being extended.

SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) has said that all in-person training will be suspended unless given approval to continue, which will be granted only for exceptional cases where e-learning or e-assessments are impossible.

In the Budget in February, SSG courses were earmarked as one of the ways to stem the loss of jobs. For instance, more than 1,000 companies and 10,000 employees from the food services and retail sectors are set to benefit from an SSG package that co-pays workers’ salaries with employers while they are sent for programmes.

Beyond the SSG framework, Singaporeans are also starting to enjoy a wider range of free and paid online courses offered by institutions here as well as overseas. Major online course platforms such as FutureLearn, edX and Coursera have experienced increased traffic to their sites.

For instance, FutureLearn offers a course in 3D printing — a field that is revolutionising the healthcare industry. The course is conducted by Professor Gordon Wallace, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science at the University of Wollongong, and it introduces learners to bioprinting techniques and commonly used biomaterials. Users can take this free four-week course in 12 hours at their own pace.

06 April 2020

Public schools in Singapore will do away with mid-year examinations this year. However, national exams will continue even as schools close. The mid-year national examinations include oral and written mother tongue language papers.

Year-end exams will be conducted at the discretion of the Ministry of Education. Furthermore, if curriculum teaching is compromised due to time constraint, some topics can be taken out of the exam papers. Marking can also be adjusted to be more lenient in such cases.

Autonomous universities in Singapore have already moved completely to online lessons, and exams will also be in the form of online take-home assignments with a time limit.

This year, polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education graduates will also receive their certificates or diplomas without the usual milestone ceremonies. The institutions will be making arrangements for diplomas, certificates and transcripts to be delivered to graduating students instead.

03 April 2020

All of Singapore’s six autonomous universities will freeze tuition fee hikes for Singaporeans enrolled in government-subsidised undergraduate and postgraduate programmes for the academic year 2020.

This move is in line with the one-year deferment of government fee increases announced under the Resilience Budget, delivered by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat last month.

The six public universities in Singapore will also step up efforts to reach out to students in financial need. Various aid schemes will involve a combination of government assistance and financial assistance provided by the universities.

Under the fee hike freeze, Singaporean undergraduates who enrolled in academic year 2019 or earlier will continue to pay what they paid during the 2019 academic year for the remaining duration of their course.

New Singaporean undergraduate students starting university in academic year 2020 will also pay the same fees as those who enrolled in academic year 2019, and this will likewise apply to the whole period of their undergraduate studies in university.

31 March 2020

The Government will freeze all government fees and charges for one year. Additionally, all loan repayment and interest charges for graduates who have taken government loans for university and polytechnic studies will also be suspended from June 2020 till May 2021.

The suspension of loan repayments and interest charges applies to the tuition fee loan, study loan and overseas student programme loan. It will apply to graduates who have already started on their loan repayments, as well as those with outstanding government loans who will be graduating during the suspension period.

The Singapore Education Ministry has also said that all fee increases charged by ministries, organs of state and statutory boards will be put on hold for a year. This applies to fees for students who are Singapore citizens enrolled at government and government-aided schools.

The delay in fee increases will also apply to tuition and miscellaneous fees for citizens enrolled in government-subsidised programmes at polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education.

28 March 2020

The Singapore Government will keep public schools open because their closure will affect students from lower income households adversely.

The Ministry of Education has already indicated that the long-term absenteeism rates have crept up because support activities such as enrichment classes have been cancelled.

Families with good support structures can look after their children at home, but there are parents who are unable to be home with their children. Schools are also where children from less advantaged backgrounds have a chance to level up, as they get to socialise, go for enrichment classes and be guided by teachers.

Additionally, starting on April 1, all schools will conduct one day of home-based learning a week. Secondary schools on Thursdays, and junior colleges and centralised institutes on Fridays. Students will have about four to five hours of learning on the day of home-based learning, out of which two hours can be used to access digital devices.

Education Minister Ong Ye Kung said that this move will better prepare parents and students for more days of home-based learning if and when it is required.

Co-curricular activities will remain suspended for the rest of Term 2, and so will other activities that involve mingling of students across schools like the National School Games.

27 March 2020

Singapore Management University has introduced three new undergraduate programmes specially tailored for the new digital economy. They are the Bachelor of Science (Computing and Law) degree, the Second Major in Financial Forensics in the Bachelor of Accountancy and the Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) degree courses.

The Bachelor of Science (Computing and Law) degree aims to nurture professionals in the field of digital law and governance while giving them a strong foundation in computing and technical skills.

Another programme developed with the digital economy in mind is the new Bachelor of Accountancy with a second major in financial forensics. The programme equips students with the skillset to combat illegal financial activities and fraud. These skills will be developed through three domains: advanced accounting technical competency, technology and analytics capability, and fundamental legal understanding.

The Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) course aims to equip students with an understanding of the interplay and links between computing theory and practice. This includes fundamental business innovation, and Information Technology solutions development, and management skills.

25 March 2020

In Singapore, two universities have taken the unprecedented step of allow their students to write off grades obtained in courses taken in this semester.

The National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University have both announced this measure. Specifically, NUS students can exercise the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) option for up to 10 modular credits for any modules taken this semester. The 10 S/U modular credits are on top of the grade-free first year that NUS students already have.

NTU will also let undergraduates use the S/U option, but for all courses this semester without any limit. For NTU examinations this semester, only content taught up to Week 10 of the semester will be tested in exams and continual assessments.

Recently, local universities have been implementing plans to conduct many lectures and assessments online. Furthermore, students studying overseas on exchange programmes or involved in internships have been recalled.