SINGAPORE — Singapore’s six autonomous universities admitted 1,000 more students in the 2021 academic year, said the Ministry of Education (MOE) on Friday (Oct 29).

This comes after they were given “greater flexibility” to admit more students on an exceptional basis this year, to support local students whose plans to study overseas were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the 1,000 additional students, a total of about 17,800 Singapore citizens were admitted into the autonomous universities for the academic year of 2021.

The six autonomous universities are Nanyang Technological University, National University of Singapore, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore Management University, Singapore University of Social Sciences, and Singapore University of Technology and Design.

These numbers are similar to the additional students admitted into the autonomous universities in the previous academic year, where a similar approach was applied, said the Education Ministry in its statement.

“MOE will continue to monitor the global Covid-19 situation and prevailing travel restrictions, in assessing support measures for students for AY2022,” the statement read.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing said the autonomous universities admitted the additional students “while continuing to uphold their admission standards”.

“The pandemic has brought about many disruptions, but I’m glad to see from my recent campus visits that our students have settled in well and kept their spirits up,” he wrote.

“It has been challenging for some who have had to adjust their plans to study overseas. Similar to 2020, MOE has extended support by giving the AUs (autonomous universities) some flexibility to admit more students this year, on an exceptional basis.” CNA

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