Parliamentary Replies
Fee Revisions for PRs and IS
Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mrs Josephine Teo, Member of Parliament for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC
Question
To ask the Minister for Education whether the recent fee revision for permanent residents and international students studying in polytechnics gives the impression that Singapore is no longer as welcoming to foreign students in our institutes of higher learning.
Response
The fee increases for Singapore Permanent Residents (PR) and International Students (IS) attending our Polytechnics are appropriate as they reflect a differentiation between Singapore Citizen (SC), PR and foreigners. Even after increases, polytechnic fees at about $13,000 for a three year course to obtain a diploma still remains highly subsidised and competitive. For comparison, IS studying in Hong Kong pay as much as around $18,000 to attain an associate degree, which is quite similar to our polytechnic diploma. Similar courses which lead to foundation degrees in UK cost up to $52,000.
Prospective students would know that our polytechnics offer a high quality of education and industry-relevant training. More importantly, to signal that we still welcome PR and IS into the polytechnics, there are in place readily available financial assistance schemes to help PR students and IS.