16 February 2019

From this year onwards, GCE A-Level graduates who opt to enrol in a polytechnic can be admitted directly to Year 1 Semester 2. This will reduce the total course duration to two-and-a-half years.

Places for A-Level graduates at Singapore’s polytechnics have been separately catered for, and there will be no impact on the number of places for O-Level graduates or Institute of Technical Education graduates.

About 200 A-Level graduates are admitted each year to the five local polytechnics — Nanyang, Ngee Ann, Republic, Singapore and Temasek.

Currently, most A-Level graduates apply for and enrol in a polytechnic only one year after getting their results. This is because most polytechnic admissions exercises would have closed by the time the A-Level results are released. Now, A-Level graduates who are not enlisting in National Service will be able to enter the polytechnics in the same year that they receive their results.

This year, the results of the GCE A-Level examinations will be released on Feb 22. Students may collect their results from their schools from 2.30pm on that day, while private candidates will be notified of their results by post.

15 February 2019

Tampines Junior College has released an interactive Web documentary on the daily lives of some of its former students and staff.

The video is one of 11 projects that will be showcased at The Future Of Our Pasts Festival, which runs from Feb 16 to March 17.

The festival is organised by Yale-NUS College in support of the Singapore Bicentennial. The university has also provided funding for the projects being presented.

TPJC merged with Meridian JC to become Tampines Meridian JC this year.

The interactive documentary on TPJC was a final-year project done by a group of undergraduates from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University.

The undergraduate team is also preparing for an exhibition launch on at The Future Of Our Pasts Festival.

14 February 2019

National University of Singapore will soon launch a new Design-Your-Own-Module initiative, which allows undergraduates to design their own modules and take greater ownership of their learning.

Under this scheme, interested students will organise themselves into groups of at least ten and submit a proposal to an NUS faculty mentor or to their home faculty for approval.

Participants can arrange for themselves to be tutored by a guest speaker from the industry, or they may opt to select modules from a suite of online courses offered by edX, a not-for-profit open online course provider created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.

Another initiative that NUS will implement soon gives polytechnic graduates with entrepreneurial abilities a better chance of getting into the university. The five polytechnics can nominate up to 200 graduating students to be considered for admission.

Also, a scheme that gives A-Level applicants bonus points for their first-choice courses will be extended to polytechnic graduates as well as students with either NUS High School or International Baccalaureate qualifications.

13 February 2019

Singapore Management University is currently exploring the concept of getting a handful of bright undergraduates to commit to a certain life mission at the end of their first year of studies.

SMU president Lily Kong explained that many students have ideals ranging from the pursuit of environmentalism, engaging in sustainable business models, or even tackling inequality in modern society.

A small number of such students will be guided by faculty mentors to build a resume with the right mix of courses, research and internships that will enable them to work toward these lofty aspirations.

Ms Lily Kong said that the university has launched several inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary programmes to cater to students’ career interests. Programmes offered include politics, law and economics.

SMU students can also look forward to more global exposure opportunities with the set-up of Global Centres around the world. The centres will help undergraduates seek out opportunities.

12 February 2019

Under the guidance of the Ministry of Education, twelve Singapore schools have piloted Subject-Based Banding, a scheme introduced in 2014 which allows Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) students who score at least an A for English, Mathematics, Science or mother tongue to take the corresponding subject at the Express level.

N(T) students who scored B or C can take the subject at the N(A) level. They can also take subjects at a higher level if they do well in them after starting Secondary One.

N(A) students from the pilot scheme performed very well compared with their peers from the O-Level cohort in last year’s exams. 90 per cent of N(T) students who took subjects at the higher N(A) level also achieved passes in those subjects last year.

The scheme has been rolled out to all schools offering the N(A) and N(T) courses.

Teachers have reflected that the scheme plays to students’ strengths, and gives them a better chance to qualify for the polytechnics’ foundation courses.

12 February 2019

At James Cook University Singapore, staff go the extra mile in ensuring that students find the right programme for themselves.

For instance, each member of the Student Recruitment department within the Marketing division receives training in coaching for jobs and career transition and development.

According to Mr Andrew Chew, Director of Marketing at JCU Singapore, this training is designed to equip staff with additional skills and tools so that they can execute a more holistic approach toward serving prospective students.

The Student Recruitment team is trained to guide prospective students through a self-assessment programme, identifying their proficiencies and weaknesses, as well as what they enjoy and do not enjoy doing. The team also explores potential job and career options with the students.

Once the staff have helped students get a better sense of their personal motivation and values, the team then identifies industries and programmes that would be the best fit for them.

10 February 2019

Singapore Management University has signed an agreement with Google Singapore to offer a new Data Analytics Programme.

This is the first time Google is extending its programme, launched in 2014, to undergraduates of a Singaporean university.

Under the work-study programme, students will undergo a six-month internship at a Google partner company and earn credit.

Google Singapore’s country director Stephanie Davis said that Google was looking to scale up the programme due to broad trends in the digital economy and increasing demand from employers for its trainees.

The inaugural batch of 25 students is in the midst of completing a 12-week digital analytics technology course prerequisite, including sessions with industry subject matter experts from Google and its partners.