Politics & Society
MOE - F9 for Math
In its follow-up media release to clarify the number of foreign students offered places in local universities, MOE made an assertion that
This year, nearly 19,000 foreign students applied for local universities and did not get in, which translates to over S$480 million in lost revenue annually.
So, what is the point of making this statement? Is it to show how the government is losing out by according priority to subsidised local students?
Well, it may be a valid argument, if not for the fact that only about 5% of foreign students pay full fees in Singapore universities. The remaining 95% of them sign a bond to remain in Singapore to work for 3 years after graduation (thus also taking up jobs that should have rightfully gone to local graduates). 5% translates to about 200 students, and that means just S$5.2 million in lost revenue annually, while the government subsidises about 75% worth of fees for the remaining foreigeners. That translates into approximately 75% x $26,000 x 3,800 students = S$74.1 million annually.
Also, before making such a statement, they should consider how much taxpayers’ money were lost in the UNSW saga. S$32 million.
S0 who is really losing out? Singaporeans, the government, or the foreign students?
I may be lashed at for making such a statement, but I seriously believe that Singaporeans should be given more priority than what we are receiving now when it comes to education. Foreigners are displacing Singaporean students at all education levels. Also, the government should remove or reduce subsidies for foreigners - why use the taxpayers’ money to subsidise education for other countries’ citizens? Many of them will just move back to their own countries after the 3 years bond anyway - how much do we gain from the 3 years of work they’d done for us in jobs that could have gone to local graduates? They may continue to work and contribute to the economy here for many years after graduation, but when there is a national crisis, can we depend on these people to defend the nation? They will more likely go back to their home countries when that happens.
Also, MOE came up with all the wrong figures again, contradicting its policy of having a 20% cap on foreign student enrollment. MOE claimed that only 18.4% of foreigners who applied were offered places, thus it hasn’t breached the 20% quota yet. However, shouldn’t the 20% quota be based on total number of places offered rather than total number of foreign applications? Using the latter to calculate, it appears that 28.7% of places this year were offered to foreigners. Nearly 1 in 3 students in Singapore universities are foreigners, far from the 1 in 5 claimed by the authorities for so many years, and closer to what we see on ground level.
To exagerrate the effects of such a mistake - If there were 50,000 foreign applications for places, then 20% would be 10,000. This would effectively mean that Singapore students would become the minority group, with just over 4,000 places.
Clarifying the issue is a good thing, but they should have at least made sure that the figures and explanation were correct and valid this time. Instead, this clarification has opened up another can of worms for Singaporeans to wonder at.
Discussion
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I have thought all that the 20% cap referred to the composition of students enrolled. If what you mentioned in the 2nd last paragraph is the case, then it is even more ridiculous.
Either way, they are playing catching by hiding behind figures instead of giving us the real meat - admission criteria for foreigners and locals. In the absence of facts, one can only speculate that foreigners might have it easier because they can pay dollars, which is about the only thing the government cares about.
And the reason they are withholding facts may as well be that foreigners with money, instead of Singaporeans have been given the priority all along.