12 Jan 2005

Title: More varsity places part of reform

1. I refer to the letter "Implement admission changes for poly grads now, not in 2010" by Chee See Lin (4 Jan).
2. Currently, about 21 per cent of the primary one cohort every year enters our local universities.  Of this number, about 2 percentage points come from the polytechnic route while the remaining 19 percentage points come from the junior college route. By 2010, when the projected 25 per cent of the primary one cohort is admitted into our local universities, the polytechnic route's share will be increased from 2 percentage points to 6 percentage points.  This translates into a tripling of the number of polytechnic graduates admitted into our local universities.
3. We would like to assure the writer once again that the Government is committed to providing more university places as part of the restructuring of the university sector. We also encourage the writer to write to us at the email address, moe_hed@moe.gov.sg, for further information.

Lim Chee Hwee
Director, Higher Education
Ministry of Education