Breakdown of PhD Scholars in Science Disciplines by Citizenship over Past Five Years and Bond Completion Rates

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim, Sengkang GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education (a) how many government-funded PhD scholarships in science disciplines were awarded to (i) Singapore Citizens (ii) Permanent Residents and (iii) international students, respectively, over the past five years; (b) what is the average scholarship value per student by group; (c) what is the proportion in each group that failed to complete their bond obligations; and (d) what recovery mechanisms are triggered in default cases.

To ask the Minister for Education (a) for each of the past five years, what proportion of PhD students in science disciplines at each autonomous university are (i) Singapore Citizens (ii) Permanent Residents and (iii) international students, respectively; and (b) how have these proportions evolved compared to 20 years ago.

Response

1. Over the past decade, an average of about 6,000 PhD students have been enrolled in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses in the Autonomous Universities (AUs) annually. The proportion of Singapore Citizens (SCs) and Permanent Residents (PRs) has been stable at around one-third of the PhD student population.
2. About 90% of the STEM PhD students in the AUs are government-funded through tuition fee subsidies and stipends. SCs receive the highest level of funding to reflect the privileges of citizenship. For example, SCs receive $4,300 per month in stipends, compared to $3,900 for PRs and $3,500 for International Students (IS).
3. PhD students carry out teaching and research supervision duties at the AUs as a service obligation. These students serve out their service obligation during their PhD candidature.