6th March 2023

New MOE schools will be set up in or relocated to newer estates such as Tengah and Punggol to meet growing educational demand in those precincts.

The Ministry of Education said that it will open or move another four mainstream schools in the western and north-eastern regions of Singapore from 2026. A new secondary school in Sengkang is expected to begin operations in 2026, followed by the relocation of Bukit View Primary School, currently in Bukit Batok East, to Bukit Batok West, in 2027.

A new primary school will open in Tengah, tentatively in 2028. And two years later, the relocated Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) in Tengah will begin operations.

6th March 2023

International Baccalaureate students in Singapore will be permitted the use of ChatGPT in completing their assignments, but any content generated by ChatGPT should be credited and appropriately referenced.

An International Baccalaureate spokesman said that the IB will not ban the use of artificial intelligence software, and that it is more sensible to adapt and teach students how to use these new tools ethically.

If students use AI technology to produce content, they are still expected to submit authentic work that represents their individual abilities.

To avoid plagiarism, students must credit the software in the body of the text and appropriately reference it in the bibliography.

18th Jan 2023

From May 2023, Institute of Technical Education students who achieve good academic results will be able to apply for a new scholarship launched to support the next step in their education. 10 scholarships worth $6,000 each will be given out each year.

The merit-based scholarship will be open to those who wish to pursue any structured vocational training or apprenticeship programme. The scholarship will also be open to those who opt to start working first, before deciding to pursue further studies and training.

There are no restrictions on the field of study for scholarship holders. In contrast, scholarships offered by other organisations to ITE graduates are often targeted at specific fields.

Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing said that the scholarship would greatly benefit ITE students, who are a group in need of support within Singapore’s education landscape.

18th Jan 2023

Applicants to the Singapore Institute of Technology now comprise of students who attained higher grades compared to previous cohorts, indicating that the reputation or the university is rising amongst varsity applicants.

SIT, which became Singapore’s fifth autonomous university in 2014, recorded a greater than 20 per cent increase in the number of applicants who scored a grade point average (GPA) of between 3.6 and 4 in 2022, compared with 2021.

SIT president Chua Kee Chaing said that the university has seen a gradual improvement in the academic quality of applicants over the years, especially in the more competitive programmes.

In 2022, SIT increased the amount of time its students spend at the workplace through a new Term-In-Term-Out pathway where they alternate between campus and companies every year. By the end of their undergraduate studies, they would have spent nearly half of their time learning at the workplace.

18 Jan 2023

Last year, according to the 2022 Polytechnic Graduate Employment Survey, the proportion of polytechnic students who found full-time permanent jobs after graduation attained a three-year high of 59 per cent.

Slightly more than nine in 10 of fresh graduates and graduates coming out of national service were employed.

Graduate salaries also increased across the board, with the starting pay of graduates from eight groups of course types rising from an average of $2,500 a month in 2021 to $2,600 in 2022.

As at Oct 1, 2022 – about six months after graduation – 57.9 per cent of respondents were part of the labour force. Another 41.3 per cent were pursuing or preparing to begin further studies.

23rd December 2022

The Institute for Digital Molecular Analytics and Science (IDMxS) at the Nanyang Technological University was recently launched. The institute aims to advance the science behind analysing biological molecules such as proteins and carbohydrates, and develop the capabilities that will allow for real-time tracking of viral infections.

IDMxS will use artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyse and interpret the vast amount of information a biological sample provides. Among the possible applications of the technology is the development of a tool to identify the different disease-causing molecules in the blood. This would allow doctors to analyse a patient’s blood sample immediately using a smartphone camera.

Another project to be undertaken by the centre is the large-scale monitoring of insect-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria.