The Singapore Scholarship

Want to find out more about the Singapore Scholarship being offered by Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs? Well, check out current scholar, one of five from Malaysia, Ching Kuan Thye's write up on the scholarship at TinKosong.com.

A candidate from Malaysia will have to have completed STPM, A-Levels or UEC to be eligible for this scholarship. The scholarship will cover full tuition fees for successful applicants’ studies in the National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) or Singapore Management University (SMU), while an allowance of about S$6000 will be provided for each academic year. There is no bond attached to this scholarship and all scholars are expected to return to their respective countries after graduation to contribute to the economy.

The last bit is probably the best thing to come out of it. Most students, even non-scholarship holders who graduated from NUS or NTU are required to work in Singapore for at least 3 years in exchange for "subsidised fees". The idea is obviously to seek to retain talents in the country. This scholarship however, seeks to have the scholars return to their home countries as part of "assistance to developing countries".

Application for Malaysians will be open in March 2007 after the respective results for the 'A'-Levels and Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) are released. It's interesting to note that Matriculation candidates are not qualified. ;)

Other frequently asked questions are available here.

Good luck!